History in song Singer-songwriter gets new title as state's troubadour The Associated Press

TROUBADOUR: Cohoctah Township resident Neil Woodward was recently named the state troubadour. The singer-songwriter is an instrumentalist, singer, songwriter and folk historian who helps preserve musical traditions. AP

COHOCTAH TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) -- An instrumentalist, singer, songwriter and folk historian who helps preserve musical traditions has a new title -- state troubadour.

The songs that minstrels once sang traveling from town to town are overflowing narratives of lives and times long since past, from work songs of sailors on the high seas to trail songs from cowboys during the long ride.

"If more people know about this type of folk music, I think it will enrich their lives," Neil Woodward, 51, told the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus of Howell. "It certainly has enriched mine."

Most of the Livingston County resident's work focuses on the preservation of Michigan's songs in the troubadour tradition, from Great Lakes sailor shanties to lumberjack songs.

"There's a lot of great stuff in those songs and stories that people aren't going to hear very often because these people aren't around anymore," Woodward said.

The Michigan House of Representatives adopted a resolution last month sponsored by Rep. Joe Hune, R-Fowlerville, designating Woodward as the state's official troubadour.

"Woodward has dedicated five decades to the study and preservation of our state's folk music and culture," Hune said. "He has done more than any other Michigan resident to preserve the musical heritage of Michigan's loggers, miners and sailors."

Woodward has served as the village troubadour at Genesee County's historic Crossroads Village and Huckleberry Railroad and spends his summers as a strolling musical performer at Greenfield Village in Dearborn.

Woodward has a long list of tools he uses in his trade. Besides various guitars, he plays the harmonica, mandolin, fiddle, banjo, autoharp, pennywhistle, ukulele and other stringed instruments. He said he was inspired by the oral storytelling tradition of folk songs at an early age.

"It really started when I was little and everyone was learning songs like 'Home on the Range' and 'Oh! Susanna,'" he said. "I took the lessons, I think, more seriously than most kids do, and I think I continue to do what I do because so many kids don't even know those songs today."