Troubadour Trail – Background Acknowledgements

BACKGROUND

In fall, 2016, with the support of the Norwich Historical Society and the Norwich Community Development Corporation, I received a Regional Initiative Grant to create this Troubadour Trail, which has been uploaded to the online “Walk Norwich” project.  The goal of the Troubadour Trail is to musically acquaint visitors to Norwich and its citizenry (of all ages) about people, places, and events in The Rose City’s history. The funding for the Troubadour Trail grant came from the Southeastern Connecticut Cultural Coalition, in collaboration with the Connecticut Office of the Arts.


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Special thanks to:  Norwich City Historian Dale Plummer for the inspiration for me to compose “The Struggles Of Ruggles” and “Mending Soles & Saving Souls”, along with providing counsel and photos about James L. Smith; Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel, Executive Director, Cultural and Community Programs Department, The Mohegan Tribe, for many hours of cultural education regarding the facts and nuances from the Native-American perspective; Beryl Fishbone, former Director of the Leffingwell Inn for the inspiration for “Poco-Loco For Cocoa” and “Heavenly Gazetteers”; former Norwich Mayor Peter Nystrom for the inspiration for “The Bells Of Norwich”; Mary Edgar, and her husband Dr. Malcolm Edgar (former President of the Lowthorpe Meadow Board) for their inspiration for “Lowthorpe Meadow”; David Oat, President of the Guns Of Norwich Historical Society for his counsel regarding “Simon Huntington”, and providing photos of 19th Century Norwich bells; Kevin Harkins, President of Friends Of Norwich Bells, for his insights and encouragement regarding “The Bells Of Norwich”; Angela Adams, Director of Operations, Greater Norwich Chamber of City Hall photo; Norwich Historical Society Board Member Roberta Vincent for the inspiration for “Norwich’s Lifesaving Tree”; the late-Channing Huntington, former-President of the Huntington Homestead in Scotland, CT for the inspiration for “Samuel Huntington”; the late-Bill Stanley, former-President of the Norwich Historical Society for the inspiration for “Hannah Arnold’s Grave”, and countless hours of encouragement and counsel before his death in 2010; Norwich Historical Society President Bill Champagne and Consultant Regan Miner for forwarding photos from the NHS archives, publicity, and allowing The Troubadour Trail to be uploaded to their “Walk Norwich” online project; Miria Toth, Marketing Director for NCDC for support and publicity;

Jason Vincent, former-Vice-President of the NCDC, whose suggestion for creating a Troubadour Trail was the catalyst for this entire endeavor; and Mike Santos, Norwich Historical Society Webmaster for separating the wheat from the chaff, in arranging and uploading the many components to the NHS website. 

And my most heartfelt gratitude goes to Ann Shapiro, Executive Director of the Connecticut Storytelling Center (and my wife), for being the grant-writer, a sounding board, an advocate, a calming voice, and a source of perspective – all of which are embodied in the words: partner and professional.

Mike Arafeh, owner and engineer at The Coffeehouse Recording Studio in Middletown, CT recorded, mixed, and mastered the narration of The Troubadour Trail, and mixed and mastered my home-recorded demos of: “Uncas Leap”; “Mending Soles And Saving Souls”; and “Norwich’s Lifesaving Tree”.

Without the influence, input, and counsel of the above, none of this would have come to pass, so if the visitors to the Troubadour Trail have comments, or suggestions, they should be directed to minerregan@gmail.com or Tom.C@Crackerbarrel-Ents.com


ORDERING INFORMATION

For anyone who may be interested in purchasing any of the three CDs from which the songs have been excerpted, click on the link below to my “Recordings” page on the Crackerbarrel Entertainments website:

www.crackerbarrel-ents.com/Callinan/recordings.htm

At the top left of that page is a clickable link to a downloadable “Order Form“, listing my complete discography to date (September, 2017).  Purchasers should print out the “Order Form“, make their selection(s), and mail a check or money order to:

Crackerbarrel Entertainments
55 East Town Street
Norwich, CT 06360-2345