Spartan Profiles: Sally Rogers

OFFICIAL TROUBADOUR

            Each year Connecticut names a 'State Troubadour,' a symbolic figure for the musical arts. In 1977, the state bestowed the honor on Sally Rogers, '78, a professional folk musician and teacher with 14 CDs and a dozen appearances on Garrison Keillor's radio show, Prairie Home Companion, to her credit.

            'It's an honor,' says Rogers. A 'master teaching artist' based in Abington, she received a $25,000 grant to write new songs reflecting the oral history of Connecticut's Quinebaug-Shetucket Heritage Corridor. 'I wanted to make history fun, and to make it come alive, particularly for children,' explains Sally, who has won several Children's Album of the Year and Parents Choice Gold awards from the music industry and recently published Earthsong, a children's book about endangered animals.

            A native of Beulah, Sally transferred to MSU from the University of Michigan because, she says, 'I wanted to major in music therapy.' At MSU, she became involved with Ten Pound Fiddle, a coffee house that featured folk music concerts. 'I earned my way through school singing at local bars and coffee houses,' she recalls. 'I spent the rest of my time at the music department.' 

            She cites two former professors, Ethel Armeling and (the late) Richard Klausli, as having influenced her career success. 'The best class I ever had was in religion (taught by Robert Anderson),' recalls Sally, then in Honors College. 'It was based on the Old Testament, was filled with story-telling, wonderful stuff I still think about today.' 

            At MSU, she produced her first of 14 albums, The Unclaimed Pint. Her most famous song remains 'Lovely Agnes,' a ballad about her grandmother, who worked in cherry and apple orchards in Benzie county. 'Songs can make history come alive,' says Sally. 'They document people's history in a way textbooks cannot. You get material from primary sources, just regular people.'