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TGOES at ON by Diane Ciarloni | photos by Ava Stipe
ick Troutman, a 20-year-plus resident of Corinth, has a tagline that condenses a significant section of his 68 years into 10 words and numbers. “Beautiful wife, one Golden Retriever, and two granddogs brighten my life.” It sounds simple enough but, really, there is a bit more backstory to the statement. Troutman sports a full head of lovely white hair and a voice that should belong to a 40-year-old. Anyone on the other end of a telephone signal is, without exception, shocked to find out otherwise. The shock is magnified when they learn Troutman has been an accomplished blues/rock guitarist for 40 years. He’s still active and, as he’s said, “can rip a mean lead guitar solo.” “I picked up my first guitar when I was 12,” revealed Troutman. “I used it for my first paying job, which was playing at a wedding. I love to play, but I want to do more when it comes to my music. I want to be involved in actually putting the products out there.”
Intrinsically, he’s a public servant who’s always trying to make things better for people. He was president of the Boys and Girls Clubs of North Central Texas for 12 years, an organization critical for the health, welfare, and productive future of at-risk youth. The four clubs (Lake Dallas, Lewisville, Denton, and Little Elm) flourished under his guidance with 95% of the participating kids maintaining a B grade or above.
The products, in this case, are two albums of his music, with a third scheduled for this year. He accomplishes this through his Golden Dog Recording Studio.
“I love to connect people in a way that’s helpful to them,” he says. “Producing music is one of the things on my to-do list. I want to work mostly with young people to help them get started. Something like that also benefits me because it takes my skillset to the next level.”
Troutman says he “dabbles” in a lot of things but, in many instances, dabble is an extremely anemic word for what he does.
Troutman’s corporate life, which is now in his rearview mirror, was several years with Boise Cascade followed by a decade
12 | LAKE CITIES LIVING | APRIL 2021
in the mortgage business. He then moved into the non-profit sector with his stint in Boys and Girls Clubs. Babs, his wife of 31 years, was an
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