IN A week where Carole King praised the talents of Amy Winehouse, Troubadours makes for interesting viewing.

This feature-length DVD showcases the roots, highs and lows of the 1970s singer-songwriter movement, centring around King and James Taylor’s own 40-year musical ups and downs which began at the West Hollywood venue, the Troubadour.

The narrative begins in the 1960s, when King and Gerry Goffin were writing together while Taylor was emerging as a folksinger-songwriter. But the Troubadour was also home to an embryonic community of young musicians and their story is largely told through archival footage, much of it never before seen, which includes music, history, stories and commentary by artists who launched their careers in the club such as Roger McGuinn, Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt.

This is an evocative, heady glimpse of the post-Beatles world. A time when California became the coolest place on the planet and New York artists headed there in droves. It all seems so long ago.