The Whisper Tree is a story about a minstrel and some times King’s Messenger who is tasked with delivering a letter that will change the fate of the world. On the way she picks up companions who have their own agendas regarding that fate. Soon it is impossible to tell who is ally and who is enemy.
The Whisper Tree 
Instantly….the word troubadour “jars” and somehow doesn’t sound right for the present time…..?
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hmm. You are right. The story of course is not meant to be set in the present time, but you are right that troubadour is too french a word to describe a wandering musician. I wanted to avoid the tried and true (and tired) minstrel, and bard is going to have a special meaning in the setting of this story world so I can not use that either.
Time to hit the thesaurus. And hope for inspiration.
I am guessing that ‘gleeman’ is both too pretentious and too confusing.
Also, thank you for pointing out that the setting needs to be more immediately recognisable. That definitely has to go into the first two parts.
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After much deliberation I have changed troubadour to minstrel. Neither word is entirely accurate, and both essentially describe a travelling musician and entertainer (actually, the troubadour covers the entertainer part a little more than minstrel does, which is why I initially picked it).
The word troubadour has a strong french influence in how it is perceived (largely of course because it is), and you were right that it did jar a bit in reading the intro and story chapter where it was used.
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