Keith Grimwood, left, and Ezra Idlet have been Trout Fishing in America for 41 years. Each just added a new musical instrument to his repertoire — a bouzouki for Idlet and a fiddle for Grimwood.
Trout Fishing duo shares ‘The Strangest Times’
BECCA MARTIN-BROWN
NWA Democrat-Gazette
Catch Ezra Idlet and Keith Grimwood in a great mood at the same time, and it’s unlikely you’ll get a serious answer to anything — but they’ll mean everything they say. After 41 years playing together as Trout Fishing in America, the musicians know each other better than anyone but their wives do. And that means they riff off each other verbally the same way they do musically.
Ask what they’re doing now, and Idlet immediately explains that he and wife Karen are living in an Airstream trailer in his sister’s back yard, waiting for their new home to be finished in West Fork.
“I’m way taller than the Airstream is, and my shoulders miss the wall by maybe an inch,” he says, laughter in his voice. “But it’s 36 feet long, so there’s plenty of room for my feet to be out in the hall when I’m in the bed.”
Then again, he adds, the Airstream is on loan, so “I’m not paying rent. I LOVE the Airstream.”
Grimwood’s answer to the original question is “Playing music and having fun,” but don’t ask him harder questions about traveling. “I know where we were last, and I could probably tell you where we were the week before that,” he says.
The duo just got back from Taos, N.M., where they played at Michael Hearne’s Big Barn Dance Music Festival as both Trout Fishing in America and with Idlet’s daughter Dana Louise as the Glorious Birds. In Dana’s band, Idlet plays drums and Grimwood “moves away from the mic” as a bass player.
“I love playing bass, and it’s really cool locking in with this drummer I’ve been playing with for 41 years,” he says. “It’s a very interesting way of learning more about each other.”
The songs on Trout’s new album, “The Strangest Times,” reflect that long friendship and all those roads traveled.
“When we first got together, we wrote ‘coming of age’ songs,” Grimwood says. “Then we got into the kids’ thing totally because that was the main focus of our lives — our kids. One of the songs on the new CD, ‘Someone Your Age,’ was inspired by my last yearly physical. Now we’re talking about life from this perspective.”
On Saturday, the duo will make a rare appearance in Northwest Arkansas at the Cane Hill Harvest Festival.
“It’s a beautiful little town going through a renaissance at the moment,” says Idlet, who lived for many years near Prairie Grove.
And what will they play? Kids’ music? Adult music?
“Trout music,” Grimwood says.
“There’s not an adult show you can’t bring your kids to or a kids’ show you’ll feel stupid at as an adult,” Idlet says. “We all enjoy music together, no matter what our age.”
FAQ
Trout Fishing in America
WHEN — 6 p.m. Saturday
WHERE — On the campus of the newly renovated Cane Hill College, just west of Arkansas 45 about 4 miles south of U.S. 62 between Prairie Grove and Lincoln
COST — Free
INFO — Email historiccanehillevents@gmail.com
BONUS — The festival will also include an all-you-can eat country breakfast from 7 to 10 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, arts & crafts, antique tractor show, demonstrations of making sorghum molasses, lye soap & more, living history performances & eight more free concerts.
