Trout Fishing in America (duo)

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Trout Fishing in America
Keith Grimwood (left) and Ezra Idlet (right), April 2019.
Keith Grimwood (left) and Ezra Idlet (right), April 2019.
Background information
OriginHouston, Texas, United States
Genres
[1]
Years active1979–present
LabelsTrout Records
Websitewww.troutmusic.com
Members
  • Keith Grimwood
  • Ezra Idlet
Past members
  • Rom Rosenblum
  • Orville Strickland
[2]

Trout Fishing in America is an American musical duo which performs folk rock and children's music. The duo is composed of Keith Grimwood (bass guitar, upright bass, vocals) and Ezra Idlet (guitars, banjo, bouzouki, vocals). They took their name from the novel Trout Fishing in America by Richard Brautigan. The duo has released multiple albums through their own Trout Music label.

History[]

Grimwood attended the University of Houston and played in the Houston Symphony Orchestra after graduation, whereas Idlet left a college basketball team to pursue rock and roll. The two met while performing together in the Houston-based folk-rock band Wheatfield, later renamed St. Elmo's Fire. When St. Elmo's Fire dissolved in 1979, Grimwood and Idlet formed Trout Fishing in America on the streets of Santa Cruz, California. The band was based for many years in Houston, Texas, but moved to the Prairie Grove, Arkansas area in 1992. The two began recording music independently on Trout Records, and one of their songs, "When I Was a Dinosaur", received rotation on Dr. Demento's radio show.[3]

Trout Fishing in America has received much critical recognition for both family and adult music. This includes four Grammy Award nominations in the Best Musical Album for Children category: first for their 2001 release inFINity, then for their 2004 release Merry Fishes to All,[1] then for their 2006 live performance release My Best Day, and finally for their 2008 release Big Round World.[3]

In addition to their albums and tours, Trout Fishing in America conducts songwriting workshops.[3]

Trout Fishing in America has also written two children's books with accompanying CDs: My Name Is Chicken Joe[4] and Chicken Joe Forgets Something Important.[5] Both books were published by Canadian publisher The Secret Mountain,[6] and illustrated by Stéphane Jorisch.

Musical style[]

A 1995 article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch described the duo's music as "not pedantic, nor does it pander to children, but merely deals with topics that kids can relate to or those that will make them laugh." Grimwood noted in the same article that the duo chose to record more children's music because of teachers who would attend their earlier shows and encourage the duo to play for their students.[7]

Discography[]

All releases under the Trout Records label.

  • You Bore Me to Death! (LP only), 1979
  • Hot to Trout (cassette and LP only), 1983
  • Yes, the Fish Music (cassette only), 1987
  • Stark Raving Trout (cassette only), 1988
  • Truth Is Stranger Than Fishin', 1990
  • Big Trouble (Family), 1991
  • Over the Limit, 1992
  • Mine! (Family), 1994
  • Who Are These People?, 1994
  • Reel Life, 1996
  • My World (Family), 1997
  • Family Music Party (Family), 1998
  • Closer to the Truth, 1999
  • InFINity (Family), 2001
  • It's a Puzzle (Family), 2003
  • Merry Fishes to All (Family), 2004
  • My Best Day (Family), 2006
  • Who Knows What We Might Do, 2007
  • Big Round World (Family), 2008
  • Lookin' at Lucky, 2010
  • Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers (Family), 2013
  • The Strangest Times, 2017
  • The Dusty Dozen, 2018 (A selection of previously released material from 1979 to 1988 albums) [8]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Jason Ankeny. "Trout Fishing in America biography". Allmusic. Retrieved April 4, 2019.
  2. ^ http://www.troutmusic.com/shop/the-dusty-dozen-cd/
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Trout Fishing in America - Encyclopedia of Arkansas". Encyclopediaofarkansas.net. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  4. ^ "My Name is Chicken Joe". YouTube. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  5. ^ "Chicken Joe Forgets Something Important Book/CD Set". Troutmusic.com. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  6. ^ "Chicken Joe Forgets Something Important". Thesecretmountain.com. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  7. ^ "Big on small fry: Musicians are down-sizing their audiences". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. April 16, 1995. pp. 4C, 12C. Retrieved April 4, 2019.
  8. ^ http://www.troutmusic.com/shop/the-dusty-dozen-cd/

External links[]


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