Keith Grimwood and Ezra Idlet have been playing together as Trout Fishing In America for 40 years. During that time they’ve garnered 4 Grammy nominations and a slew of other awards. They play folk music, children’s music, jazz, rock, bluegrass, and whatever else catches their whimsy. They estimate they’ve logged a million miles touring, primarily in North American and Europe, and played everywhere from Carnegie Hall (the one in WV) to Aunt Pookies (more on that later). Just about all of that is on display in their latest album, Safe House.
Like their live shows, this is, for the most part, a folk album. Songs like Barbed Wire Boys, a sentimental number about the character of Midwestern farmers, and the upbeat, Gail Lewis-penned Up And Away are the fabric that holds the record together. Along those same lines is Freeze, featuring Grimwood on fiddle in addition to his normal bass duties. Looking At A Rainbow is folk music at its best, noting “if you’re looking at a rainbow, then you made it through the storm.”
The additional texture comes when the duo stretches into other genres. Don’t Be Callin’ is a too-hip, cool jazz tune about spam phone calls. It also highlights the tongue-in-cheek humor the pair is famous for delivering in song, and stories at their live sets. I Love My Baby inserts a little R&B and a little blues into a lament about a girlfriend’s expensive and trendy tastes. Where’s That Dog Gone Now is traditional bluegrass in its purest form. Finally, I have to mention We’ll Always Have Ardmore. It’s 40 years of touring lowlights wrapped up in 3 1/2 minutes. It’s also a beautiful country waltz, in a nod to various heckler’s comments, that makes you so thankful the duo has kept at it for all those years.
Save a guest vibraphonist on one song, every instrument, every vocal, and all the production was done by Idlet and Grimwood in the Trout studio for the Trout record label. Although catalyzed by the pandemic, that’s really just an indication of how Trout Fishing In America owns their music and their business. If you’ve never caught the band live, go get a copy of Safe House and you’ll get a sense of the breadth of musicianship you’re missing. And despite its roots in the pandemic, it’s also just about as much fun as you’re going to hear on a record.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.