TCM more than messy art – By Allyson Jannotta

In all our years of traveling around playing music, we have played many different kind of shows and many different kinds of venues. We’ve played kids shows at schools, adult shows at clubs, we’ve played outdoor concerts and lovely performing halls. But I think the strangest week we ever experienced – early in the week we performed at a daycare center and on the weekend we played at a prison – and we noticed there were a lot of similarities between the two institutions!

Inspired to write blues song Afterschool Daycare Blues

Alien in my Nose – inspired by a songwriting workshop with kids about

Guitarist Ezra Idlet and Bassist Keith Grimwood have played together as the duo Trout Fishing in America for 22 years. They're an anachronism in many ways. They play contemporary, acoustic-based music, but they are a throwback to buskers, vaudeville, and even old-fashioned medicine shows. Their material ranges from introspective folk and country-tinged songs, to wildly energetic rock tunes, to Stan Freberg-style comedy. "It's a balance," says Grimwood. "We do play a lot of funny songs, but you're not funny all the time in life; there are serious thoughts that go on."

The duo's roots are as varied as its set lists. "We come from different backgrounds," says Grimwood. "In 1976, Ezra was in a band called St. Elmo's Fire, and I was in a group called the Houston Symphony." That year, the symphony went on strike, and Grimwood joined St. Elmo's Fire. "Ezra and I were immediate friends," he recalls. "A tour of California [in 1977] just fell to pieces," Idlet says, "and we had the reality of trying to feed ourselves. We started performing on the street in Santa Cruz. We learned a valuable lesson. People will stop if they're entertained, but if you're singing these sad introspective songs, people will walk away as fast as they can."
Both Idlet and Grimwood have children, which naturally led them to writing music for kids. "Our music is sophisticated," says Idlet. "It doesn't play down to kids or adults. Kids are moved by the lyrics or the rhythm. They know right off the bat if you're faking it musically."

A 1992 Indie Award for "Pop Album of the Year" for Over the Limit led to national distribution for the group's own Trout Records (PO Box 914, Prairie Grove, AR 72753-0914; [888]439-8342; www.troutmusic.com). Since then, the two musicians have won two more Indies for their children's albums Mine! (1994) and My World (1997), as well as a Hall of Fame induction from the Kerrville Folk Festival. Their most recent recording, Family Music Party, has also been released as a performance video that was shown by many PBS stations. It features the achingly beautiful ballads "Lullaby," "Back When I Could Fly" and "Count on Me."
The variety of styles makes Trout Fishing in America's music hard to classify. "If you go into a music store and try to find our CDs, you find them in different parts of the store," say Grimwood. "In Nashville, we're country. Someplace else, we're in kids' music. Some other place, we show up in the pop section. They don't know quite what to do with us, which may not be the best marketing strategy, but at the same time it's-" "-allowed us to stay together happily for 22 years!" Idlet interjects.

Trout Fishing in America is a folk-rock musical duo that performs children's music as well as some music aimed at adults.

The band is composed of Keith Grimwood (upright bass, bass guitar, Clevinger bass, vocals) and Ezra Idlet (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, electric banjo, vocals). They took their name from the novel Trout Fishing in America by Richard Brautigan. 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, but moved to the Prairie Grove, Arkansas area in 1992, where Keith and Ezra currently reside.

Their song "When I Was a Dinosaur" became a favorite of Dr. Demento, who played it frequently on his radio program.

Trout Fishing in America has received much critical recognition for both family and adult music. This includes three National Indie Awards, numerous Parents Choice awards and three Grammy nominations in the Best Musical Album for Children category; first for their 2001 release inFINity, then for their 2004 release Merry Fishes to All and most recently for their 2006 live performance release My Best Day.

Bad Hair- “My Hair Had a Party Last Night”
Friends that talk too much “I Have Friend Who won’t be quiet”

Trout Fishing in America

In town for two incredible shows!

4 p.m. – Tulsa Children’s Museum Family Concert Series $10 per ticket /under age two are free

7: 30 p.m. – evening show presented by the Performing Arts Trust

All shows will be at the John H Williams Theatre at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center

You can purchase tickets at www.MyTicketOffice.com or call 918.596.7109