Trout Fishing in America and Life on the Road

One of the things I wanted to understand in talking with Keith Grimwood and Ezra Idlet of Trout Fishing in America was what happens to two musicians after decades on the road together.

Not the polished version. The real version.

The answer, unsurprisingly, was funny, thoughtful, and occasionally chaotic.

Keith and Ezra first crossed paths in Houston in the mid-1970s. Keith was playing bass with the Houston Symphony Orchestra while Ezra was performing in a band called St. Elmo’s Fire. Ezra's bass player quit during an orchestra lockout, Keith agreed to sit in temporarily, and what followed became one of the longest-running partnerships in Americana music.

At first glance, they almost look like a comedy act, sort of a flannel-shirt Penn and Teller.

Keith is a little on the height-challenged side, energetic, and quick with a line. Ezra is nearly seven feet tall and physically impossible to overlook. Keith pointed out that there was really no pretending audiences would not notice the contrast, so they simply embraced it.

But underneath the humor is an astonishing amount of musicianship.

Keith’s bass playing often functions almost like a lead instrument, weaving melodic lines through the songs because, as he put it, “There are only two guys in our band. Somebody has to take the solo.” Ezra moves naturally between guitars and banjo, approaching each one as a distinct voice with its own emotional texture.

And then there is the road itself.

The glamorous image of touring musicians did not survive very long in our conversation. Ezra described the early years when a four-piece band shared single motel rooms because there simply was not enough money for anything else. Keith responded to my question about life on the road with a little humor: "I don’t know what people think of touring musicians. It’s pretty glamorous, that’s for sure. They’ve presented us with the key to so many cities, it’s hard to know where to put them all."

Still, you can tell they genuinely love the traveling life.

Keith spoke movingly about all the remarkable people he has encountered through music, people he never otherwise would have met. Ezra described driving long distances as strangely restorative, a way of clearing the mind before stepping into another room full of listeners.

And the stories.

There are clearly thousands of them.

One of my favorites involves Train to Christmas Town, the Christmas project they recorded for Peggy’s Christmas train book years ago. They were touring heavily at the time and facing a recording deadline, so Ezra essentially built a mobile recording studio inside motel rooms along the tour route. Eventually hotel security arrived because of noise complaints.

Keith claims security expected to find young rock musicians ("Headbangers") and instead discovered the two of them recording acoustic Christmas songs. Ezra suggested the noise complaint may have resulted from Keith’s singing. On the other hand, there was a banjo....

That exchange alone tells you almost everything you need to know about their chemistry.

Then there was the van theft.

Years ago, their touring van disappeared overnight in Houston along with instruments, amplifiers, and equipment accumulated over years of performing. The police eventually recovered the van, mostly empty. Keith remembered realizing in that moment that the way he responded would shape the person he became afterward.

What survived was perspective.

“These are just tools,” he told himself.

It is remarkable how often that kind of wisdom appears quietly underneath the humor in Trout Fishing in America.

Perhaps that is why the music connects across generations.

The songs are funny, yes. But they are also grounded in real experience, real relationships, and a very adult understanding of joy, loss, resilience, and absurdity.

Near the end of our exchange, Ezra said something I have continued thinking about.

He described performing as tending a fire that exists between the band and the audience. When everything is working properly, everyone present contributes to keeping the fire alive.

That feels like a beautiful description not just of performance, but of community itself.

And it feels very much like the kind of experience Wesley’s Place hopes to create.

I'm really excited that Keith and Ezra will be with us on Father's Day, for our annual Pie Social, and I hope you'll go ahead and buy tickets so we know how many pies we need: Trout Fishing in America - Father's Day - Pie Social | Wesley's Place

Also, Peggy has set up a signup page to bring pies, if you'd like to participate, click here: First United Methodist Church of La Grange: Wesley's Place Pie Social