Interview: Trout Fishing in America

Trout Fishing in America is one of the most intelligent but fun children's music groups around.

Take, for example, their clever lyrics.
I admit, in the interview below, to stealing the chorus of this song:

My hair had a party last night,
It musta got into a terrible fight,
Cause when my head hit the pillow it was lookin' all right,
My hair had a party last night.
My hair had a party last night,
When I lay down everything was all right,
It started out friendly but there must have been a fight,
My hair had a party last night.

Their new release, My Best Day, is a CD and DVD of a live concert. In the concert they call "Sailing" the stupidest song they wrote. But I love some of the lyrics, like this verse:

There was a ship with a cargo of red paint,
To a tragic fate everyone was doomed.
It rammed a ship with a cargo of brown paint,
The ships sank and the sailors were marooned.

It’s corny but great. Plus they even play a round of "Simon Says" (a personal favorite game of mine) during the concert.

Needless to say I was delighted at the chance to interview the two members of the band: Ezra Idelt and Keith Grimwood.

What made you decide to base your operations out of Arkansas , not exactly a common home for popular musicians?

Trout Fishing in America: First of all, Northwest Arkansas is a beautiful part of the country. We used to live in Houston. Arkansas is more centrally located in the US. When we moved here we were doing a lot of touring by driving and it really made sense to be here.

I want your absolution for something. I confess to having borrowed the line/song title “My Hair Had A Party Last Night” to describe hair problems while working as a journalist and a teacher without giving proper attribution. Do you forgive me?

Yes. If you feel further guilt you can send the royalties to Trout Fishing in America world headquarters.

How have your guys stayed together for 30 years, which is like a
century in regular people’s time?

We live fast and hard and listen to books on tape. Seriously, because we're such different people we don't end up competing with each other.

What’s the best part about writing and performing music for children? The worst part?

The best part is the immediate response to our music.

Article Author: Scott Butki

Scott Butki was a newspaper reporter for more than 10 years before making a career change into education... then into special education.

He reads at least 50 books a year and has about the same number of author interviews each year and, …

Visit Scott Butki's author page — Scott Butki's Blog