Trout Fishing in America (duo)

After Big Trouble became popular among fans with young children, Trout Fishing in America began releasing more children's albums alongside their existing repertoire of folk music. Their 1992 album Over the Limit, one of their folk-oriented releases, was named by the National Association of Record Distributors (now American Association of Independent Music) as Independent Pop Album of the Year.[9] The album included several session musicians and other personnel. This included drummer Mitch Marine and keyboardist/guitarist Carl Finch, who also produced the album. Grimwood played both bass guitar and upright bass, while Idlet played both acoustic and electric guitars. The two wrote most of the album by themselves except for "Sing It One More Time Like That", also a cover of David Egan.[10] Also by this point, the duo relocated to Arkansas.[1] In 1993, Trout Fishing in America was approached by representatives of the television network Nickelodeon to create a television pilot called The Trout House, but it was not picked up for a series.[9] This was followed in 1994 by a pair of albums targeting both demographics: Mine! for children and Who Are These People? for adults. Terri Langford of the Associated Press wrote of these two albums that "sometimes it's hard to tell which CD is for which target group" while speaking favorably of the duo's musical diversity.[9]

They returned to folk rock for 1996's Reel Life, a mix of live and studio recordings.[11] Once again, Grimwood and Idlet wrote most of the album themselves, excluding three cover songs. These were of Homer and Jethro's "Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyeballs" (a parody of "Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes"), Gordon Lightfoot's "Ode to Big Blue", and Little Feat's "Dixie Chicken". Finch and Marine also played on some tracks on this album, while session musician Milo Deering contributed on steel guitar and mandolin.[12] Writing for the Cedar Rapids, Iowa Gazette, Rebecca P. Lindwall praised the album's instrumentation, as well as the "homespun" lyrics of the ballad "Lightning".[13] This was followed by 1997's My World, another children's album which the duo recorded in Nashville, Tennessee.[14] After it was 1998's Family Music Party, their first live album. Paul Collins of AllMusic wrote of this album that it was "a fine addition to any parent's collection of children's music."[15] In 1999 the duo released the album Closer to the Truth. While this was one of their folk albums, Idlet noted that "there's nothing on it that a kid couldn't hear".[16] It peaked at number 26 on the Americana albums charts of Gavin Report.[17] Tom Infield of The Philadelphia Inquirer thought the album displayed the duo's musical influences and variety. He also noted that the duo's music had become popular on WXPN, a college radio station in Pennsylvania which at the time had a show dedicated to children's music.[16]

The children's album inFINity followed in 2001. This accounted for the duo's first Grammy Award nomination, in the category of Best Musical Album for Children, at the 44th Grammy Awards in 2002.[18] In addition, the American Library Association named it a Notable Children's Recording.[19] Ronnie D. Lankford Jr. of Allmusic described the album as "fun music for kids and adults".[20] 2003's It's a Puzzle was also a children's album. At the time of its release, Sony Hocklander of The Springfield News-Leader noted the popularity of children's albums such as Kenny Loggins' Return to Pooh Corner and Jerry Garcia and David Grisman's Not for Kids Only, and thought that Trout Fishing in America's music would appeal to fans of those albums.[21] The title track featured a number of tongue twisters, while Grimwood's wife Beth co-wrote the track "Why I Pack My Lunch".[21]

This was followed a year later by an album of Christmas music titled Merry Fishes to All. Reviewing this album for AllMusic, Lankford praised the duo for writing original content instead of covering traditional Christmas songs, while also finding influences of reggae and jazz music in the arrangements.[22] At the time of its release, Trout Fishing in America were playing over 100 shows a year.[23] In 2006 they released another live album titled My Best Day, which was also issued on DVD as a video album. By this point, Fred Bogert had taken over as their producer. He occasionally joined them as a backing musician, playing guitar, mandolin, and cornet.[24] Bogert also contributed to the recordings of My Best Day.[25] Both Merry Fishes to All and My Best Day were nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Musical Album for Children.[18] In 2007, Trout Fishing in America released a five-song extended play titled Who Knows What We Might Do, which was available exclusively through their website or at concerts.[26] In 2008, Trout Fishing in America released another album titled Big Round World.[27][28] Musicians from the Louisiana-based dance group Bamboula 2000 contributed to this project.[28] The duo promoted the album with a concert at Red River Revel, an annual music festival in Shreveport, Louisiana.[28] It accounted for their fourth and final Grammy Award nomination, again in the category of Best Musical Album for Children.[18] In addition, it topped National Public Radio's 2008 list "The Year in Music for Kids", an annual compilation of recommended children's albums by that organization.[29]

After a number of children's albums, they returned to folk rock with 2010's Lookin' at Lucky. This was their first "adult" album since Closer to the Truth eleven years prior.[30] Jonathan Takiff of the Philadelphia Daily News rated the album "B+", as he thought its songs would appeal to people who found humor in growing older.[31] Although Trout Fishing in America recorded fewer albums throughout the 2010s, the duo continued to perform across the United States at venues such as museums and schools.[29] They returned to the Red River Revel in 2013 to promote their next album of children's music, Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers. By this point in their career, Grimwood noted that they had been performing long enough that they were beginning to play music for the grandchildren of some of their earliest fans.[32] Idlet had begun to play banjo in concert as well as guitar, while Grimwood began to play fiddle as well as string bass and bass guitar. The album's title track included a number of tongue twisters, while Idlet stated that the track "My Sister Kissed Her Boyfriend" was intended to be "annoying" to children. In addition, the track "Don't Touch My Stuff" was inspired by the duo having had equipment stolen from their van while at a concert in Texas.[7]

The duo returned to folk music with 2017's The Strangest Times. Prior to its release, they performed some of its songs live on the radio station KUAF in Fayetteville, Arkansas.[33] Grimwood played fiddle on the track "Quiet Alleys", and Idlet played bouzouki on both the title track and "Where Did Everybody Go?"[34] Grimwood said that he considered "The Strangest Times" one of his favorite songs the duo had ever recorded due to its "driving beat" and the "real things" in its lyrics.[35] Trout Fishing in America continued to incorporate further instrumentation into their live shows, such as Idlet covering "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" on banjo. They also began to look for songs from their earlier albums which they thought had been forgotten by fans, such as "Big Boys in Bad Shape" from Closer to the Truth.[35]

Trout Fishing in America took a brief hiatus from recording and touring in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the members, the pandemic kept them separated from each other for 37 days, the longest hiatus of their career. Because they were unable to tour, they decided to resume writing songs together, in addition to performing songs on livestreams from their recording studio.[36] Once they felt it was safe to start recording together again, they began preparing songs for their next album Safe House. Once again, Idlet played bouzouki on the album as well as guitar, banjo, and percussion, while Grimwood played bass, fiddle, and piano. Trout Fishing in America promoted the album with concerts in Texas once pandemic restrictions were lifted enough for them to resume touring.[36] The duo also promoted the title track with a music video uploaded to YouTube, which features pictures of both members' families.[36]