Trout Fishing in America Children’s Matinee — Woody Guthrie Folk Festival

The Show

The Woody Guthrie Coalition have been try­ing to book Grammy Award-​nominated duo Trout Fishing in America to play the annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival in Okemah for years, but their busy sched­ule never quite meshed with the festival’s. Until this past July, that is — when singer-​songwriters and multi-​instrumentalists Keith Grimwood and Ezra Idlet played not 1, but 2 shows: a children’s mati­nee, and a family-​friendly evening set on the Pastures of Plenty Stage (the festival’s main out­door venue).

The well-​attended mati­nee took place at St. Paul’s Methodist Church. To the audience’s delight, Mr. Charles “Chuck” Beary, a teddy-​bear of some reknown, made a spe­cial guest appear­ance. Trout Fishing fans will recall that Mr. Beary’s pre­de­ces­sor, Ro Bear, went miss­ingThe van and some of the instru­ments were recov­ered soon after, but Ro Bear remains miss­ing. along with the band’s instru­ments when their van was stolen in early 2012.

— Chris J. Zähller

The Gallery