Duo reel in audiences with music and wit

Keith Grimwood and Ezra Idlet are Trout Fishing in America. They bring their family-friendly performance to the Bartlett Performing Arts and Conference Center on Saturday.

Keith Grimwood and Ezra Idlet are the genial musicians who constitute Trout Fishing in America, a duo that keep it simple, smart and hugely entertaining.

For some 35 years, Trout Fishing in America has been charming kids and adults with a mix of music and storytelling, gaining a sizable following, thanks to lots of exposure on National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting System.

On Saturday, they'll perform at the Bartlett Performing Arts and Conference Center, bringing their skillful musicianship and wit to the stage where they performed four years ago.

Grimwood and Idlet met in Houston more than three decades ago and have followed a simple formula with passion.

"With us, it has never been a big plan," said Grimwood. "It's been a slow evolution; we just move into whatever happens next and go with it. We both like to play music and we'll continue to play."

Grimwood, who grew up playing classical music, says he's more a player and Idlet is more an entertainer. "He's really connected to the audience. I've learned to do it, but he comes by it naturally."

It's a partnership that has worked well, including in gathering acclaim -- multiple Parents' Choice awards and four Grammy nominations.

"We're a family show, bringing kids and parents with three or four generations showing up," Grimwood says. "Each show is folk-based, but when we started in Houston, it was a kind of melting pot with Cajun, folk, Zydeco, classical. I played with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, so we developed a mixture of all these different influences and had a good time playing it."

One of their most popular tunes is "My Hair Had a Party Last Night" -- an infectious tune about untamed locks that "everyone can relate to," says Grimwood. Grownups have grown fond of the love song "The Very Best Thing," and in the great tradition of folk music as social consciousness, there's the instructive "Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks."

For all their devotion to music, the duo are also passionate about the written word -- in fact, Trout Fishing in America is taken from the book of the same name by Richard Brautigan. "Anything you can enjoy with your kids is valuable," Grimwood says. "If I have to spend hours in an airport, I don't care -- I read. So we're doing children's books and CDs with not only narrative, but 11 songs that relate to the story. They read the words, see the beautiful artwork and hear the music -- win, win, win."

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Trout Fishing in America

8 p.m. Saturday at the Bartlett Performing Arts and Conference Center, 3663 Appling Road. Tickets: $20. Call (901) 385-6440 or go to bpacc.org.

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