May 2024

Dear Fisherfolk,

This is Keith writing the newsletter. Ezra wrote the last few and now it's my turn! I like it best when road trips don't have stories attached to them. Stories usually involve flat tires, wrong turns, accidents, and other bad things. Our last road trip to the East was a novel. The shows were great but the travel was sketchy at best. Our first breakdown occurred 4 1/2 miles into the trip at the barbecue stand in Greenland, AR. It was an omen. I'll skip the details, but 'Whitey' Ford, our illustrious van with only about 415,000 plus miles on the odometer has seen his last. On our return home, 'Whitey' made it only as far as Sullivan, MO before the transmission died. We were forced to rent a 26-foot U-Haul truck (the only size available) to drive the rest of the way home. RIP 'Whitey' Ford.

But as they say, one van's ceiling is another van's floor! Or something like that… And just like that, we have a new van! At least new to us anyway. We're talking a 2013 Mercedes Sprinter. The maiden voyage to Louisiana and Jazz Fest was so smooth. We feel like we are truly stylin' now. I'm not saying anything negative about 'Whitey', or 'Stretch', or 'Robert' Red Ford (I truly miss them all for different reasons) but no one has complimented our ride like on this last trip. This is the most attention a Trout vehicle has gotten since we drove my Hornet Sportabout wagon to our Steak and Ale gigs in the early 80's. The Hornet would honk the horn every time you turned right. HONK!! HONK! HONK!! We were so popular on those rush-hour Houston freeways, trying to merge right and honking all the way. Everyone was waving at us! Such friendly folk.

We're easing into Summer with some Arkansas dates. We will be playing a new festival in Fayetteville, AR called the Strawberry Festival on May 19. At the same Strawberry Festival, I will also be playing a set of old-time country music on the fiddle with Jumpsuit Jamey and the Can't Wait to Playboys. I dare you to come try and have more fun than I'm planning on having. Just can't be done!

Troutfully Yours,

Keith and Ezra