GRAND RAPIDS — Ahead of Trampled by Turtles frontman Dave Simonett’s solo show at The Reif Center on Saturday, Nov. 29, he joined Headwaters for a wide-ranging conversation filled with family stories, creative reflections and the quiet joy of making music with old friends.
For the touring musician, family is at the forefront. His children have grown up around music: His son began helping the Trampled by Turtles crew at age 6, and his daughter — once a semi-regular guest onstage — has traded those moments for choir, plays and musicals at school.
And of course at home, they talk music, trading artists and albums to check out. Simonett gets an extra boost of cred when the Turtles go out on tour with artists like Zach Bryan.
“They're just like coming to Dad's work, and then it's embarrassing a little bit," Simonett laughed. "But generally, they like being around music and being around concerts. And they really like it when I go on tour with like Zach [Bryan] or something ... because in their school, that's a really cool thing to do.”
The last time Trampled by Turtles played in Minnesota was their performance at Farm Aid this September, a major milestone for the band members.
Growing up watching the concert on TV in the '90s, Simonett said standing on stage alongside heroes like Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp felt surreal. But what struck him most was the mission behind it all.
“They had farmers that they've helped, like farmers that have received grants from them, come up and tell stories about the work that they've done. ... It's all independent family farms that get money from Farm Aid, but then it was just some really, really cool stories about how that organization helps people just like very directly," Simonett said.
"And I think that might get lost in the billing, you know what I mean? Like when you're seeing all those people play, you can't forget that so many of the crowd there, too, were farmers."
Twenty-three years into Trampled by Turtles, Simonett said the band is still exploring new spaces in touring with bands like Turnpike Troubadours and Zach Bryan and joining Willie Nelson’s Outlaw Tour last year.
“Getting in front of people that had never — not only not seen us, but really never heard of us before, at this age, is kind of a blessing,” he said. “It actually keeps you on your toes quite a bit, too.”
One of the year’s most talked about projects was Trampled by Turtles' collaboration with Low’s Alan Sparhawk, created in the wake of the passing of Sparhawk's wife and Low co-founder, Mimi Parker.
The relationship between Trampled members and Low goes back decades. Simonett recalls being a young 20-something in Duluth, watching the band play a powerful show at Sacred Heart Music Center.
“Honestly, I mean, it's not too dramatic to say that actually that experience changed my life, and anybody who's had, like, a transcendental experience at a concert knows what that feels like,” Simonett said.
Not only are Simonett and the other Trampled by Turtles members fans of Low, but they, along with so many others, have felt supported by Sparhawk throughout their career.
“Alan is ... just such a supportive part of the music scene. For years, he's taken [in] and helped so many bands in Duluth,” Simonett said. "I feel like he spends just as much time fostering other people's growth as he does working on his own.”
Recording with Sparhawk at Pachyderm Studios was as emotional for the band as the finished album sounds.
“Lyrically, if people have listened to that, you know that there's some real airing out of some deep pain. .... [It's] the first time I've ever cried while recording, and all of us were feeling that way. And so it was very cathartic — a really, really heavy experience.”
Right now, Simonett is deep in a writing phase, which is his favorite part of the creative cycle. He describes the process as almost seasonal: writing feverishly, making a record, hibernating, then slowly longing to write again.
Are these new songs for Trampled, Dead Man Winter or a solo record?
“They’re just songs right now,” he said. “We’ll see where they land.”
Simonett returns to The Reif Center on Nov. 29, bringing his trademark thoughtful songwriting and a renewed creative spark.
As the interview wrapped up, he left KAXE staff and listeners with a final compliment: “Good job on that radio station. Definitely one of the best ones around.”
