Face of the music

Dave Simonett believes musical inspiration can strike anywhere, even in his relatively new home in the southwest metro on the border of Eden Prairie and Bloomington.

“I like to think you can find it anywhere,” he said. “You just have to be open to it.”

Lately, the lead singer of the progressive bluegrass band Trampled by Turtles has been finding inspiration at airports while crisscrossing the country, playing shows from the shores of Lake Superior at Duluth’s Bayfront Festival Park to the Red Rocks Amphitheater in the shadow of Denver’s Rocky Mountain peaks.

Trampled by Turtles, which got its start in Duluth in 2003, plays 50-60 shows a year these days, Simonett estimated. Later this month, that will include a stop at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Oct. 24, where Trampled by Turtles will co-headline a show with The Avett Brothers. Attendees will be among the first to hear the group’s latest music, their first since 2022’s “Alpenglow.”

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Musical experiment

Released on Sept. 20, “Always Here, Always Now” is a musical experiment of sorts – an EP containing two different takes on each of five songs. Simonett recorded the new music with both Trampled by Turtles (Always Here) and his alternative music project Dead Man Winter (Always Now). “I couldn’t decide,” he said. “So, I decided to try it with both … but I secretly wanted it to turn out this way.”

While Trampled by Turtles recorded their versions at the famed Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, Dead Man Winter headed to Salon Sonics in Northeast Minneapolis. In both cases, Simonett employed the “old-fashioned” method of playing the music together as they recorded.

“There’s a certain vibe when there’s evidence of people playing music with each other,” he said. “It’s less precise recording methods, but we fall back on as live as we can.” 

Shooting for the moon

The one exception was the female vocalist featured on two of the Trampled by Turtles tracks. Country music superstar LeAnn Rimes recorded her vocals for “Out of Time” and “On My Way Back Home” separately from the band. 

“It was kind of organic,” Simonett said when asked how the duets with Rimes came to be. “We wanted to have a female vocal on at least one of the songs.” Through their shared label, Thirty Tigers, Simonett reached out to Rimes. “To my full surprise, she said yes.” 

Simonett admits that hearing the songs with her vocals for the first time was emotional.“It felt like this really beautiful thing,” he said. “She’s such a legendary voice.” 

‘A shot of energy’

Now, fans are getting their first listen of the new music. “It’s kind of scary,” Simonett said. “Up until this point, it’s been ours and now we’re opening it up to the whole world. We release it and it’s gone. That project is over.” 

Simonett says he doesn’t worry too much about the public response. “You learn early on that you can’t control it,” he said. 

“I’m making this stuff because I want to make it,” he added. “I do it fully for myself.”

Playing music live for an audience is another story. “I still haven’t fully gotten used to it,” Simonett said, despite 21 years performing with Trampled by Turtles. Still, Simonett says new music refreshes them. “A new presentation, new music, it’s a shot of energy to a band.” 

So, what can fans expect at the upcoming Xcel show? “A ticket only guarantees entrance,” Simonett said cheekily. For the rest, concert goers will have to just wait and see. And while Simonett won’t make any promises about what he’ll bring to the show, he will say this, “I’m lucky to be surrounded by really good musicians.”

Win a front-row experience: Fans who donate to the nonprofit organization Sportsman for the Boundary Waters, the board of which Simonett has served on for the last two years, will be entered for a chance to win a front row experience at St. Paul concert while helping protect the land, water and wildlife in the Boundary Waters. 

More: Subscribe to Dave Simonett’s Substack Good Record for more of his musings, musical snippets and special sneak peeks.