Simonett, Trampled by Turtles bringing concert for conservation to South Dakota

Feb. 23—SIOUX FALLS — South Dakota pheasant hunting lived up to the hype for Dave Simonett.

That's saying something considering all the places he's visited while touring as the frontman of Trampled By Turtles, a successful bluegrass folk band that formed in Duluth, Minnesota, two decades ago.

"There were an incredible amount of birds," Simonett said by phone, recalling his South Dakota trip near Redfield and Hitchcock this past season. "Whenever anybody kind of builds something up to you that much, you're kind of skeptical."

Simonett and his band took off much of last fall from touring. That allowed him to enjoy more time in the field than ever before, which included a trip to South Dakota. Now, he and

Trampled by Turtles

will be returning to perform on Thursday, Feb. 29, to kick off

National Pheasant Fest and Quail Classic

in Sioux Falls. The show, held at Washington Pavilion, is a fundraiser with proceeds going to Pheasants Forever and the organization's habitat mission.

What has now turned into a passion for Simonett began in 2019 when he gave hunting a try. He connected with Pheasants Forever through a Saturday morning Minnesota radio show in which the nonprofit's Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Bob St. Pierre co-hosts.

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After that first hunt, Simonett and St. Pierre's relationship grew over the years. And it was always a dream of St. Pierre for Pheasants Forever to hold a concert for habitat and conservation.

"You can have dreams," St. Pierre said, "but unless you have a willing and able band, it's just wishes and candy canes. Trampled, and specifically Dave, believed in the dream. I can't tell you I've ever been this excited for a work event in my life."

The show is closing in on a sellout. As of Friday morning, there were 80 tickets available for the 2,000-seat arena. St. Pierre said Pheasants Forever will gross over $100,000 with a sellout and sponsorships.

"It's a really fun idea that Bob had for quite a while, and to see it come to fruition is wonderful," Simonett said, "and to have it work financially is also wonderful. I love the idea of combining music and conservation. They are two worlds in which I spend a lot of my time and to see them come together is exciting."

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The poster for the Trampled by Turtles concert for conservation.

(Image courtesy of Pheasants Forever)

National Pheasant Fest is returning to Sioux Falls for the first time since 2018, when more than 28,000 people attended. It's the second time the city is holding the event, which runs Friday, March 1 through Sunday, March 3, at the Denny Sanford Premier Center.

There will be more than 400 vendors and multiple seminars with experts from South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks and bird dog trainers, among others.

Before the three-day pheasant gathering gets underway, Simonett and Trampled by Turtles take the stage, with the show beginning at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Simonett spoke with the Mitchell Republic prior to the event. Here are excerpts from the interview.

MR: I read

your blog that you wrote in 2019

about your first time hunting. In that, you wrote that the overlap between the worlds of hunting and music is slim. And the worlds are culturally separated. Do you think since you wrote that, you've made a positive difference with the perception of hunting with some of your fans, and maybe encouraging people to give it a try?

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DS: I hope so. I have kind of minimal first-hand experiences of that happening. But I will say that I do talk about hunting a lot with other bands that we're with, other crews, and it comes up a lot. I feel like the more I talk about it with people, the more I find other people who if they're not hunters yet, they're open to the idea or are interested.

Preconceptions are dangerous. There is a lot of the non-hunting world that has preconceptions with hunting, right? And just the same, it goes the other way as well. Most people I talk with are so open and interested in learning about something new that the crossover possibility is probably much wider than I originally gave it credit for.

MR: For this Sioux Falls show, how did this whole concert idea come together? The way I understand it, it was planned the way a lot of good ideas are, at the back of a pickup truck sitting on a tailgate after a hunt. Is that right?

DS: You've got that right.

Bob St. Pierre has wanted to do something like this for years. He asked us to play, I think it was 2019's Pheasant Fest in the Twin Cities, he asked if we'd play a show there. It wasn't quite as developed of an idea as we have now. We couldn't do it, and the conversation at that point had just started.

Every year when the time came around, he kind of was talking about how he wanted to blend music and this event. And finally, there was a lot of tailgate talking about it. And this year, timing and location just work so well for us, being that the event is in South Dakota, which we haven't played for a long time.

Thankfully everybody has been really supportive like Pepper Productions — the people doing the work to put on the concert. They donated all their time to Pheasants Forever, which has been amazing. People in town seem to be excited about it. Timing was just everything.

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Trampled by Turtles frontman Dave Simonett and his dog, Hrbek, following a pheasant hunt.

(Image courtesy Pheasants Forever)

MR: I also read your submission about your

adopted hunting dog Hrbek

. How's he doing?

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DS: Hrbek is fantastic. He had a really great year hunting.

I have another dog now, too, but she was being trained while I was in South Dakota. So Hrbek was the dog that came out with me. It still just blows my mind how good of a hunting dog he's become.

MR: When you establish that partnership between yourself and your hunting dog, it's so exciting to see them flush and retrieve. What's more exciting for you, to see the rush of a bird getting up and watching your dog come back to you with it, or stepping on stage for a big show?

DS: Apples and oranges, maybe?

I'd say the more shocking rush has got to be the birds. I've stepped on stage for a long time, and bird hunting is still relatively new to me, so I'm sure that has something to do with it. It has that scare factor to it because it's not fully expected when a bird jumps up, even if you have a dog on point.

I still get nervous, or maybe anxious is a better word, before every performance. Even after all this time, I'm still not fully comfortable walking out on stage in front of everyone. That feeling usually goes away during the first song, but it can be pretty intense for me beforehand. Playing is exciting, but not in the same way hunting is exciting. Playing music live for me is more akin to a train that's on the very edge of losing control. One false move here or there and disaster. That's way more dramatic than it actually is, but that's how it can feel a lot of the time. In reality I mess up quite frequently and I'd say the vast majority of those slips go unnoticed by anyone else.

MR: This summer you have a pretty nice schedule. Some festivals, playing with Turnpike Troubadours, what are you looking forward to most and how do smaller shows like the one coming up in Sioux Falls compare to playing in a big arena?

DS: What I'm looking forward to the most, and this answer is generally the same answer for me every year, and that's our big outdoor annual Duluth show we do every year. I say that just because — and it's hard to pick a favorite venue — but it's just my favorite place to play. It's just a big homecoming show full of family and friends, old friends, people who've been with us since we started. And there's really nowhere else quite like that for me.

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As far as speaking to smaller shows compared to bigger shows, I love them all. They're just different. A smaller show there's some real intimacy and connection with the audience that you can't get at an arena like when we were opening for Zach Bryan this year, or will probably happen when we're opening for Turnpike. That's cool in a different way because it's crazy and huge. But it almost feels like you're having a conversation with people when you can see their faces. I love it all and feel really lucky to be doing any of it, really.

MR: Anything else I'm missing or you want to touch on about this upcoming trip to South Dakota?

DS: Yeah, I would want to mention the guy who is opening for us, Chester Floyd, some of the people may know him from "Meateater" the podcast. But he's also a really great songwriter and he's just starting out playing in front of people. He's opened for us a couple times and he's wonderful. I would encourage people to get there early for his set.