In the spring of 2002, Ben Winship was playing a gig for some friends who were celebrating the opening of their new fly shop. He played a few topical songs, but it was one of those gigs were most of the guests were yakking and drinking. No problem. Ben’s mind started to wander. “I wonder if anyone has ever made a recording of all fishing songs? There’s got to be a lot of great songs out there…”

The next day he rang David Thompson – band mate and lifelong fly fisher. Fishing Music was born.

Ben suggested that they combine passions — music and fishing — and explore the vast number of fish, fishing and river related songs found in just about every style of music. The idea was to tap friends from a broad spectrum of acoustic-based backgrounds to bring the collaborative CD to life. Fishing Music was released in 2002, with Fishing Music II following in 2009.

Ben and David live in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Given their surroundings and the vast number of blue ribbon trout streams, there are ample opportunities for “research and inspiration”.

Many of the songs are nostalgic americana – such as The Fishin Blues, Louis Armstrong & Bing Crosby’s Gone Fishin’ or The Fishing Hole (theme song to the Any Griffith show). Others were literally written while fishing. Ben’s Madison Brown was hatched during a steelhead trip on the Salmon River, while Jeffrey Foucault’s Mayfly was written in a boat on a lake when the fish weren’t biting. Thompson wrote Ocean of Dreams while dreaming of steelhead.

Both albums feature outstanding performances by a range of top-notch acoustic musicians, including Tim and Mollie O'Brien, Mike Dowling, Rob Ickes, Billy Novick, David Grier, Matt Flinner, Brian Wicklund, John Lowell, co-producers Winship and Thompson among many others.

Their main goal was to keep the tracks fun, but not frivolous, and the music evocative, without being contrived. They worked to create a collection of music that conveyed their own perspective on fishing - that it isn't about the fish; it's about being outdoors and having time with friends or just yourself.

The end result are two albums with an unusually wide array of musical styles, yet they manage to maintain a certain clean, clear consistency and appeal to just about everyone, fisherman or not.

There’s more than you need to know about Fishing Music and great photos, etc., at www.fishingmusic.com