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The Trailer Park Troubadours got
their start sometime back in 1994 as a duo...just Antsy and
Flem...playing acoustically in what they called "Parlor Concerts".
At this period of time the duo were invited to play in people's living
rooms for a nominal fee.
The parlor concerts led to the first public awareness of the Troubs.
They performed at Lexington, KY radio personality Jack Pattie's home and
the concert was covered by a reporter from the Lexington Herald-Leader
in an article from February 4, 1995. |
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This photo is one of the
earliest promotional photos of Antsy and Flem, taken in 1994. At
that time Antsy was using the name LaZbe Music, Inc. as the name of the
music company and to have a logo of some sort.
Also note in the photo at the left
that Antsy does not have glasses on. These were the days when he tucked
his horned rims into his breast pocket when having his pictures taken.
Flem wore that bowling shirt for many gigs. He finally auctioned
it off to charity in December 2000. Rumor has it that the bowling
shirt was never washed the entire time it was in use.
During this early period the Troubs
recorded their first album, called Trailer Hoppin' with the Troubs.
It included the fan favorite The Crack of Don, and
early versions of What Could I Be Doing and Primer Grey Impala,
both of which have since been re-recorded and released on later CDs.
Trailer Hoppin' was later
re-released and remastered as part of The Singlewide Sessions CD. |
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The very first Stage Performance
by the Trailer Park Troubadours was at the Leeds Theatre in Winchester,
KY. The concert was staged on July 16, 1994. They performed
a week later on the same stage. Tickets were only $5.00!!! |
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On May 13, 1995 the Troubs hit the big
time stage in Lexington, KY as the opening act for the Goose Creek
Symphony. The concert was performed in the beautiful Opera House.
They performed with them on other occasions, such as the November 4,
1995 performance at The Sutler in Nashville, TN. The Sutler closed
down in 2005. The Troubs'
relationship with Goose Creek Symphony blossomed and opened the door to
the next stage of their development as a group. From this came the
direction of Richie Albright. Richie had played drums for Waylon
Jennings for many years and was a well-known figure in the world of
country music. He took the Troubs under his wings and assisted
them in their next recording venture Unhitched. This was
released on cassette and later CD and featured a backup band which was
coined The Sons of Hitches Band, and featured Richie on the
drums, Bee Spears (Willie Nelson's long time bass player) on bass, and
Jeff King on guitar. (See the
Troubs' Bio Page for more details)
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To the left is the cassette cover of the
original Unhitched album (click on the cover for a larger and
better look). Antsy relates an interesting story concerning the
cover art:
"Richie Albright hated the floating,
disembodied head thing on the cover. Said it
gave him nightmares. "All the more reason to
keep it," I said, and we laughed about it.
We printed only 500 of those, and I'll be
darned if I didn't hear from about 400 of
those who bought it that the disembodied
head thing gave them the creeps.....First
lesson in listening to my elders."
The
original cassette was recorded in Franklin,
TN for $1000.
Another interesting tidbit about the album:
the Recording Engineer was none other than
Dennis Bryan, the drummer for the Bee Gees
during their Disco heyday.
Also
from Antsy, regarding the LIBMR label name:
The record label was indeed our own. We
wanted to appear bigger than we were and put
an actual logo on there. I came up with
LIBMR Records. It came from the old joke of
two rednecks talking:
"M R
DUCKS" "M R NOT" "O S M R 2, C M WANGS?"
"LIB M R DUCKS!" So, they became LIBMR
Records. "Well, I'll be."
This album produced
the ever popular Clapper Song along with Flem's famous
"Shaker Solo" in One Less Trailer. Flem's
preacher-like rantings were also first heard here on
Trailer Park on Heaven. All three of these songs
were re-recorded and appeared on Doublewide and
Dangerous.
Antsy
had worried at the time they were planning
to remaster and re-release Unhitched
since he had trouble finding the original
tapes. Thank goodness he found them and got
this redone, with the masterful production
skills of long-time Troub bassist, sax
player and audio production specialist Mike
Rosen.
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The Trailer Park Troubadours were now on a roll and were encouraged
to enter a contest called the "Charlie Daniels' Talent Roundup", which
had begun in 1995 on The Nashville Network. It was similar to the
American Idol programs of the 2000s in that it was a nationwide talent
search program. On July 20, 1996 Antsy and Flem walked off with a
$25,000 check as the grand prize winners of the program, which was
televised nationally. They competed against 800 other performers
and groups. They also appeared on television on July 22, 1996 on
TNN's "Country News" program. This was a cause to party at the
Trailer Park!! |
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With a $25,000 check in hand and with some backing from Richie Albright, the
Troubs' had an opportunity to expand their horizons. They were
offered a contract with RioStar Entertainment and released their first
CD, a live album called Bootlegged which was recorded at a small
club called Green's Grocery in Leiper's Fork, Tennessee.
Green’s Grocery used to be a grocery store
run by Mr. Herman Green and his family. It used to be painted an
alarming shade of pastel green, and they made a mighty fine baloney
sandwich. Nowadays, music is made there from time to time. No baloney.
Richie Albright helped produce this album
and it was mastered by Mike Rosen. Richie also helped write the hit
songs, It Ain't Home and Redneck Aphrodisiac. Along with
Antsy and Flem, the Sons of Hitches band consisted of Richie on drums,
Doug "5-string" Habbena on bass and Nestor "Neutron" Eaton on lead
guitar.
Bootlegged was released in May
1998. |
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In the summer of 1998,
G. Gordon Liddy
announced that he was bringing his nationally syndicated radio show to
Nashville. Flem had heard about this and called Antsy immediately
to let him know. Antsy had already heard and was busily putting together
a proposal to try to get on the show and thus garner more publicity for
the still fledgling group. At this
time Antsy and Flem had both purchased their brand new summer homes, a
couple of singlewides in a small quiet cul-de-sac in Middle Tennessee
and from these abodes they listened to the show frequently.
Knowing it wouldn't be a true "Nashville"
show without a house band, Antsy wrote to the show's producers and
offered the services of the Trailer Park Troubadours, free of charge. He
included the latest CD, Bootlegged, a press kit, and the drawing
at the left for their consideration.
Producers John Pop and Cameron Gray
listened to the CD and even played a couple of the tracks on the air.
They were well received, so Mr. Pop contacted Antsy the next day and
arranged for them to be the house band. They performed many times
on the show and even had their CD release of Doublewide and Dangerous
on the show in April 1999. |
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Soon after Bootlegged was
released, the Troubs' went to work on their first RioStar studio album. Thus was born the
Doublewide and Dangerous CD as well as the Trailer Park Troubadours'
first music video...Skinny Women Ain't Hip.
Richie Albright, Doug Habbena and Nestor Eaton provided musical backing
on the video and it was produced by the well-known Nashville producer
Danny Petraitis. (see the
Troubs' Bios for more info) The video was shown a few times on Country Music
Television (CMT) and the album got general release in the winter of
1999. One could even find the CDs in WalMarts everywhere.
Doublewide and Dangerous
featured some of the most well known songs and had a couple of remakes
as well. Along with Skinny Women Ain't Hip, The Croquet King
and It Ain't Home ('Til You Take the Wheels Off) are Troubs
staples on Americana stations throughout the country, such as
KPIG in Freedom, CA,
KVMR in Nevada City,
CA and WDVR
in Delaware, NJ. Aunt Beula's Roadkill Overcoat is commonly
requested at all Troubs' shows.
This was not only their first big production
CD, but it was also the first time that a model graced the covers of
their CD. Aunt Beula made her appearance on the cover as well as
in the video.
In the CD was a slick, almost poster-size
insert with great color photos and an introduction by Richie Albright.
RioStar Entertainment was later purchased
by another company and the groups' association with them ended after the
Doublewide and Dangerous period. Hot Iron Entertainment, the
Trailer Park Troubadours mother company, now owns the rights to all of
the Doublewide material and the CD has been re-released under the
Hot Iron Entertainment label.
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Along with the success of their new CD
and new video, in 1999 the Trailer Park Troubadours also officially
kicked off their brand new website at
www.unhitched.com, where it remains to this day. All of the original
artwork and design were directed by Antsy McClain, who not only is a
great singer/songwriter, but also a very talented artist.
The website featured song samples, tour
schedules, merchandise pages where T-Shirts and hats were offered, a
news page called the Troubune and other neat areas. This offered
the world the opportunity to learn more about the Troubs!!
Since the first page in 1999, the
site has gone through numerous changes and upgrades and continues to
change to this day with the inclusion of an mp3 store, a podcast, and
other new items. |
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Hot off the success of
Doublewide and Dangerous, Antsy, Flem and the gang got together for
the next big album, Way Cool World. This too was a big
production album and was just in time for some really big upcoming shows
for the group around the country.
As with Doublewide, the
Way Cool World album produced some very popular songs for radio play
and also for the live Troubs' shows. Jailbird Beauty is a
live show staple, whereas My Baby Whistles (When She Walks) and
Trailer on the Bayou find their way onto airplay continuously.
The ballads Primer Grey Impala and What Could I Be Doing
were remakes from earlier albums, but are also very popular serious
songs that show the diversity, strength and sensitivity in Antsy
McClain's storytelling in song fashion.
Danny Petraitis once again joined
with Antsy to produce the first full-length Troubs music video and
mockumentary with a full length live Troubs show filmed in Murfreesboro,
TN. The mockumentary included interviews and a
Roadie
Clinic with the
roadies Smotes and Eddie. |
Trailer Park Troubia
