Antsy McClain

Antsy McClain & the Trailer Park Troubadours are based in Nashville, TN, but they're as far from country's mainstream as you can get. The band's moniker is a tip-off that everything isn't exactly serious, but McClain isn't a novelty act. The Troubadours are a revolving cadre of top-notch pickers who can play cowboy jazz, Tex-Mex waltzes, country ballads, and soulful R&B dance tunes without breaking a sweat. McClain adds his songwriting, a relaxed tenor with the understated elegance of all good country singers and a storyteller's gift of gab to the proceedings for a show that's both down-home and high tone. Antsy McClain was born Ronnie Joe McClain in 1962. He grew up in a succession of small trailer parks in Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee with his Avon-selling mother and a father who drove a Wonder Bread delivery truck. His upbringing has colored his music and outlook on life ever since. "People hear the phrase Trailer Park Troubadours and expect to see something out of an episode of Cops or Jerry Springer," McClain says in his good-natured drawl. "But we don't take the low road. There's no blue material. When we sing about adult themes and relationships gone wrong, it's not in a jaundiced way. We always deliver some semblance of hope. We're about lightness and laughter and positive energy. Our shows stir up the endorphins and get you interested in living. Life is too short to dwell on the negative." McClain grew up with eight-track tapes and vinyl, falling under the spell of '70s singer/songwriters in his youth. Jim Croce, still a big favorite, led him to James Taylor and John Denver. As he got older he discovered Lynyrd Skynyrd, AC/DC and other noisy rock bands. His mother's collection of Motown albums and groove heavy music was complemented by his dad's interest in...