Way Cool World by Antsy McClain and The Trailer Park Troubadours

It's a quiet little community where you can leave your door unlocked at night and walk down to the County Seat Grocery for a can of snuff, an RC Cola, and a couple of lottery tickets. Neighbors watch out for each other. Children play carelessly through the streets and culdesacs. And elderly people watch your every move, and talk about you at the Post Office.

Emerging from this small town atmosphere are two young men named R.J. "Antsy" McClain and Stephen Foster Fleming III. (His friends call him "Flem" for short.) Antsy and Flem are third cousins twice removed, and grew up four trailers down from each other in Pine View Heights.

"We've been buddies as long as I can remember," says McClain, "We're a lot closer than third cousins twice removed. We're more like second cousins, really."

When McClain was 14 years old, his father was killed in a bizarre accident involving a Ronco Buttoneer. This may explain Antsy's unique outlook on life, as well as his reluctance to enter fabric stores. Young Antsy (a nickname given to him by his mother, due to his extreme energy as a child) began to share the responsibility of supporting his mother and two sisters by delivering newspapers, pizzas, and selling hand-crafted lawn ornaments. Flem was born the sixth child in a family of 12 kids. From his early years, he and his brother, Mackrelle (number 7) were constantly competing for middle child status in the home.

Throughout his adult life, Flem has turned to his love of bowling and comic books as a way of dealing with the stress of being one of two middle children in a family. The boys began to look at music as a way of unwinding at the end of a hectic day, relieving stress, and hopefully, impressing girls. Antsy began to play the guitar and write words to the music he played, while Flem, who "hears voices that tell me to do certain things," was soon to follow, teaching himself to play several instruments. Soon, they were sitting around the kitchen table after Sunday dinners, entertaining their friends, and getting out of doing the dishes.

When asked about their name, Antsy explains, "Troubadours were those romantics back in the 1300's who believed poetry was the quickest way to a woman's heart. We've taken that classic romanticism and put it in a trailer park."

Their songs are original, written by McClain, with an occasional Antsy/Flem collaboration. "I write out of my own experience," McClain continues, "Woody Guthrie sang about trains. Red Sovine sang about trucks. We sing about trailers. It's who we are." Playing a style of music they call "folkabilly," the duo has played throughout the country, taking their act to appreciative, easy-to-please audiences.

Now touring with three back-up musicians called The Sons of Hitches Band, they have expanded, giving their audiences the same old Troub sound, only louder. The Trailer Park Troubadours maintain a desire to widen their horizons.

"We have a vision, says Flem, "We hope one day to take our music to exotic, far-away places like Idaho or Wyoming."

Antsy adds, "We're on an adventure that will take us where we never dreamed of going. Kind of like Star Trek, but with a lot more bathroom stops."

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