Trailer Choir photo courtesy of Show Dog Nashville.

Who are Trailer Choir? Are they the fun loving entertainers who rocked thousands on Toby Keith's tour, or three seriously determined entertainers who've poured everything into their careers? Are they emcee Butter and pop-worming Big Vinny or two serious and committed songwriters? Are they the beautiful and charismatic Crystal or the small town Louisiana girl with the big voice? Are they the party anthem "Rockin' The Beer Gut" or the heart-wrenching "What Would You Say?"

Yes. Yes they are.

For Trailer Choir, the last 18 months have been a frenetic introduction to the national stage. From their signing with Show Dog Nashville to being named About.com's Best New Country Duo/Group, the trio made a notable impression on country music without seeming to pause for so much as an extra breath. But as they release their self-titled debut, Butter, Big Vinny and Crystal know their story will be told only as the full spectrum of their music unfolds for all to hear. Sheer energy got their foot in the door, but it is their heart that will help them take the room. And through it all, everyone stands to have one serious good time.

Butter, from Ashtabula, Ohio, grew from the class clown with dreams of a future in baseball into an unexpected devotee of music after winning a school talent show. His focus quickly became singular, leading him to Nashville despite the financial difficulties of starting a life in music. "I had a student loan that looked like I should have been a doctor, but through it all I kept playing, building up a show and working my way toward this," he says. "As Big Vinny and I got deeper into Trailer Choir and saw our fan base grow, we started to allow the thought that this might be bigger than the sum of its parts."

That total grew exponentially when one of their earliest fans made an unusual demand. "I jumped on stage with them one night," Crystal says. "I was getting frustrated because one of their songs really needed a female harmony so I just took over a microphone."

The Cheneyville, Louisiana native left her hometown at 19 with a potent voice, but only a month's rent in her pocket. Her Nashville experience started in a familiar way – long on struggle, short on just about everything else. "I didn't realize I'd have to go so long without money, without sleep, working all day and going out all night every night looking for a way to make it work," she says. Meeting Big Vinny and Butter, and quickly developing a musical connection with them, put Crystal – and Trailer Choir – on a much different course.

The group's building momentum reached new heights when, after yet another packed show, Toby Keith introduced himself. "And then it was off to the races," Big Vinny says. Trailer Choir were soon on a tour bus headed out on Toby's Big Dog Daddy tour, where they played side stages, beer stands, parking lots – anywhere they could find fans to listen. "Toby said get your stuff, get the band, just get out there and introduce yourselves and play," Butter says.

Keith's fans enthusiastically embraced the band and their good-time sound. Songs from the album "Off The Hillbilly Hook," including the title track, "My Next Five Beers," "Rollin' Through The Sunshine" and "Rockin' The Beer Gut," as well as their "did you see that?" stage show, led to a multitude of accomplishments.

These included 49 shows opening for Keith, performances at the CMA Music Festival and National Finals Rodeo, "Off The Hillbilly Hook" featured in the movie and soundtrack of the feature film Beer For My Horses, and the original song "Last Man Standing" used by ESPN & ABC in a national NASCAR promotion. And as 2009 broke, words Butter told a Nashville journalist almost a year prior began to look prophetic: "We're very serious about our songwriting, even though our songs are about having a good time," Butter said at the time. "And there will come a time when a deeper side of what we do will come out."

Trailer Choir photo courtesy of Show Dog Nashville.

The manifestation of that statement is "What Would You Say," a song that opened a deeper vein of communication between Trailer Choir, country radio and their ever expanding fan base. The song evolved from a conversation Butter had with his father about the Sago, West Virginia mine collapse that claimed the lives of 12 miners. A few of the men had been able to write short notes to their loved ones as the oxygen dwindled in the shaft. "Dad asked what I would do in that situation, knowing my chances were fading," Butter says. "’What would you write in that note,' he said. 'What would you say?’" And, with the help of Big Vinny, a song was born.

Instantly striking an emotional chord, the song was another affirmation of Trailer Choir's ability to condense a grand idea into a simple phrase, if on the opposite pole from their lighter fare. As a powerfully direct query that gets to the very core of the human value system, "What Would You Say" speaks the same language as "Off The Hillbilly Hook" with its instantly recognizable imagery. "She’s rockin' the beer gut" or telling someone about plans for "my next five beers" are similarly adept at putting thoughts and phrases into the lexicon with such ease it seems they've always been there. Except for the fact that before Trailer Choir, no one had quite voiced them that way.

All of which made "What Would You Say" the perfect and completing final piece for Trailer Choir’s 2009 debut release, "Off The Hillbilly Hook." "We're really proud of this group of songs," Big Vinny says, "because they really show what we're about ... and what we're capable of."

"This has been pretty much a nonstop ride that's gone so fast it seems like a blur half the time," Butter says. "But having these songs come together the way they have really gives a picture of where we're coming from and where we're going. Because we're not slowing down."

On the contrary, Trailer Choir are putting more energy than ever into their music and, as they see it, job one: earning each and every fan. And to that end they are continuing to write prodigiously, tour recklessly and perform enthusiastically. Whether it's opening for Toby Keith, playing their own dates in honkytonks, bars and fairs nationwide or visiting with a few listeners and staffers in a radio station conference room, they're in.

"It's been a good start," Crystal says. "Actually, no. It's been a great start. Because every time we played in an amphitheater parking lot, every time we hit a stage, every time someone buys this record, we have a shot to introduce ourselves and let them know what we're all about. And getting to see that response, that recognition that they've been moved a little bit – whether it's a little shimmy during 'Beer Gut' or a hard swallow during 'What Would You Say' – let's us know they're glad to meet us. That's what keeps us going."