Lee offers fans the chance to meet the band at Winstock
By Ryan Gueningsman
Kenny Chesney heads to the Virgin Islands for a little R&R. Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffet set sail on a Jamaican vacation in their well-known hit, but for The Lost Trailers, much like their musical stylings, they also take a different approach when it comes to vacations.
For Atlanta-based lead singer/keyboardist Ryder Lee, guitarist/vocalist Stokes Nielson, bassist Manny Medina, keyboardist Andrew Nielson, and drummer Jeff Potter, peace was found in a little raw fish for breakfast and 10,000 screaming Japanese.
The band had just finished recording its current hit “Holler Back” last fall (now at number 28 on the charts), and everyone agreed it would be the first single from their upcoming summer 2008 album. After that decision was made, the group headed overseas.
“We got to clear our heads and go tour Japan,” Lee said. “It was amazing. We got to test ‘Holler Back’ live for the first time in Japan – 20,000 screaming Japanese cowboys and cowgirls at the base of a volcano going ‘Hey’ and ‘Ho’ back to the ‘Holler Back’ chorus.”
Footage of this scene can be found on the band’s web site, www.thelosttrailers.com, for anyone curious to see 20,000 Japanese cowboys and cowgirls.
“Stokes looked at me, and he’s like, ‘We got something here,’” Lee recalled about that moment onstage in Japan. “If this is crossing all language barriers just as a purely fun, hooky song, it’s going to be good for us. That was a lot of fun. A lot of raw fish for breakfast, and back home refreshed and ready to hit it.”
And hit it they did.
In early 2008, the band spent time promoting “Holler Back” on the road with Carrie Underwood and Trace Adkins, as well as taking part in the “Raisin’ the Bar” tour with Chris Young and fellow Winstock 2008 performer Keith Anderson.
“We’ve been on the road constantly,” Lee said. “I’m in Atlanta today, which is where we’re out of, for the first time in about three weeks, so it feels really good.”
In between tour dates, the group has also been working on its latest album, set for release this summer.
“We did something unusual, for us, last year,” Lee explained. “Get off the road. We’re all high school friends, and we hit the road in 2001 after Willie Nelson found our demo and put us on a series of shows around southeastern Texas, and we’ve been touring ever since, essentially.
The band took a year off, and set a goal of finally capturing their live energy in a studio album.
“We take a lot of pride in our live shows. Anybody coming out to Winstock is going to see that. It’s a very high-energy, fun show, so we set out to capture that in an album,” Lee said.
The band was able to work with producer Brett Beavers, who also produced Dierks Bentley’s last two albums.
“We felt that he could help us get there,” Lee said. “When we pushed playback on ‘Holler Back,’ and it came through the speakers, for the first time ever, we were like, ‘Man, this is the definitive Lost Trailers celebratory, fun sound.’”
Lee said Jeff Foxworthy said it best when the band was chatting with him last week. He said Foxworthy was driving in his car, and caught himself speeding while listening to “Holler Back.”
“That kinda sums it up, I think,” Lee said.
One factor that may have helped the group produce such positive energy with “Holler Back” was the birth of Stokes’ new baby girl, Averly, two days before the band recorded the song.
“I think a lot of that celebration came through,” Lee said. In choosing the rest of the songs for the album, Lee said the group not only listened to hundreds of other songs from Nashville’s top writers, but also wrote several hundred songs themselves.
“When you do that, you hope you end up with the cream of the crop for your fans,” Lee said. “There’s not a song on this album we don’t believe in and feel very strongly about.
“It kind of makes it interesting when it comes time to pick a single ‘cause everybody has their favorites, but I’d rather have that situation than have people lookin’ for the next single.”
Fans of the group have heard songs like “Call Me Crazy,” and “Why Me” on the radio in the past, but “Holler Back” may just be the launching point that takes them to the next level.
Stokes Nielson and Lee began making music together in high school, writing and recording demos on a short trip to Nashville in the late 1990s.
Bassist Andrew Nielson (Stokes’ younger brother), and drummer Jeff Potter attended the same high school, and were the first recruits once Stokes and Ryder began performing the songs they recorded. Guitarist Manny Medina joined the group shortly after, and the line-up has remained unchanged.
“We all grew up idolizing Alabama, the essential country band,” Lee explained, adding that if they could do this for 20 to 30 years, life would be good.
Their first of three stolen equipment trailers also came during the first year of the group’s existence – something that, though devastating at the time, proved helpful in choosing a name for the group down the road.
The group got a little help in the beginning from country music’s “Red-Headed Stranger” Willie Nelson, who invited them to play at his annual Fourth of July picnic in Texas.
“Crazy story, man,” Lee said. “Stokes was running with our dog. We had an apartment in Nashville, and the dog’s name was Willie, believe it or not. He was running the dog, and he was going through the park, and he saw Mickey Rapheal, who’s Willie’s harmonica player. He said ‘Hey man, you’re Mickey Raphael, right?’ And he was like ‘Yeah, I am.’”
It turns out a demo the group had recorded found its way to Nelson somehow.
Stokes Nielson introduced himself as being from The Lost Trailers, and Rapheal informed him the group was on the bill for Nelson’s annual picnic.
“We had no idea we were playing the picnic, but evidently, they’d been listening to the demo on the bus and Willie was diggin’ it, so he put us on,” Lee said.
From playing that picnic, to landing their record deal, and ultimately having their equipment trailer stolen two more times, the group has been through a lot together.
With the recent reaction to “Holler Back” being what it is, Lee said offers for live performances have been coming in from across the country, and they are filling out a summer tour schedule quickly.
“We hope, in the fall, to be picked up on a tour,” Lee said, adding that the group is excited about playing at Winstock again. The group’s first Winstock performance took place in 2005, on the Emerging Artists Stage.
“We were excited then, and we’re more excited now, having a top-30 single and some new fans,” Lee said. “‘Holler Back’ is making its way up the charts, so it’ll be good to see some new faces out there. Winstock is a special festival. We’re honored you’re having us back there.”
‘Holler Back’ at the Trailers
Lee said The Lost Trailers are doing something special for those who are hearing about the band for the first time – including those who may be reading this article about the group.
“If they go to our Myspace site – www.myspace.com/losttrailers – and tell us they heard about us from the Winstock web site or in the Herald Journal, we’ll send them a free electronic gift pack – a song and a meet and greet pass that they’ll hopefully be able to use at Winstock,” Lee explained.
The band is also offering the opportunity for fans to “Holler Back” at them by leaving a voice message on (615) 823-7427.
“We have a mobile number where they can call and leave us a message, and the message will actually get posted on the site,” Lee said.
That was another thing the band learned early on from Willie Nelson – how to treat its fans.
“Signing autographs and meeting people are very important,” Lee said.
The Lost Trailers will perform twice on the Emerging Artists Stage at Winstock 2008 in Winsted Friday, June 13 – at 7:50 p.m. and again at 9:55 p.m.
Lead singer Ryder Lee called May 12 from Atlanta for a phone interview in support of the group’s appearance at Winstock.
For more information on Winstock, visit www.winstockfestival.com, or call 888-946-7865.
For more information on The Lost Trailers, visit www.thelosttrailers.com.
Ryan Gueningsman is at ryan@heraldjournal.com.
