Art finds a way to shine through in all environments. Once the art is given a fertile place to grow, it returns the favor in various mediums. For Antsy McClain, he has honored a small town America/single wide upbringing in a family prone to laugh a lot. In ‘Heroes Last Forever’, his most recent release, Antsy McClain and the Trailer Park Troubadours tackle topics such as that special love that allows you to take something out of someone’s hand if the price is right (“Everything’s A Dollar”), keeping your quiet around a particularly feisty relative (“Aunt Beulah’s Road Kill Overcoat”), equally road wary brothers in fur (“The Ballad of Skippy and Rover”) and those moments when the screen turns blue (“Facebook Blues”).
Antsy McClain can turn a phrase into a smile like a song craft master and balances that ability to get a laugh with his knack of making listeners think. The pace slows as narrator shares the loss of love (“In A Perfect World”), matching his vision of a life lived still in bliss with the
other things he holds dear, a Buddy Holly plane crash where everyone lived, Patsy was playing The Opry at 65, no one died a soldier, The King was still alive, Marilyn and Joe had a cottage on the coast and God was in his heaven. The scene plays out over a note plucked reverie and a faithful heartbeat. Antsy’s dreams turn to the man who gave us all reasons to imagine, chronicling the life of a Beatle in “John Lennon As An Old Man”. The Trailer Park Troubadours provide near samba shuffles (“My baby Whistles When She Walks”), rave up and rev up (“Summertime Blues”) and tone down to a whisper to offer warmth for “Leftover Birds”.
‘Heroes Last Forever’ shines a bright light on Antsy McClain’s personal best in the people rating department. Whether born blood or brothers and sisters of song, many of those that claim the crown recorded at the legendary Sun Studios. Antsy McClain and The Trailer Park Troubadours recorded ‘Heroes Last Forever’ at Sun Studios and the circle remains unbroken.
More on Antsy McClain and The Trailer Park Trobadours can be found on their music site and for Antsy’s art, check out his online gallery.
