Trailer Choir - Background

Background

Trailer Choir was founded in 2004 by Marc Fortney, known as Butter, along with Vinny Hickerson and Crystal Hoyt, who are respectively known as Big Vinny and Crystal in the group. Trailer Choir had originally started as a loose association of musicians, usually including Fortney and Hickerson, that played cover shows at fraternities and clubs in order to make some money and have some fun, rather than as an intended career path. Wanting to add original music without losing the audience led the group to writing and playing the party anthem style they are known for. They then started performing original shows during the week, while continuing to play the frat houses and clubs on the weekend.

At one performance in late 2006, a fan named Crystal Hoyt jumped on the stage and took over Hickerson’s microphone, thus becoming a member of the band until she parted ways with them in early 2011. Not long after Hoyt joined them, Toby Keith showed up at one of their original performances on "The Billy Block Show" at a club called 12th & Porter. When Billy Block told them that Toby Keith was there wanting to talk with them, they at first thought he was joking.

The trio signed to Show Dog Nashville, a label owned by Toby Keith, in June 2007. After Keith had them play for the staff of his record label, they were offered a deal on the spot, and after signing on a Tuesday, they were on a tour bus by Thursday as part of Keith’s Big Dog Daddy tour. Keith left it up to them to make it work, so they played anywhere they could find fans, including side stages, beer stands, and parking lots. Hickerson reports averaging 50 pop worms a day.

Trailer Choir's first recording for Show Dog was the track "Off the Hillbilly Hook", which was included in the soundtrack to the 2008 film Beer for My Horses, in which Toby Keith starred. Shortly afterward, "Off the Hillbilly Hook" was released as a single and was made into a music video. Trailer Choir also released a digital EP on November 4.

In 2009, Trailer Choir issued its second single, "What Would You Say." This became the group's first chart entry, peaking at No. 43 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts in May 2009. On June 9, 2009, the group released a physical extended play entitled Off the Hillbilly Hook, which included all four songs from the digital EP and two more songs. After its release came the trio's third single, "Rockin' the Beer Gut", which became the group's first Top 40 hit on the country charts in mid-2009. The song's music video features Wolf from American Gladiators. In December 2009, "Rockin' the Beer Gut" re-entered the charts following a "Holla Day Version" released for the Christmas season. "Rollin' Through the Sunshine" charted at No. 50 in early 2010, shortly before the release of the band's debut album, Tailgate. The band also appears on the track "Don't Mind If I Don't" from Trace Adkins's album Cowboy's Back In Town.

Their song "Last Man Standing" has been used in promotions for the 2008 NASCAR "Chase for the Sprint Cup," and a high school football show known as "Rivalry Thursday."

On February 1, 2011, Trailer Choir announced that Crystal Hoyt has left the group to pursue other interests.

In November 2011, Trailer Choir released a new single called "Love Me First" through their own Hollaville Records.

On September 2, 2012 it was announced on Facebook that Vinny Hickerson has a new band. In reply to a follower post that same day inquiring about Trailer Choir he explained that "Butter decided to leave the band due to his new baby." Hickerson is now going by the stage name Vinny Van-Zant.