By: Andrew Vaughan

Toby Keith is a smart cookie. He runs his Show Dog empire from an unassuming building a few blocks from Nashville’s famed Music Row, and he clearly knows a thing about A&R. Record companies usually employ an A&R (artist and repertoire, but that’s kind of misleading) Exec to look after their artists and sign new talent. In Show Dog’s case, Toby Keith takes care of all A&R matters and personally signed one of the most dynamic and exciting new combos to come out of Nashville since The Mavericks in the early 90s. There are three of them: Butter, Big Vinny, and Chrystal. Butter’s the serious one, Big Vinny, the people person, and Chrystal brings beauty and organization to the boys’ musical lives. "Rockin’ the Beer Gut" has been a smash on radio and TV, thanks to its hilarious video. But these are no latter day Cletus T. Judds.  The album contains music of substance, tenderness, insight and thought, as well as a healthy offering of contagiously upbeat joyous material.

So, what’s it like to be an overnight success?

Button: “Sure, overnight. It always looks like that, and we have been real busy recently once things really took off. But I have to say that we prepared for this. I’ve been in Nashville nine years, paying the dues, figuring out how this town works. We played everywhere, a lot of frat parties out of town, and we learned how to work with a crowd.”

Chrystal: “There’s a lot of struggling artists in Nashville who fall into the trap of not playing shows. They think they need to keep some mystery and that someone will eventually discover them. Now that does happen, but Vinny, Button, and me are all of the mindset of being proactive and making things happen. It’s hard work, takes commitment and energy, but it’s what worked for us.”

Big Vinny: “I never stopped promoting the band. Every time I went out and met folks in the business, I’d get a card and call them. So with our live shows getting noticed and then people behind their desks getting calls, we kind of got their attention. I was the same when I looked for a job; I’d just keep calling till they got back to me. It pays to be persistent.”

Button: “And the thing about working hard and playing so many shows means that we were prepared when our chance with a label came along. We had been told that Toby Keith wanted to see us play, so we organized a show at our favorite venue, 12th and Porter. It was like nine o’clock, no sign, ten o’clock, and no sign of Toby. It was deflating. We’d built ourselves up for this. So anyways, turns out Toby had been held up.  This was during Country Radio Seminar and Nashville gets crazy. So he asks us to come to this little bar in Printers' Alley with him. When we are there, the house band takes a break and he organizes it for us to go on stage and play for him. Now this is what I mean about working hard and being prepared. We didn’t have a sound check.  We’d never been on that stage before.  We had no fans in the room, but we got up on stage and rocked the house.”

The band’s greatest asset, however, despite their musical and performing talents, is in their attitude. Button will tell you that he studied Garth Brooks and how he conducted himself and never turned down an opportunity to promote himself. And like Brooks, they connect with their fans on a different level than most.

Button: “We don’t think of us and them. We need the crowd for a good show - we don’t separate ourselves; our fans have always been our friends and that’s how we all look at it. The audience is just as much a part of our show as the guys on stage.”

They also understand that we have entered a brave new world of social marketing and interaction with fans.

Chrystal: “I look after Facebook and Twitter. I love it.  It’s really cool, and we genuinely enjoy connecting with people. It’s another of the things that we all have in common.”

Andrew Vaughan is a well-known and respected Nashville based writer. As a music critic his work has appeared in Billboard, Music Week, Mojo, "Q", the London Times, the Guardian, and Folk Roots. He was the founding director of Country Music International magazine and a regular guest on BBC Radio, BBC TV, and VH1.