The Lost Trailers   -  Biography

The Lost Trailers' Stokes Nielson (singer-songwriter and guitarist) and Ryder Lee (lead singer and keyboardist) began making music together in high school, writing and recording demos on a short trip to Nashville in the late '90s. They also roomed together at Vanderbilt University and collaborated on a musical interpretation of a series of short stories.

Bassist Andrew Nielson (Stokes' younger brother) and drummer Jeff Potter attended the same high school and were the first recruits once Stokes and Lee began performing the songs they'd recorded. Guitarist Manny Medina joined shortly thereafter.

Then working as a Nashville DJ, Stokes Nielson gave Willie Nelson a demo during an interview in 2000, which prompted Nelson to invite the band to play his annual Fourth of July picnic.

The Georgia band's name came after a trailer full of instruments and equipment was stolen in their first year together. The name was meant to be an inside joke, but it started to seem prophetic by the time their third instrument trailer disappeared in 2004.

Nashville producer Blake Chancey, whose credits include projects with the Dixie Chicks, Waylon Jennings and Charlie Robison, saw the re-born Lost Trailers at Billy Bob's in Fort Worth, Texas, and offered to work with the band. The Lost Trailers then teamed with BNA Records which will release their major label debut in 2006.