Trailer Park Trio

The Trailer Park Trio is billed as the largest trio in the world, with 5 members. Because everybody knows that bigger is better when it comes to trios. In this case it certainly seems to work, because their whole self-titled album is great, and it's all danceable. They play a lot of classic swing songs from the 20's - 40's and have a great sound. A good three quarters of the entire album is actually available to stream or download on their site, so you can check it all out (and then buy the CD anyway). Some of my favorite tracks are "King of the Road," "Reet, Petite & Gone," and "Nagasaki." There are a few blues songs as well: "If I Had You," "Red Light," and "Someday You'll Be Sorry."

Jim Smith, the lead singer and tenor guitar player, also has some solo albums called "Same Old New Hair" and "Bad Then... Worse Now." I love his voice, guitar playing, and even whistling, but I only have a few tracks from these albums. (Some good ones are "Half Moon Eyes" and "I Double Dare You.") I can't find any information about them anywhere online, though. If you're in the Philadelphia area, I guess just look for him at a live gig or something and get the CDs that way.