Mark Fortney's fortunes changed when a 400-pound behemoth named Vinny walked into his life and helped him form a band they called Trailer Choir, which will play Sunday at Fallfest, the county's annual country music extravaganza.

The college-educated Fortney had spent the better part of a decade knocking around Nashville, trying to kick-start a career as a singer-songwriter.

The Ohio native, who graduated from Middle Tennessee State University in 1996, had played in bands and performed solo as an acoustic act, but hadn't really gotten anywhere.

About five years ago, he hit what looked like bottom.

"During this time I was partying a lot and writing a lot and I would just sleep on this futon in this office," Fortney says during a telephone interview. "I was wearing the same clothes for days at a time and just searching. It was a tough time for me personally. I was in my 30s at this point and I was still trying to break in as an artist."

His nighttime reveries were interrupted every now and then by a big guy strolling through the office.

Fortney, whose stage name is simply Butter, says he was drinking moonshine and playing guitar one night when the big guy, whose name turned out to be Vinny Hickerson, showed up one night with a couple of friends and boomed out a couple of tunes.

Fortney and Hickerson struck up a conversation about music, shared their mutual interest in songwriting and not long after formed a band they decided to call Trailer Choir.

The band, however, was not complete until a woman named Crystal Hoyt, who had been attending frat parties presided over by Trailer Choir, decided to switch from spectator to participant.

"Crystal, who had become familiar with our songs, jumped up one night and just started singing and it worked just like that, so she became part of the band," Fortney says.

Fortney no longer sleeps in an office. These days, he sleeps mostly in a bus as Trailer Choir — thanks to the support of Toby Keith, who signed the trio to his record label, and a song called "Rockin' the Beer Gut" — is making inroads on the country music scene.

Trailer Choir will be the opening act for this year's Fallfest, which is sponsored by radio station WIOV-FM and Turkey Hill. The concert at Overlook Community Campus in Manheim Township, which drew about 30,000 fans last year, will feature headliner Little Big Town, along with Darryl Worley, Chris Young and Sarah Buxton.

Over the years, the annual concert has drawn some of country music's biggest stars, including Taylor Swift, Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney and Martina McBride.

Trailer Choir hopes to follow in those famous footsteps and believes Keith, who played Fallfest in 1999, can help get them there.

Keith got involved in the band's career when he showed up at a Nashville club where Trailer Choir was playing to enthusiastic crowds once a week.

"We had no idea he was coming, man, and it's quite a moment to get done with a show and have Toby Keith say he just enjoyed what he saw," Fortney says.

Keith signed the band to his label, Show Dog Nashville, and it subsequently released a six-song EP, "Off the Hillbilly Hook," earlier this year.

As evidenced by some its song titles ("Off the Hillbilly Hook" and "Rockin' the Beer Gut"), Trailer Choir likes to play it funny. The band — a 400-pound guy who likes to dance, a beautiful blonde and a scruffy-looking dude who likes to wear a shirt (untucked) and tie accented by a baseball cap — doesn't look like most country acts.

But the band does have a serious side, as evidenced by the song "What Would You Say," inspired by the Sago Mine disaster. And Fortney warns skeptics not to dismiss Trailer Choir as a novelty act on the basis of "Rockin' the Beer Gut."

"I'm not worried about it because I know what's coming behind it," he says. "I know the capabilities of our songwriting."

Fallfest

with Little Big Town

Darryl Worley, Chris Young

Sarah Buxton and Trailer Choir

Sun. Gates open at 8:30 a.m.

Show starts at noon

Free, but tickets required

Available at Turkey Hill locations

Overlook Community Campus driving range

2099 Fruitville Pike

Parking at:

Manheim Township High School

Burle Business Park, UPS

Hamilton Precision Metals

Shuttle buses will be available
www.wiov.com