Hi Folks,

Many of you have already heard that our friend Laura Hopper of KPIG radio died Monday, May 28th after a short battle with cancer.

I first heard the news from Jimmy "Jetlag" Jackson, who called me early Tuesday morning. I would like to express my appreciation to Laura, and give my condolences to her husband Frank and her family.

I owe Laura Ellen a great deal as an artist, but she made her biggest impact on me as a person. I last talked with her via cell phone in April. We talked about music a little, radio a little, but as always, spent the majority of the conversation on our children, dogs and horses.

Frank and Laura were my guests on our Polyesterfest Cruise this past February. Laura looked a little tired, and indeed said that while she wasn't a 'cruise-type person,' she and Frank could use a vacation. And they both seemed to enjoy themselves.

Here's the history of Antsy McClain and The Trailer Park Troubadours in a nutshell:

We released our first "real" album, Doublewide & Dangerous in 2000. The record label folded up three weeks later, leaving us with no financial means to support a record we spent so much time and energy on. I contemplated a lot of options, but the only thing that made any sense was quitting. We had only a few dates booked and one record getting airplay here and there, but since our radio promotion team was gone, we had no way of knowing who was playing it and where.

One dreary Nashville afternoon, I pick up the phone to hear a pleasant, no-nonsense voice. "Hi, this is Laura from KPIG in California! Is this The Trailer Park Troubadours?" I said something like, "Yeah, for a while anyway." And she then told me how much she enjoyed the album. It was in heavy rotation at her station, and she wanted to get us out there to play at something called The Humbug Hoedown to open for Robert Earl Keen.

That was the turning point for us. When I said I'd need a band, she called Jimmy Jackson, and look where we are. That's why I have always said that "all roads lead to Laura Ellen," as far as my music is concerned. And that's why I'm dedicating this entire newsletter to her.

I was looking forward to seeing Laura in Nashville at the Americana Music Conference again this year. The last few years, she would call me on her way to Nashville, and when she wasn't being a part of a panel discussion, we'd skip out and grab coffee somewhere for a couple of hours and catch up. We were two non-schmoozers welcoming the opportunity to get away from the chronic back-patting and insecurities of the music business to connect on a more real level. We were often joined by like-minded mutual friends.

Every meeting with Laura was a memorable experience for me because she was real.

Jimmy Jackson, who worked at KPIG as a late night DJ, and knew Laura for over 20 years, said, "She always treated me like I was someone special. There were no levels of importance with her -- that one person was more important than another. She'd be on the phone with Rolling Stone Magazine, and then turn around and talk to someone else the exact same way. She wasn't star struck. If she ever went to an event where they rolled out a red carpet, she would have walked around it."

Jimmy tells a story of one eventful night at KPIG. "It was 3:00 in the morning and I played a Richard Pryor record. I had listened to it earlier and thought I was playing one of the few safe parts I could play on the air, but it was the wrong part. He went into a string of expletives. I panicked, pulling the needle across the record, and I put on a song real fast. 30 seconds go by and I think I'm safe. But the phone rings. I pick it up and hear Laura say, 'Are you outta your mind?' Fortunately it was 3 in the morning and the FCC was asleep, but Laura was listening. She loved that radio station."

She was always interested to know where I was headed musically, and she would give me careful advice as I approached yet another bend in the road; advice I always took to heart. She had, after all, seen hundreds of guys like me come and go in the music business. But while she was a tough, seasoned businesswoman, I would never have called her jaded. There was a sensitivity to her approach in radio -- and in life -- that we don't often see.

And if I may speak personally to the KPIG family (the word "listeners" seems so impersonal here) Laura loved you guys very, very much. She told me once that she was "in awe of you," that you were what kept her going when life and the radio business got to be too much.

I talked with Laura on the Cruise this past February. Hear her thoughts about life, music, and her favorite subject: KPIG and it's listeners. Listen to the podcast here: http://www .unhitched.com/podcast.html

You'll notice that this podcast is different than any of the others I've done. I'm not plugging the website. I'm not playing my music. It's just Laura and me talking. When I listened to it last night for the first time since our interview (I thought I had time to put this together for a future podcast about the state of radio, etc.) I smiled many times. Laura's outspoken nature was entertaining, and her love for this truly unique radio station was evident from her very first words. I knew that KPIG listeners would love to hear those words, so I posted the podcast just as it is. No edits. No music. No plugs. Just Laura, as we knew her and loved her. I hope you enjoy it and pass it along it along to your friends.

Thank you, Laura, for making the world a brighter place. Like the famed torch lighter in the Olympics, you've passed your light on to a countless number of us, fellow music lovers, and friends who are all the more committed now to taking that light wherever we go and spreading that passion through music and laughter and love.

Antsy McClain
lead singer guy
The Trailer Park Troubadours


LISTEN TO THE PODCAST OF LAURA HOPPER AND ANTSY.