Third Town finalists on reality show

They had three hours to catch a plane to Nashville, and they already were late.

Jeff Fairchild was nearly asleep when he heard the news. It'd be another 60 hours before he'd sleep again.

Tony Mosti was backstage at "The Soprano's Last Supper" at the Riviera, where he performs.

"Little Tony" (aka James A. Kouns) was on a date with his girlfriend.

Then Kouns got the call from Fairchild, his bandmate in local country music vocal trio Third Town. Kouns couldn't believe what he was hearing at first, that Third Town had been selected as one of the 12 finalists on NBC reality show "Nashville Star."

"It was unbelievable," he recalls from Nashville, Tenn., where the show is being taped. "It literally took me about three to five minutes to start believing it. The waiter's standing there waiting to get her order, and I hang up the phone and said 'We gotta go.' She said, 'Why? What's wrong? Did somebody die?' I said, 'No, "Nashville Star" called, they want me on a plane in three hours.' And she started bawling right in the middle of Trader Vic's."

It was a sudden turn of events for this bunch: They had initially just missed out on the show as the last band cut before making the finals, but then one of the other acts was dropped unexpectedly and Third Town was asked back.

It all marked the culmination of a long haul for these guys, who've been singing with each other for 14 years, and who initially came together when Fairchild was looking for performers for a comedy troupe that he had in San Antonio called the Prozac Players.

After attempting to make a name for themselves in Texas and then Tennessee, the group eventually came to Vegas, the third town they've tried to establish themselves in (hence their name).

Still, this isn't a city known for its country bonafides.

"It's been pretty difficult," Mosti admits. "But when it comes to the bills, there's a lot of work in Vegas, because we all do other things. It's easier to pay a mortgage when you're in Vegas."

Fairchild's made ends meet by earning renown as, among other things, a Johnny Carson impersonator, while Kouns plays with local '80s tribute acts Love Shack and the Whip Its.

Together, they make radio-ready contemporary country driven by rich, three-part harmonies and traces of a Southern rock edge.

It's gotten them this far, now all they need to do is keep their eyes open somehow.

"It still kind of feels like a dream," says Fairchild. "They called us at 8:15 p.m., we had to get on a plane and fly out here all through the evening. We couldn't sleep on the plane because we were so excited. We had a whole day of rehearsal and then the show, so by the time we actually taped, we had been up for 60 hours.

"It was brutal," he chuckles. "I think just now we're getting to the stage where we're actually waking up. It's like, 'Oh my gosh, we're actually here.' "

Jason Bracelin's "Sounding Off" column appears on Tuesdays. Contact him at 702-383-0476 or e-mail him at jbracelin@ reviewjournal.com.