Toenail Brothers (Southern Troubadours)

Born and raised in Goose Creek, South Carolina, Arturo and Arthur Tosarello (aka Stinky and Pinky, the Toenail Brothers) might have never become musicians, save for the fact that they were not good at anything else. Their brief stint as blacksmiths ended when they tried to shoe a Clydesdale with a pair of Italian loafers. They were equally unsuccessful as astronaut trainees, when they succumbed to motion sickness on the bus ride to Cape Canaveral. The mile-long list of their other failed careers includes cheese sniffers, dog waxers, nerf herders, door-to-door door salesmen, and far too many atrocities to recount here.

Arthur was the first of the brothers to discover music, when he married the widow next door (she’d been married seven times before) and joined her instrumental jazz combo, The Goose Creek Gooseberries, as rhythm guitarist. His playing was a bit shaky in the beginning, but improved immediately once he bought a guitar.

Arturo, on the other hand, could not master an instrument with either hand. Thus, he pushed and shoved his way into the Gooseberries as vocalist—despite the widow’s protestations that an instrumental jazz combo did not need a vocalist. Needless to say, this caused a considerable amount of tension in the group, and ultimately led to divorce for Arthur and the widow.

Left with nothing but his guitar and a pushy older brother, Arthur threw up his hands (and his lunch) and decided a duo was better than nothing.

Soon the boys were touring all over the immediate neighborhood as The Toenail Brothers, reveling in a fan base that reached into double digits. Today, that fan base is nearly 17 and the Toenail Brothers are nearly washed up.