The trio, comprised of Ben Miller, Doug Dicharry and Scott Leeper, began as organically as their idea to use a washboard - not to mention, an electric spoon - at every show. Miller began attending and later hosting open-mic nights in Joplin, Mo. while working a "cruddy job" in the tech department of Wal-Mart.

"It was pretty tough for me to work at a job like that," the singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist told Radio.com over the phone. "My brain started to eat itself. Boredom is a really great motivator. I didn't have anything and that helped the boredom. It made me have to do something."

The Wal-Mart techie by day, performer and host by night eventually met the trumpet playing Dicharry at the open mic night. On the weekends, Miller would play solo shows for dinner crowds at the same restaurant where Dicharry worked as a waiter and where the washboard became a quick way to get people's attention.

"In the middle of the set I'd call out to [Doug] to play washboard with me. He'd leave his tables and come over and pick up the washboard and play a song and went right back to waiting tables," Miller said. "People loved it because they had no idea he was a musical genius and his tips went up hugely."

After opening for ZZ Top last year in Europe - a role they'll reprise in the States this fall - they no longer play for tips at local restaurants. They also might not be the lone wolves they claim to be on their current single, "The Outsider," which Miller wrote after watching an episode of the MSNBC prison show, Lockup.

"The people in there have to become a group for safety. You have to stick with your race and you have to stick with your kind and you give up something for that safety. You give up your autonomy," he explained. "You can't come from your own perspective completely. It has to be colored by what's good for that group."