There's no single route to mainstream success in the music industry.

If a can't-miss path did exist, every band would take it, and mansions would line College Avenue near Broad Ripple.

Instead, Indianapolis is home to hundreds of musicians working to advance on the road to stardom without benefit of a map.

Three acts getting farther than most are the Born Again Floozies, Nappyville and Hum.V. Their stories emphasize the random nature of making it big.

Born Again Floozies singer-guitarist Joey Welch credits "dumb luck" for his band's progress, while Nappyville members Young True and Rokstar say they have a gift for making all the right moves.

Hum.V, meanwhile, is doing everything he can to earn a major-label recording contract.

"I'm 28," he says. "I don't have much time to be a pop artist. I know that. But I love doing music, and I'm not going to stop."

Duo walks the walk while bidding for stardom

A.C. "Young True" Meeks isn't a household name, but he displays a superstar's swagger when talking about the future of Nappyville.

He's confident the duo will be the first Indianapolis-based hip-hop act to become a national sensation.

"It's going down as we speak," Meeks says.

Nappyville -- Meeks and William "Rokstar" Radford -- is one of just two local artists to place a song in maximum rotation at WHHH-FM (96.3), the most popular radio station among Central Indiana listeners ages 18 to 34. (Rapper Preny Mo first executed the airplay achievement in 2001.)

WHHH listeners made Nappyville's "Supa Clean" a Hoosier hit, and radio stations in more than 20 states broadcast a remix of the song that features guest rhymes by Louisiana-based rapper Lil' Boosie.

DJ Wrekk 1, the host of weeknight programming at WHHH, predicts Nappyville is on the brink of bigger things.

"They are going to make it," the on-air personality says. "They have too much push behind them right now."

Nappyville issued its debut album, "Supernatural," this year on independent label Munki Boi Entertainment.

Plenty of major-label executives contact the duo, but Meeks says he and Radford need little help networking or spreading the word about Nappyville.

"We're at DJ events, awards shows or anywhere there's something going on," Meeks says. "You have to get personal with these people. They don't want just a song. They want to know who you are and what you're doing. You have to go from city to city, actually go to the malls, go to the clubs and talk to the DJs."

Meeks, 23, and Radford, 24, rhyme about good times and looking good within the lyrics of "Supa Clean."

The North Central High School graduates connected with Boosie, whose "Zoom" single reached No. 14 on Billboard magazine's rap singles chart in 2006, thanks to mutual acquaintances in the music industry.

"He knows the same people we know," Meeks says. "If someone had a good relationship with us, they would be able to say, 'Why don't you do this with so-and-so?'."

New artists attaching themselves to established acts has become an unwritten rule of hip-hop breakthroughs.

"If people don't know who you are, what's going to make them click on your record?" Radford says.

"When they see the name of somebody they're familiar with, they're going to push 'play,'." Meeks adds.

Nappyville

Current album: "Supernatural."

Web site: MySpace.com/nappyvilleusa

Label dreams motivate this lyricist

When Greg "Hum.V" Humrichouser was looking for a break, he also paused to listen for feedback.

His song "Look in Your Eyes" impressed executives at WNOU-FM (100.9), but program director Tim Rainey said more lyrics about the musician's girlfriend and fewer about the musician's father would increase the odds for airplay on the radio station.

Humrichouser, 28, made the switch in lyrical emphasis, and the song -- which features fellow Indianapolis-based vocalist Lynda Sayyah -- has become a Top 5-requested single among WNOU listeners.

"It's not easy to write a good pop song with meaningful lyrics that people are going to buy," says Humrichouser, who emerged in the local music community as a rapper in the party-minded trio Cleptoz.

Still rhyming in a hip-hop context, solo artist Hum.V gravitates to catchy melodies and female-sung choruses on current album "..... One Verse @ a Time."

Known as a tireless promoter of his work, Humrichouser rejects any suggestion that he's compromised his artistic vision.

"No matter what anybody says, when Kid Rock wrote that 'All Summer Long' song, he had radio in mind," he says. "It's still him. He didn't sell out to radio by making a dance song."

A native of Ohio and graduate of Butler University, Humrichouser is zeroing in on his next goal of signing a major-label recording contract.

"All I need from the major is distribution and backing," he says. "You have to have that credibility to be in the mainstream."

Rainey, who hosts afternoon programming at WNOU as "Rayne," says more than one company is talking to Humrichouser about a possible deal.

"It's so hard to just get someone of importance to listen to a demo," Rainey says. "He's really caught the ear of a lot of people, and the hardest part of the battle is almost over."

With a history of turning nonbelievers into believers, Humrichouser says he defines success as achieving what once seemed impossible.

"I remember when I first came to Indianapolis and drove by the Vogue," he says. "I thought, 'What I'd give to play that place and have my name on the marquee.' Now, it doesn't seem like anything because we play there all the time."

Hum.V

Current album: "..... One Verse @ a Time."

Web site: MySpace.com/humvmusic

Upcoming appearance: 9 p.m. Wednesday, Spin Nightclub, 6308 N. Guilford Ave.

Distinct combo carves a niche

A lack of ties to the mainstream music industry isn't hurting the Born Again Floozies.

Famed recording engineer Steve Albini has worked with the Floozies on three occasions, national music magazine Paste champions the band, and BBC radio featured the act during a recent visit to Indianapolis.

Led by vocalist-guitarist Joey Welch, the Floozies boast instrumentation likely unrivaled in any other collective.

Welch is joined onstage by tap dancer Amy Andrus, tuba player Melissa Williams, trombone player Charlie Krone and vocalist-percussionist Nancy Moore.

But the one-of-a-kind Floozies aren't gunning for fame and fortune.

"It's kind of driving itself," Welch says.

Working with Albini, whose resume includes platinum-selling albums by Nirvana and Bush, was as easy as placing a phone call to schedule a recording session in Chicago.

Welch says he sent a single e-mail message of inquiry to Paste, which is known for its tag line of "Signs of life in music, film and culture." The magazine responded by placing Floozies songs on two CD samplers and booking the band to play a 2006 festival in Atlanta.

Regarding the BBC appearance in October, Welch says the "Live with Simon Mayo" show made an unsolicited invitation to the band.

"We're not trying to climb a ladder," Welch says. "I think people are intrigued with the instrumentation and the idea behind it. That's worked really well in our favor."

Welch, 41, flirted with mainstream success as a founding member of ska-pop band Johnny Socko in the early 1990s.

"When I put anything together, it's people you click with and there's some reason you do," he says. "If you approach it with an open mind, anything could happen."

Welch's original co-conspirator for the Born Again Floozies was his wife, Libby Milliken.

"One day I was playing, and she went up in the attic and dug out her tap shoes," Welch says. "I kept playing songs, and she came up with dance steps to go along with them."

The hoofing isn't ornamental. It provides percussion within music classified on the band's MySpace profile as "experimental-psychedelic-folk."

"It's really progressive music," Welch says. "It's not some retro thing."

Although Milliken exited the lineup to focus on parenthood and a day job, Andrus makes sure tap's role in the Floozies is undiminished.

"The best part of tap dancing is exactly what we're doing," Andrus says. "With no music at all, you can make music."

Born Again Floozies

Current album: "Street Music (13 Rebellions and a Song of Consolation)."

Web site: MySpace.com/bornagainflooziesband.

Upcoming appearance: 9 p.m. Dec. 20, Radio Radio, 1119 E. Prospect St.