Lonestar

Lonestar (formerly known as Texassee) is an American country music group from Nashville, Tennessee. The group consists of Drew Womack (lead vocals, acoustic guitar), Michael Britt (lead guitar, background vocals), Dean Sams (keyboards, acoustic guitar, background vocals), and Keech Rainwater (drums). Britt, Sams, and Rainwater co-founded the band in 1992 with original lead vocalist Richie McDonald and bass guitarist/vocalist John Rich. Rich exited the band in 1998 and went on to join Big Kenny as one-half of the duo Big & Rich. Since his departure, Lonestar has relied alternatingly on session and touring musicians for bass guitar accompaniment. McDonald exited the band in 2007 to record as a solo artist, and was replaced by former McAlyster vocalist Cody Collins before returning in 2011. After leaving the band a second time in 2021, McDonald was replaced by Womack, previously the lead vocalist of Sons of the Desert.

Lonestar has charted more than 20 singles on the Hot Country Songs chart, including 9 that reached No. 1: " No News", " Come Cryin' to Me", " Amazed", " Smile", " What About Now", " Tell Her", " I'm Already There", " My Front Porch Looking In", and "Mr. Mom". "Amazed" also charted at No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming the first country song to do so since " Islands in the Stream" in 1983. "Amazed" and "My Front Porch Looking In" were the top country songs of 1999 and 2003, respectively, on ''Billboard'' Year-End. The group has recorded seven albums, one EP, and a greatest hits package for the defunct BNA Records, and one album each for three different independent labels. Three of their albums have been certified platinum or higher by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The band's first two albums were defined by honky-tonk and neotraditionalist country influences, but subsequent albums largely drew from country pop. Along with his work with the band, McDonald has co-written singles for Clay Walker, The Wilkinsons, Billy Dean, and Sara Evans, in addition to singing guest vocals on Mindy McCready's 1996 single " Maybe He'll Notice Her Now".

Foundation

Lonestar began in 1992 as a band named Texassee. This portmanteau, and met in Nashville, Tennessee's Opryland USA theme park. The original lineup consisted of lead singer/rhythm guitarist Richie McDonald ( Lubbock), lead guitarist Michael Britt (Fort Worth), drummer Randy "Keech" Rainwater ( Plano), keyboardist/rhythm guitarist Dean Sams ( Garland), and bass guitarist/lead and background vocalist John Rich ( Amarillo). Before Lonestar's foundation, Rainwater and Britt were members of the group Canyon, which recorded two albums for the independent 16th Avenue Records and charted in the country top 40 with "Hot Nights" in 1989. Soon after foundation, Texassee changed its name to Lonestar. The band first played at a concert in Nashville in 1993 and signed to BNA Records in January 1995.

Musical career

199596: ''Lonestar Live'' and ''Lonestar''

Lonestar's first release for BNA was an extended play titled ''Lonestar Live'', recorded at the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville and issued in January 1995. Their debut single, " Tequila Talkin'", was released that August, peaking at No. 8 on the '' Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) chart. It was included on their self-titled debut album, which was released that October. Its producers were Don Cook (best known for his work with Brooks & Dunn) and songwriter Wally Wilson, with whom Rich wrote the track "I Love the Way You Do That". Other contributing songwriters included former solo artists Bill LaBounty, Rick Vincent, and Larry Boone. The next single, " No News", became the band's first No. 1, holding that position for three weeks in April 1996. A physical single release of "Tequila Talkin'" and "No News" as a double A-side also went to No. 22 on Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles. After these two songs, " Runnin' Away with My Heart" also went to No. 8 on the country charts. It was followed by "When Cowboys Didn't Dance" (co-written by McDonald), which failed to reach the top 40, and " Heartbroke Every Day", the only single to feature Rich on lead vocals, at No. 18. Both of these songs had previously appeared on the ''Lonestar Live'' EP. Their chart runs both overlapped with then-labelmate Mindy McCready's " Maybe He'll Notice Her Now" (from her debut album ''Ten Thousand Angels''), which featured McDonald as a backing vocalist and peaked at No. 18 as well.

''Lonestar'' was met with generally favorable reviews. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic and Brian Wahlert of '' Country Standard Time'' both praised the band for having neotraditionalist country influences in their sound, with Wahlert also stating that the use of both Rich and McDonald on lead vocals gave the album "versatility". Rick Mitchell of ''New Country'' magazine was less positive, calling the band's sound " lite rock with a twang". In 1996, Lonestar won the Academy of Country Music award for Top New Vocal Group/Duet.

199798: ''Crazy Nights'' and departure of John Rich

Lonestar's sixth chart single was " Come Cryin' to Me", which Rich and Wilson co-wrote with "No News" co-writer Mark D. Sanders. The song became the band's second No. 1 single in August 1997, two months after the release of its corresponding album, ''Crazy Nights''. As with ''Lonestar'', it was produced by Wilson and Cook. The next single, " You Walked In", was co-written by rock producer and songwriter Robert John "Mutt" Lange. It peaked at number 12 on the country charts and became the band's first entry on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, peaking at number 93. " Say When" and " Everything's Changed" followed it, with respective peaks at thirteen and two on the country music charts in 1998. The latter also went to number 95 on the Hot 100. Boone and Paul Nelson co-wrote both of these songs, collaborating with Rich on the former and McDonald on the latter. Also included on the album was a cover of Pure Prairie League's " Amie". Thom Owens gave the album a mixed review, saying that "Come Cryin' to Me" and the "Amie" cover were "solid", but criticizing the rest as "slick and bland".

Shortly after the release of "Everything's Changed", Rich left the band, as they and their advisors felt that having two lead singers would be confusing to fans. Late in 1998, Keith Harling charted with " Coming Back for You", a song which Rich co-wrote with Wilson. Rich later charted two solo singles for BNA between 2000 and 2001, and recorded an album for the label titled ''Underneath the Same Moon'', although it was not released at the time. In 2003, Rich began recording with Big Kenny as the duo Big & Rich, in addition to serving as a songwriter and producer for other country artists.

19992002: ''Lonely Grill'', ''This Christmas Time'', and ''I'm Already There''

After Rich departed from the band, the other four members began performing "unplugged" shows which included acoustic renditions of their songs. The band members also expressed a desire to "reinvent" their sound. They chose Dann Huff as their new producer, and added three members to their touring band: Robbie Cheuvront (bass guitar), Kurt Baumer (fiddle), and Jeremy Moyers (steel guitar).

'' Lonely Grill'' was released in 1999. Huff produced all of the album, except for an acoustic version of "Everything's Changed", which Sam Ramage and Bob Wright produced. In Rich's absence, Cheuvront and session musician Mike Brignardello (with whom Huff previously recorded in the rock band Giant) alternated as bassists on the album. Although lead-off single "Saturday Night" failed to make the Top 40, its followup " Amazed" spent eight weeks at number 1 on the country charts. It would later reach number 1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 as well, becoming the first song to top both the Hot Country Songs and Hot 100 charts since Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton's " Islands in the Stream" in 1983.Billboard's Hottest Hot 100 Hits
/ref> The song also peaked at number 2 on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart. In addition, "Amazed" was the number-one song on the 1999 ''Billboard'' Year-End chart for the country music format.

All of the other singles from ''Lonely Grill'' (" Smile", " What About Now", and " Tell Her") reached the top of the country charts as well, and the album was certified double-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Erlewine found the album an improvement over ''Crazy Nights'' due to its combination of pop and country influences. "Smile" also achieved its number 1 peak on Hot Country Songs the same week that "Amazed" topped the Hot 100, making for the first time in ''Billboard'' chart history that an act had held the number one position on two different charts with two different songs. "Amazed" was also released as a single in England following its success in the States. Also in this album's timespan, McDonald co-wrote Clay Walker's "She's Always Right" and The Wilkinsons' " Jimmy's Got a Girlfriend", which were respectively released in 1999 and 2000. He worked with "No News" co-writer Phil Barnhart and Ed Hill

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