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Playing the Palace
[Publicity photo]
Lonestar got its start as the house band at Nashville’s Wildhorse Saloon. |
By PAMELA DAVIS
© St. Petersburg Times,
published November 8, 2001
After years as an opening act, Lonestar is enjoying top billing at venues such as Tampa's Ice Palace.
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Enough already.
Lonestar plays country music and, frankly, they've had it with the naysayers who claim they sound too pop.
"I don't think you can say if it doesn't have steel guitar then it's not country," said Lonestar guitarist Michael Britt. "Kenny Rogers doesn't sound like Ray Price who doesn't sound like Willie Nelson. The Kentucky Headhunters don't sound country compared to everything else."
Though the debate over Lonestar's country credentials has died down a bit this year, the whispers still abound.
"The people who are saying we're too pop, I don't think they listen to enough pop to realize we're not it," Britt said.
No matter. Lonestar's latest album, I'm Already There, has produced two hit singles, three Country Music Association Awards and their first headlining tour. Earlier efforts earned two Grammy nominations.
"We've gotten to the level where we can make music that we're really proud of and bring in all the different elements that come with being in a band. We all have different musical influences, and to put it all in the pot and stir it is what makes being in a band really cool," Britt said.
Britt, 35, is on the phone during a tour stop in Altoona, Pa. The band has played loads of fairs and festivals and the George Strait extravaganza, but this is the first time all the attention has been focused on them.
"I guess we feel a little more important," Britt said. "We spent a lot of time making our show really strong. We took it very seriously and wanted to make it a big bang when we went out."
Britt wouldn't give too many details about the show except to say that singer Richie McDonald exits the stage quite a bit. And don't expect lots of special effects such as cannons shooting confetti.
"We saw Brooks & Dunn's shows, and those are lawsuits waiting to happen if you ask me."
Lonestar -- made up of McDonald, Britt, keyboardist Dean Sams and drummer Keech Rainwater -- have been together about nine years and have released four albums and a collection of Christmas songs.
They originally called themselves Texassee, a cross between their home state of Texas and their adopted state of Tennessee, but the name was often misspelled and mispronounced, so they changed it to Lonestar.
Until a few years ago, Lonestar was a five-guy group. Bass player-singer John Rich left in 1998 for a solo career. He's now a songwriter in Nashville.
"We wanted it to be a two-lead-singer band when we started, but it just didn't evolve into that," Britt said. "When you're in a band, you have an allegiance to the other guys, but you also have to try to do what's best for the band, and sometimes that comes into conflict."
With Amazed from the Lonely Grill CD (released in 1999), Lonestar became the first country act in the modern era to stay on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles Chart for two weeks. The song was No. 1 for eight weeks on Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart.
Not bad for a group that got its start as the house band at Nashville's Wildhorse Saloon.
"That was a pretty decent break for us because we spent our first two years playing on the road. We didn't get to play in Nashville much, and we felt that if we wanted to get a record deal we needed to be home more to make the contacts," Britt said.
Lonestar played there in 1994. The club has since become a launching pad for other artists, including Sons of the Desert and Trick Pony.
At time when many established artists such as Mary Chapin Carpenter have difficulty getting played on the radio, Lonestar is all over the airwaves.
"The type of music we generally like is commercial type music," Britt explained. "We don't feel like we're selling out. We're just playing music that has a hook. That's why you write songs. You want to have this thing that catches someone's ear."
Though it hasn't been released as a single, "Without You (from the I'm Already There album) is my favorite song to play every night," Britt said. "I can't wait to get to that part of the show. I always like the edgier songs, and that one to me is really edgy, especially the way we do it live."
PREVIEW
Lonestar, with Jamie O'Neal and Blake Shelton, performs at 8 p.m. Friday at the Ice Palace, 401 Channelside Drive, Tampa. Tickets are $26.75 and $36.75. At the box office military, police and fire personnel can purchase one ticket and get one free (no limit) with proof of employment. (813) 223-1000.
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