Written by Kylie Renwick
Videos by American Songwriter
For some, Lonestar’s music carries a sense of ’90s and early 2000s country nostalgia. For others, it might be a timeless connection to moving lyrics in songs such as “Amazed” and “Already There.”
With 10 No. 1 songs, Lonestar became a staple on country radio and in the soundtracks of their fans’ lives. After more than 30 years together, the band reinvented those 10 chart-toppers for their new album TEN to 1.
American Songwriter sat down with band members Dean Sams, Keech Rainwater, Drew Womack and Michael Britt to talk about their latest album, what their experience was starting out, and how they’ve changed as performers and songwriters.
American Songwriter: What was it like revisiting 10 of your No. 1 songs?
Dean Sams: Actually getting the opportunity to re-record our 10 No. 1 songs was a challenge in one way, but it was also really easy because we don’t have to worry about ’em being hits because they were already No. 1. [It was challenging] trying to come up with new arrangements or new ways to play them without alienating our fans that have been used to singing them all these years. Collectively, I think we did a really great job. I feel like we’re better players and singers than we used to be.
AS: What changes will fans see in these new records?
Michael Britt: I think most of the changes we made to them happened over the years as we played these songs on the road for so many years. We morphed them from how they started to how we play them now. There were a handful that we worked on the arrangements and forgetting what we did in the past, [decided], “What can we do to this to make it totally unique?”
“Come Cryin’ to Me” was like that. “Mr. Mom” has some different elements. “No News” has some different elements so some of them are more like how we play them live now and others we just thought, “This is a song that we took out of the show a while back because it wasn’t hitting us and we wanted to make it fresh and new.” To me, that’s what “Come Cryin” did; it just gave it a whole new life.
AS: Take us back to when you first heard one of your songs on the radio.
DS: We did a Walmart Takes Country Music Across America Tour. We were still traveling around in this van that I owned and we were doing a series of these, and the last one was in your hometown (to Drew).
Drew Womack: Brownwood, Texas.
DS: We didn’t have a bus, we only had a van, but they had one bus on site for all the baby artists to hang out on during the day. The owner of that bus had to fly out to California to pick up another one and he goes, “God, I really wish one of y’all had a CDL so y’all could drive this bus back to Nashville.” I said, “I do” and he goes, “You do? Will you drive our bus back to Nashville? I’ll pay you two hundred bucks.” I was like “Yeah!” I was poor, I was like, “Yeah I’ll take that $200.” I drove it back and I had the radio on in the bus, and Keech was on it.
Keech Rainwater: I was there. I was with him too.
DS: It was actually “Heartbroke Everyday” which wasn’t even a single until later on, but they played that on the radio. I about wrecked the bus because I’m like, “Oh my gosh turn it up!”
AS: How did you become Lonestar?
MB: It all started when Dean put the band together. We needed a name and I don’t remember whose idea it was but we became Texassee.
DS: It was my idea. I had been drinking.
MB: So we’re all from Texas and had transplanted to Tennessee and we just shoved the two names together so Texassee was our name. And there are any numbers of ways you could screw that name up.
DS: We’ve seen most of them. Texas-E, Texas-C
DW: It’s still the name of the corporation by the way.
MB: Yeah we kept it, and I believe [producer] Don Cook’s friend [suggested Lonestar]. Don mentioned to him, “They got a record deal but they need a new name,” and he was like, “Well they’re all from Texas right? Just call themselves Lonestar.” We were like, “Duh!” and so we quickly name-searched and paid one small band who wasn’t even together anymore and now we’re Lonestar.
AS: Drew how was it stepping into the band with the guys?
DW: I’ve known these guys since ’90 so it’s been a long time. We came up together in the Texas scene and I knew all the songs. I had my own thing goin’ and it’s been a pretty easy transition.
DS: It was amazing. Yes I did that. It was amazing.
DW:: It’s been so much fun, too.
AS: Did you think “Amazed” would be a hit?
KR: I remember hearing it for the first time. We were doing some pre-production before the Lonely Grill record where we work up some songs so we weren’t caught off guard in the studio. We were doing some pre-production and that song came up and I remember the guy who sang the demo sounded like Rod Stewart. … I referred to that as the Rod Stewart song. I don’t remember any of us going like, “Oh my gosh that’s gonna be such a big hit.” It was more like, “We’re gonna cut it for sure.”
DS: I knew it was gonna be big
KR: Of course Dean did, he just kept it to himself.
AS: What was it like seeing your song soar to the top of the charts?
MB: It was crazy because we had put out a song called “Saturday Night” and the record label pulled it after two weeks. We kind of thought, “Oh no.” We were really in a precarious spot because John Rich had just left the band. It was our first record with just Richie [McDonald] as lead singer. We were in a precarious spot and so if that song hadn’t hit it probably could have spelled the end for us. But, it just kept going up and up and it started getting momentum and then it was like, “This is going to be really big.”
That’s one of the songs now that it doesn’t belong to us anymore. That song is the fans’ song and I never get tired of playing that. … There’s something about the build in that song, the way the key changes from part to part, and it never sits in the same spot and gets boring. It always just lifts and builds and the crowd feeds off of that.
AS: How have your songs evolved as you’ve become seasoned artists?
DW: After several years you get confident and you don’t have to think about what you’re singing and playing. Especially after doing this for 30-some-odd years, we cherish every minute of it because anyone that gets to do this for a living we’re just very blessed so.
DS: I think the key word he used is confidence. We did a cut-by-cut about this record. We were talking about “No News” and Michael’s guitar part that he adds to the front that’s totally different. I remember we were in the studio tracking that and we were talking about something really cool and different and Michael pulls something out just really wacky and he goes, “Is that too much?” and we’re like, “No!”
He made the point that maybe in the beginning days [of the band], he wouldn’t have been confident enough to even try something like that. I think we’re all so much better at what we do. Not arrogant but confident in what each of us brings to the band and I think it shows in the final recording of TEN to 1.
Tell us about your songwriting process.
DW: I always compare it to slow dancing or an Ouija board.
DS: I’ve never heard that.
DW: It’s a constant back and forth, trying to figure out where are we gonna go with this and where we’re gonna move this. What direction? It’s always helpful to have multiple folks in the band writing cause you feel like you’re gonna go in the same direction but if you have some outside writers you have to decide, “Is this gonna be for us? Then it needs to go in this direction.”
AS: Are you writing new music?
DW: The focus has been on this TEN to 1 record obviously but now that it’s finished, we’re focusing on the next studio record so we’re pretty excited about that.
DS: Drew and I, we’ve written a few songs together that are really great but there’s a lot more writing to be done and we do look forward to a new original record.
Photo Credit: Taylor Ballantyne/Courtesy of Milestone Publicity
