Lonestar
TEN to 1
4.5 out of 5 stars
Videos by American Songwriter
A Lonestar song harkens back to a certain time and place. With a single lyric, it has the ability to transport listeners back to an era before smartphones and before social media when the melody of “Amazed” fluttered to the backseats of a Montero Sport and mingled with the sound of your parents in the throws of a divorce.
Those were simpler times – the good old days if you will, that can easily be revisited with the press of a play button. No band understands that quite like Lonestar. That is why the ’90s country chart-toppers have redone their classics, re-recording ten of their No. 1 hits for an album full of rejuvenated fan favorites. With the release of TEN to 1, Lonestar is officially back and better than you remember.
TEN to 1 kicks off with a shock as Lonestar re-imagines the smooth country-rocker “No News” into a full-fledged rock anthem. Now simply tinged in country, the song is stripped of its fiddle flourishes and almost all the best bits of its ‘90s country sound. It’s a shift that might make one proceed cautiously, but even still, the song doesn’t lose any of its fun sing-ability.
Tracks like “My Front Porch Looking In” and “Mr. Mom” follow a similar pattern. The former—at its inception, an irresistibly lovable bubblegum pop country bop—is made more complex, given an arrangement that is layered with effervescent strings carried on a solid rhythm. The once conversational and quirky “Mr. Mom” is also grooved up and given a deeper, more well-rounded sound. While the tune loses a bit of its charming naivety without its trademark bop-along beat, it’s still the same enjoyable song.
The entire album follows suit as the band fleshes out their more simplistic hits and turns their slow-burning numbers into fuller productions. When it comes to classics like “Amazed” and “I’m Already There,” however, it’s hard to imagine Lonestar messing with perfection. That’s why they didn’t. For the pair of greatest hits, the band only packed them with more of a punch, pouring into the songs decades-worth of feeling, emotion, and hard-earned wisdom.
Overall, TEN to 1 showcases the mainstay band and their catalog as they’ve never been heard before. Pairing the nostalgia of their songs with everything they’ve learned as hitmakers over the last 30 years, this album is a testament to Lonestar’s timeless appeal and proof of their abilities to still excel.
TEN to 1 is set for release on Friday, June 2.
Photo by Taylor Ballantyne / Milestone Publicity
