Trivia / Lonestar

• Breakthrough Hit: "Tequila Talkin'" on country radio, "Amazed" as a mainstream act.
• Breakup Breakout: Double-subverted by John Rich. His solo releases after leaving Lonestar went nowhere, but he became incredibly popular later on as one-half of Big & Rich, while also racking up a huge list of production and songwriting credits.
• Directed by Cast Member: Keech Rainwater directed the video for "With Me", and the band themselves directed "Maybe Someday".
• Executive Meddling: After their family-friendly successes with "I'm Already There", "My Front Porch Looking In", etc., their label essentially forced to record more of the same. Whenever they tried something different, such as "Class Reunion", it tanked. After their last two albums for the label both failed to produce a hit, lead guitarist Michael Britt told CMT, "They started putting out a bunch of family-type songs. I think that really pigeonholed us. The majority of the band didn't really want to continue doing that same thing." BNA Records dropped them just before McDonald went solo in 2007 — only to put out the same diabetes-inducing material for three years before returning in 2011.
• He Also Did: Richie also wrote a few songs for others, including "She's Always Right" by Clay Walker, "Jimmy's Got a Girlfriend" by the Wilkinsons, "Let Them Be Little" by Billy Dean, "Coalmine" by Sara Evans, and "Once a Woman Gets a Hold of Your Heart" by Heartland. He also got credit for backing vocals on Mindy McCready's 1996 hit "Maybe He'll Notice Her Now".
• Keep Circulating the Tapes:
  • Their debut EP Lonestar Live was released on a small independent label and quickly went out of print when they signed to BNA.
  • The radio edit of "Tell Her" was never physically released to anything other than radio stations, so good luck finding it anywhere. Even the Greatest Hits Album has the album version, despite having the radio edits of several other songs.
• The Pete Best: John Rich, who was fired about a year before "Amazed", managed to avoid the stigmas of most Pete Bests by establishing a name for himself outside the group — not only as half of Big & Rich, but also as a popular songwriter and producer.
• Referenced by...: Haley & Michaels' 2014 single "Just Another Love Song" heavily references "Amazed" and even features Richie singing its chorus.

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