Chart-topping band to headline Park County Fair

It’s a journey that’s spanned a quarter-century, from cutting their teeth in Texas honky tonks in the early years to headlining sold-out arenas around the globe, playing just about every venue in between.

Now, as they gear up for their 2017 summer tour (including a gig headlining the Park County Fair), the members of Lonestar show no signs of slowing down.

“We have months where we’re not very busy, so the summers are kind of our ‘knock-it-all-out-as-much-as-you-can’ kind of thing,” said lead guitarist Michael Britt. “It’s actually kind of fun, we’ve built in a few breaks in the schedule to enjoy touring a bit, instead of making it all about work.”

One of those breaks will coincide with their concert at the Park County Fairgrounds. The band plans to spend a couple of days taking in the sights, including a trip to Yellowstone National Park. Though no strangers to performing in Wyoming, Britt said the stop in Powell will be the band’s first.

“It’s weird, sometimes we play really small towns in the middle of nowhere, and those are actually the biggest shows we have,” Britt said. “The crowds just really seem to appreciate that a band went to them, instead of making them drive to a big city somewhere. Every show is different.”

Britt said his philosophy is to go into every show with no expectations, whether its Madison Square Garden or Draper City Park, where the band kicked off their tour last week.

“If you see a big show on the calendar, you know it’s going to be a lot of people, you have a mental image in your head,” he explained. “Then sometimes you see a show and you’re like ‘Eh, I don’t know about that one,’ and those always turn out to be the coolest. I think we’ve learned to just not have any expectations going in, and hope that when everyone is coming out, they’re excited to be there.”

Britt and his bandmates, lead singer Richie McDonald, drummer Keech Rainwater and keyboardist Dean Sams, first launched onto the national stage in 1995 with their hit “Tequila Talkin,” that reached No. 8 on the Billboard Top 100. The band followed that with a string of chart-topping hits, and slowly began to acquire a following outside of the country music scene. In 1999, Lonestar became one of just a handful of country artists to achieve the crossover version of the Holy Grail: A number one hit on both the country and pop music charts with their song “Amazed.”

The song was named Single of the Year by the Academy of Country Music; If you’ve attended a wedding in the last 18 years, chances are you’ve danced to it.

“Any kind of crossover success we’ve had is just kind of natural,” Britt said. “Being a band, we all had different influences growing up. A couple of guys are a little more country, a couple are more pop and rock-oriented. Sometimes the song lends itself a little more one way than the other. We’ve never been a traditional country band, we’ve always kind of blurred the lines between rock, pop and country.”

As for his personal influences, Britt said his tastes were about as varied as one can get.

“In sixth grade, I wanted to be in KISS,” he said, laughing. “As I got older in turned into more rock, like Van Halen and Dire Straits. I got into Stevie Ray Vaughn and the blues a bit after high school, and got into country music after that. To me, country is one of the only genres where you can really pull that many influences in.”

Lonestar released their 10th album “Never Enders,” in 2016. Support and acclaim for the album has been positive, and Britt said the collaboration is a departure for their band in that they recorded and released it on their own.

“Everyone who comes to the show and buys it seem to love it,” he said. “To me, we’re just as proud of this album as any we’ve had when we were on major labels. The biggest difference is we did it kind of on our own, as a homegrown project, without a corporation standing over our heads telling us what they want it to be.”

You don’t have the kind of longevity Lonestar has had without forming a tight-knit bond between members. Calling them a “family” may seem cliche, but Britt said that’s exactly what they’ve become, in good times and bad. Lead singer McDonald left the band in 2007 to pursue a solo career, but returned to the fold in 2012. Since then, the group has soldiered on: A little older, a little wiser and thankful for the opportunity to keep doing what they love.

“There was the brief blip when Richie (McDonald) left the band for a few years, but that was also at the tail end of our being with a major label and being on that treadmill for 10 years straight,” Britt said. “I think it was a needed break for all of us. Once everybody cleared their heads we realized we just sound better together. And we are like brothers out here. I think we appreciate each other more now for all the different things each person contributes to the band.”

Looking back over his time with Lonestar, Britt said what he finds most gratifying is realizing he and his bandmates have created something that resonates with fans.

“When you’re a musician, you do it because you just want to play music and you don’t want to get a real job at the beginning,” he said. “But when ‘Amazed’ and ‘I’m Already There’ kind of hit, we realized we were becoming part of people’s lives. When they hear that song, it’s going to take them to a time and a place. People use ‘Amazed’ for their wedding, and they’re always going to associate that song with that event. It’s very gratifying.”

(Check out the Park County Fair Edition in the Powell Tribune on Tuesday)