''Lonestar'' is the debut studio album by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

band Lonestar. Released in 1995 on

BNA Records BNA Records, formerly known as BNA Entertainment, was a label group that shared ties with Arista Nashville and RCA Nashville from parent company Sony Music Nashville, which itself is a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment. Based in Nashville, ...

(see

1995 in country music This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1995. Events * February - Western Flyer releases " Cherokee Highway", a song against interracial violence. While the song does not chart, Martin Luther King Jr.'s wi ...

), it features five singles: "Tequila Talkin'", "No News", "Runnin' Away With My Heart", "Heartbroke Every Day", and "When Cowboys Didn't Dance", of which "No News" was a Number One hit on the '' Billboard'' country charts. The album has been certified

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipping 500,000 copies in the United States.

Content

The album's lead-off single was "Tequila Talkin'", which reached a peak of number eight on the '' Billboard'' country charts. Following this song was the band's first number-one hit, "No News" (the B-side to "Tequila Talkin'"), which spent three weeks at the top of the country charts. "Runnin' Away With My Heart" also peaked at number eight, followed by the number 45 "When Cowboys Didn't Dance" (which was much more successful in Canada, peaking at number 18 there), and finally, the number eighteen "Heartbroke Every Day". The latter overlapped on the charts with "Maybe He'll Notice Her Now," a duet between Lonestar's then-lead singer

Richie McDonald Richard Vance McDonald (born February 6, 1962) is an American country music singer and songwriter. From 1998 until his departure in 2007, he was the lead singer of the group Lonestar, which recorded seven studio albums on BNA Records during his t ...

and

Mindy McCready Malinda Gayle McCready (November 30, 1975 – February 17, 2013) was an American country music singer. Active from 1995 until her death in 2013, she recorded a total of five studio albums. Her debut album, 1996's ''Ten Thousand Angels'', wa ...

, who also recorded on BNA at the time.Whitburn, p. 267 Also included on the album is a cover of Roy Clark's 1982 single "Paradise Knife and Gun Club".

Critical reception

The album received mixed critical reception. Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave it four stars out of five in his

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

review, where he called the album's sound "an accomplished and impassioned hardcore

honky tonk A honky-tonk (also called honkatonk, honkey-tonk, or tonk) is both a bar that provides country music for the entertainment of its patrons and the style of music played in such establishments. It can also refer to the type of piano ( tack piano) ...

." Brian Wahlert of ''

Country Standard Time ''Country Standard Time'' is a website dedicated to country music and related genres including Americana, bluegrass and rockabilly. It provides news and musical reviews pertaining to the genre. It was established in 1993 by Jeffrey B. Remz as a ...

'' magazine gave a mostly-favorable review, saying that the album was "solid ndtraditional," but also saying "Lonestar seems very similar to Shenandoah — energetic and fun, but not spectacular." Rick Mitchell of ''New Country'' magazine gave a one-and-a-half star rating, with his review criticizing the album for relying on a large number of studio musicians and background singers, and calling the sound "

lite rock Soft rock is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in Southern California and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, melodic songs with big, lush productions. S ...

with a twang."

Track listing

Personnel

As listed in liner notes. Lonestar *

– keyboards, acoustic guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals (2, 4, 5, 8, 10) * Dean Sams – acoustic piano, keyboards, acoustic guitar, harmonica, backing vocals * Michael Britt – electric guitar,

B-Bender A B-Bender is a guitar accessory that enables a player to fluidly alter the pitch of a guitar's B-string. This works by mechanically bending the B-string through the use of a series of levers and/or pulleys attached to an external lever that is ...

guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocals * John Rich – lead vocals (1, 3, 6, 7, 9), backing vocals, bass guitar * Keech Rainwater – drums Additional musicians * Dennis Burnside – acoustic piano, keyboards, Hammond B3 organ, string arrangements * Mark Casstevens – acoustic guitar *

Brent Mason Brent Mason (born July 13, 1959) is an American, Nashville, Tennessee-based recording studio guitarist and songwriter, performing primarily country music. Guitar World Magazine listed him as one of the "Top Ten Session Guitarists of All Time". ...

– electric guitar * John Willis – electric guitar,

electric sitar An electric sitar is a type of electric guitar designed to mimic the sound of the sitar, a traditional musical instrument of India. Depending on the manufacturer and model, these instruments bear varying degrees of resemblance to the traditiona ...

* Bruce Bouton – slide guitar, pedal steel guitar * Michael Rhodes – bass guitar *

Glenn Worf Glenn Worf is an American bassist known mainly for his work as a session musician. He has recorded with many major country music acts and also tours with Mark Knopfler. Early life and education Worf was born in Dayton, Ohio, and grew up in Mad ...

– bass guitar *

Lonnie Wilson Lonnie Wilson is an American drummer, songwriter, and record producer, known primarily for his work in country music. Born in Monroe, Louisiana, Wilson was originally the lead singer of the band Bandana, which charted ten singles on the Hot Co ...

– drums, percussion, hand claps * Rob Hajacos – fiddle, "assorted hoe-down tools" *

Nashville String Machine Nashville String Machine is a musical collective comprising session musicians, based in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Members of the group have been credited on records dating from 1972 to the present, although the group was formally formed ...

– strings *

John Wesley Ryles John Wesley Ryles (born December 2, 1950) is an American country music artist. Ryles recorded a string of hit country songs, beginning in 1968 when he was still a teenager, and continuing through the 1980s. He no longer records as a headline ar ...

– backing vocals * Dennis Wilson – backing vocals * Curtis Young – backing vocals Production * Don Cook – producer * Wally Wilson – producer * Mike Bradley – recording, mixing * Mark Capps – recording assistant, mix assistant * John Kunz – recording assistant, mix assistant * Hank Williams – mastering at MasterMix (Nashville, Tennessee) * Scott Johnson – production assistant * Susan Eaddy – art direction * Deb Mahalanobis – design * Peter Nash – photography

Chart performance

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 1995 debut albums BNA Records albums Lonestar albums Albums produced by Don Cook Albums produced by Wally Wilson