Lonestar is the debut studio album by American country music band Lonestar. Released in 1995 via BNA Records, 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 by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipping 500,000 copies in the United States.
Contents
Content
The album's lead-off single was "Tequila Talkin'", which reached a peak of No. 8 on the Billboard country charts. "No News" was the band's first number-one hit, (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 No. 8, followed by the No. 45 "When Cowboys Didn't Dance" (which was much more successful in Canada, peaking at No. 18 there), and finally, the No. 18 "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 and Mindy McCready, who also recorded on BNA at the time.
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 review, where he called the album's sound "an accomplished and impassioned hardcore honky tonk." Brian Wahlert of Country Standard Time magazine gave a mostly-favorable review, saying that the album was "solid [and] traditional," 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 with a twang."
Personnel
As listed in liner notes.
Lonestar
Richie McDonald – lead vocals (2, 4, 5, 8, 10), acoustic guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
Dean Sams – acoustic piano, keyboards, acoustic guitar, harmonica, backing vocals
Michael Britt – electric guitar, B-Bender guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocals
John Rich – lead vocals (1, 3, 6, 7, 9), bass guitar, backing vocals
Keech Rainwater – drums
Additional musicians
Dennis Burnside – acoustic piano, keyboards, Hammond B3 organ, string arrangements
Mark Casstevens – acoustic guitar
Brent Mason – electric guitar
John Willis – electric guitar, electric sitar
Bruce Bouton – slide guitar, pedal steel guitar
Michael Rhodes – bass guitar
Glenn Worf – bass guitar
Lonnie Wilson – drums, percussion, hand claps
Rob Hajacos – fiddle, "assorted hoe-down tools"
Nashville String Machine – strings
John Wesley Ryles – backing vocals