SALAMANCA — Country music supergroup Lonestar is bringing its hits to the Seneca Allegany Resort & Casino Events Center stage Saturday at 8 p.m. to perform an evening of fan favorites.
Lonestar has charted more than 20 singles on the Hot Country Songs chart. Nine reached No. 1 including “No News,” “Come Cryin’ to Me,” “Smile,” “What About Now,” “Tell Her,” “I’m Already There,” “My Front Porch Looking In,” “Mr. Mom” and “Amazed,” the band’s biggest hit of its career.
The group welcomed Drew Womack as new lead singer in early 2021, adding an exciting new chapter to the band’s storied career. Together, Womack, guitarist Michael Britt, drummer Randy “Keech” Rainwater and keyboardist Dean Sams have taken a fresh look at their chart-topping country songs with their most recent album, “Ten to 1.”
“It’s been nothing short of amazing how (Womack) has fit in. A lot of that is we all kinda came up in the same part of Texas around the same time, then moved to Nashville and had a very similar path for many years,” Britt said. “I’ve known Drew since 1990 and followed his career over the years as well. It’s just great to have him be a part of Lonestar now.”
The group’s “Ten to 1” record is something they’ve wanted to do for a while, Britt said. Now that Womack is in the group, he said it made even more sense because they wanted to capture what the band sounds like now. He said they have re-recorded some of the songs that were dropped from their show over the years because they sounded dated. They have played with those a bit to make them more interesting for both the band members and the fans.
“Many of the songs didn’t change a lot, but we wanted to include some of the natural progression of changes that we have made over the many years of playing them on the road,” he said. “There are a couple that we just had fun with and changed the arrangements more significantly, but the songs are still super recognizable.”
Britt said they didn’t mess with the arrangements or try to be too clever with a few songs like “Amazed” and “I’m Already There” because “those songs have been heard so many times as they are and they kinda don’t belong to us anymore. Those belong to the fans.”
“Amazed” has always been an epic song for Lonestar and, when they play it live, it seems to have a bigger, bolder sound than what’s on the original recording. He thinks they captured the band’s live energy in the song on their new record.
Lonestar hit its 30-year career milestone last year. The group found success in 1995 with their self-titled debut that originated the hit, “Tequila Talkin,” along with “No News.” Since the band’s national launch that year, Lonestar has seen sales in excess of 10.5 million records.
Britt said Lonestar began in 1992 as a band named Texassee but formally changed their name in 1995 when they got their first record deal. When Texassee formed it consisted of Dean Sams, Richie McDonald, John Rich, Britt himself and a drummer named Micheal Tucker. He said Rich left the band in 1998 and McDonald has left the band twice.
“When Richie left the band again in 2021, the first person we reached out to was Drew. After a week of talking and weighing options, it was pretty apparent Drew was the perfect fit,” he said. “His voice fits our sound and is recognizable on its own, but it actually works great with our material and sounds great in the band. He is also a blast to be around and it makes the whole thing work great.”
Through the years, Lonestar has won many of music’s top honors including Academy of Country Music (CMA) awards for New Vocal Group in 1996, Single and Song of the Year in 1999 for “Amazed” and Humanitarian of the Year in 2002. The band also won CMA’s Vocal Group of the Year and International Artist Achievement award in 2001, as well as Academy of Country Music Top Vocal Group in 2002.
Britt said the usual feedback they get from their audiences is that they had fun and forgot how many hits Lonestar has achieved. He said most of the songs in their live show were No. 1 songs or Top Tens, at the very least, so there are very few songs that aren’t super-familiar to the crowd.
“We also try to throw in things they don’t expect but have a blast singing along to,” he said. “It’s a high energy show, for the most part, and it’s been a ton of fun to play. We can’t wait to get up to Salamanca.”
For more information, visit lonestarnow.com and senecaalleganycasino.com. Tickets can be purchased at ticketmaster.com.