Lonestar photo courtesy of Webster & Associates.
Chalk it up to their Texas-meets-Tennessee grit and tenacity, but there’s nothing Lonestar loves more than a challenge. Five hundred concerts in their first two years. Crossing over from country to pop and back again after no one else topped both charts at the same time since 1983. Selling 10 million albums, landing 10 Top 10 country hits and collecting nine Top 10 pop hits. Packing audiences with guys who love their rocking shows and ladies who swoon over the romantic hunks. That’s just the kind of hard work that fuels the band.
So when it came time to record their 10th album, the first in four years, their years of hard work and creative growth naturally led them to helm it on their own for the first time in their career. True to form, Party Heard Around The World - like all of Lonestar’s hits, tours and awards - is the result of old fashioned talent and dedication paying off. By the time the band entered the studio in late 2009, original member Dean Sams had already logged in years of production work, some with Lonestar and plenty with other bands. It just felt right for Lonestar to write and produce their own album this time. Lead guitarist Michael Britt explained in a recent interview, "We feel that this album is a complete reflection of the group. It’s personal and powerful music that reflects the core values of Lonestar through lyrics, performance and production."
Writing eight of the album’s 10 songs also meant that Lonestar fans would get a firsthand look into the hearts and minds of the group. Each song, from the anthemic title track to the show-stopping "You’re The Reason," reveals the personalities, emotions and inspirations that collectively and individually make the band who they are. "We sat down together and worked all these songs out," recounts lead vocalist Cody Collins, "we put our hearts and soul into it."
To date, Lonestar has sold over 10 million albums, with 10 No. 1 country hits as well as nine Top 40 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 charts including "I’m Already There," "Come Cryin’ To Me" and their smash, "Amazed," which spent eight weeks at the No. 1 spot on the country charts as well as reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The dual win made them the first country act since Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton’s "Islands In the Stream" in 1983 to accomplish this career milestone. But they make it clear that this is a band still growing. "After everything we've been through, we’re still trying new things," says Michael Britt. "We're still growing as artists, and we're able to be creative in addition to having the wealth of success and experience that we've achieved – that’s what sets us apart."
With the release of Party Heard Around The World, Lonestar will return to the road with a national tour that takes them across the country and back through the rest of 2010. Stops along the way include an afternoon at QVC where they’ll be able to talk directly to their fans who call in, performances on the CBS Early Show, Fox & Friends and Huckabee, and a day at GAC.