Lonestar all began with the dream of Dean Sams to create a country music band. At the time, Dean worked at the Country Music USA show at the Opryland theme park. This is where he first started building up his band, and by 1992, he had collected a songwriter, a singer, and other members: Richie McDonald, John Rich, Michael Britt and Keech Rainwater from the band, Canyon, respectively. The Texas foursome then headed off to Nashville to make it big in Music City with their appropriate name, Texassee.

As Texassee, the band played hundreds of shows between 1993 and 1994, often playing several shows in one night while being the house band at the Wildhorse Saloon dancehall. They later became known as Lonestar and produced a small CD. Once the band was finally offered a recording contract (with BNA Records), they quickly produced their self-titled debut album, complete with a Top Ten hit. “Tequila Talkin’” made the Top 10 list in 1995 and a year later, “No News” not only joined their first hit on the Top 10 list, but made it to the No. 1 spot. “Runnin’ Away With My Heart,” co-written by Michael, became their third hit as it also found itself on the Top 10 list. Their success and popularity was easily recognized by fans and critics alike, as they won the 1995 Academy of Country Music Group of the Year award as well as other awards from Music Row and Country Weekly.

As their second album, Crazy Nights, was released to the public, another side of this Texan band was revealed. The album featured not only the same kind of upbeat hits as seen on the first album, like “Come Cryin’ To Me” and “You Walked In,” but their first ballad, “Say When,” was also featured. Another No. 1 hit, “Everything’s Changed” came out of this 1998 album. The song proved symbolic when John, one of the two lead singers of the band, decided to leave Lonestar and work solo.

Despite the loss of a member, Lonestar bounced back with more power and made a huge success out of its third album in 1999. Lonely Grill sold enough albums by 2000 to be certified multiplatinum. This album included the single “Amazed” which reached and held the No. 1 spot on the charts for eight weeks and eventually became a crossover hit. The song ended up on the Billboard Hot 100 chart as No. 1 while a second single, “Smile,” held the No. 1 position on the Billboard county chart. The success of Lonely Grill did not end there, however, as both “What About Now” and “Tell Her” also became No. 1 hits.

Lonestar continued their streak of success into 2001 as their single, “I’m Already There,” lasted six weeks as the No. 1 song on country radio. The touching message mixed with the nation’s tragedy of September 11th made this single very popular. Later, the band released another No. 1 hit, “My Front Porch Looking In” which led them to release a Greatest Hits album in 2003. Another album followed in 2004, Let’s Be Us Again, with yet again, another No. 1 hit, “Mr. Mom.” Coming Home was the next album released and brought the popular single, “You’re Like Coming Home,” which had previously been cut by the band, Emerson Drive. Recently, Lonestar released Mountains, their latest album, in 2006.