BobbyCast Recap: Richie McDonald of Lonestar Talks About The Band’s Biggest Hits
He's 'amazed' by the success of their songs!
On episode #260 of his podcast, the BobbyCast, Bobby Bones chatted with Lonestar lead singer Richie McDonald about some of the band’s biggest hits throughout their career. The most successful of these songs was undoubtedly their 1999 crossover hit, “Amazed,” which spent eight weeks on top of the Billboard Country Chart, reached the number one spot on the Hot 100, and has sold more than 1.6 million copies to date. McDonald told Bones that he and the band never imagined “Amazed” would reach so far.
“We never had any idea once we recorded it,” he says. “We thought it was a very passionate song, a song people could relate to, a love song. We’ve always had great success with ballads, but once we saw it climbing the charts, we had no idea what it was going to do, go on to be eight or nine weeks on the country chart and then cross over to the pop.”
Bones and McDonald also talked about the band’s beginnings in the early ‘90s when the group was named Texassee and John Rich was still sharing lead vocalist duties with McDonald before going on to “own half of Nashville,” as the singer humorously put it. McDonald told Bobby that he and the remaining band members are still good friends with Rich.
The two then chatted about more of the band’s hits, including “No News,” “Smile,” “Mr. Mom,” and “I’m Already There,” which McDonald admits is one of his favorite songs the band recorded.
“I’m kind of partial to that song and it probably is my favorite song as a songwriter and a performer just because of what it meant to my family, and how it happened with my 4-year-old saying, ‘Daddy, when you coming home?’ over the phone and inspiring that song,” he says. “Then for it to go on and what it has meant to the men and women in the military. They adopted it back in 2001 right after 9/11, and the song has just meant so much to so many people over the years and that has meant a lot to me.”
To hear more from Bobby and Richie’s conversation, including more details about Lonestar’s backstory and facts about their biggest hits, listen to episode #260 of the BobbyCast.
