May 3, 2002 By Cindy Ekas-Brown 8 min read

Bill Jackson, president of the Fayette County Fair Board, said he is “amazed” that Lonestar, one of the hottest bands in country music, will head the sizzling entertainment lineup at this summer’s 10-day event. “Lonestar is one of the hottest bands in country music right now, and I was really a little bit surprised that we were able to actually book them,” he said.

About two or three years ago, Jackson said the fair board had an opportunity to book Lonestar, but the board decided to pass on the country band that wasn’t very well known at that time.

Shortly after the fair board rejected the band’s offer, Jackson said Lonestar released the hit “Amazed,” which quickly soared to the number-one song on the country music charts, where it remained all summer. “Amazed” became so popular that it even crossed over onto the pop music charts.

“We were kicking ourselves for not booking Lonestar after their hit song became so popular,” Jackson said. “But we have to book the bands in the fall for the following summer, and it’s hard to predict which bands are going to be popular the next year. This year, we had another opportunity to book Lonestar, and we took advantage of it.”

Because Lonestar is considered to be one of the hottest bands in country music right now, Jackson said, the fair board had to pay a considerably higher price than it usually does to book the band. Jackson said the fair board never releases how much money it pays to book a band.

“We wanted to get Lonestar somehow,” he said. “Obviously, we had to pay a lot more money to get them to come here, but we feel like we have a really good show to offer people who are country music fans.”

Lonestar will perform at 8 p.m. Saturday, July 27, in the outdoor arena, which is a change from what the fair board has normally done in the past.

Jackson explained that the fair board usually books two well-known country bands during the event. In most cases, each band performed two separate shows in the indoor arena, which seats a maximum of 1,500 people.

“But this year, we decided to pull all of our money that we had designated for country bands together so that we could afford to book an even bigger name country band than we had in the past,” he said.

Because the outdoor arena seats approximately 4,200 people, Jackson said only one performance will be necessary.

“We’ve been noticing that it’s harder to get the acts to do two shows,” he said. “If we’re going to continue with big-name country music, we realized that we had to move the show to the outdoor arena because it seats more people.”

Jackson said this will mark the first time in about a decade that a country act has performed in the outdoor arena. The last time this occurred was in 1992 when country singer Lee Greenwood performed in the outdoor arena.

Because the outdoor arena is open, Jackson said the weather could be a huge concern for fair board members this year. Lonestar will play rain or shine because the stage is covered.

“The only way that the show will be canceled is if we have a severe storm with heavy rain, strong wind and lightning,” he said. “But we’re going to keep our fingers crossed that something like that won’t happen. If we end up canceling the show, it could be pretty disastrous for us because we still have to pay Lonestar. We do have a contract with the band.”

Lonestar features four talented musicians, including Dean Sams on keyboard, Michael Britt on guitar, Keech Rainwater on drums and Richie McDonald, who sings lead vocals. “Lonely Grill,” the band’s third album which featured the hit song, “Amazed,” went platinum and signaled that the band was here to stay, according to the band’s press release.

“This band has always been good dreamers,” said Sams in the press release. “But we’ve also been hard workers, and we had a goal. A lot of times, success can come too early, but when you’re trying to get there, it seems like it is taking forever.”

“Everything changed with ‘Amazed,'” added McDonald. “We went from playing in front of 1,000 people to playing in front of 10,000 people. It brought us a lot of new fans. We gained a lot of confidence from ‘Lonely Grill.’ It was the album that defined us.”

The bold steps the band members took with “Lonely Grill” now find the band in full stride with the recent release of “I’m Already There.” The album includes the powerful title cut as well as “I Want to Be the One,” “Not a Day Goes By,” “Without You,” “Let’s Bring it Back” and “Softly.”

Reflecting on the recording of “I’m Already There,” McDonald said, “The success of ‘Lonely Grill’ didn’t necessarily make us feel pressured. It just made us want to try harder. It also gave us the confidence and the time that we needed to go ahead and try some new things.”

Lonestar came together in 1992 in Nashville. All four band members grew up in Texas, and though none received any substantial musical training, each made their way through a series of garage bands in high school. With the exception of Rainwater, who devoted himself to the pursuit of a music career, the other band members went on to college or day jobs but continued to play in bands at night.

All of their paths eventually crossed in Texas, and the rest is history. They hit the road in a Jeep Cherokee hauling a trailer, and in 1993-94, they performed more than 500 shows. Music industry veteras Don Cook and Wally Wilson produced the band’s first two records for BNA, “Lonestar” released in 1995 and “Crazy Nights” two years later.

Despite the band’s widespread popularity, Jackson said, it wasn’t that difficult for the fair board to book Lonestar, but it did have to increase the monetary offer before band members would agree to perform at the fair.

“We decided in the fall that we wanted to try to book Lonestar this year,” he said. “We were just hoping that the band was going to be in this part of the country so that we would have a shot at getting them. We put an offer in, but we had to raise the money a little bit. It wasn’t as tough booking Lonestar as it was to book other country bands in the past. But it did take a little bit of negotiations back and forth before Lonestar accepted our offer.”

Jackson explained that the demand for bands is greater during the summer time when many counties and communities are scheduling fairs, festivals and other events.

“Because the demand for the bands is higher, we really have to pay top dollar to book the bands,” he said. “We really don’t get any good deals that time of the year. If you’re booking bands all year long, you can get a better deal. The fair is always scheduled during a certain time of the year, and we’re limited to a 10-day period. We also try to book the bands on the weekends when we can draw a larger crowd.”

Lonestar will be playing in Michigan before the band heads to the Fayette County Fair, according to Jackson.

“The country bands will jump around a little bit, and they will take 10-hour bus trips to get to the next performance,” he said. “Since they are going to be in this part of the country, they agreed to come from Michigan to Fayette County to perform at the fair.”

The fair board began selling tickets for Lonestar on Saturday, April 6. Jackson said an estimated 1,700 tickets have been sold so far. Tickets are priced at $35, $30 and $25. The $35 tickets are already sold out. The fair board made a change this year, permitting people who buy Lonestar tickets in advance to have their fair admission included in the ticket price. These people will not be required to pay fair admission, which means they will receive a discount on their Lonestar tickets.

Jackson said he expects Lonestar to attract a wide range of age groups and even people from outside Fayette County.

“I think we will see a wide range of people at the show,” he said. “We expect to see a lot of families because it’s good solid family entertainment. The bigger country bands have fan club members from outside the area who follow them to their concerts. Lonestar isn’t going to be playing in Pittsburgh this summer, and I think we will draw people from the Pittsburgh area to the fair.

“The people who follow country music look forward to the fair every year,” he added. “It’s in their backyard, and it’s a smaller venue. They can get a little closer to the act than they could at a larger venue like Star Lake.”

To purchase tickets for the Lonestar show, call 724-628-3247.