By Andy Argyrakis
As front man for country music mainstay Lonestar, Richie McDonald landed an impressive batch of nine No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, including the pop crossover smash “Amazed.” That 1999 track became the genre’s first Billboard Hot 100 chart topper since Kenny Rogers’ and Dolly Parton’s “Islands In the Stream” in 1983 and helped the Lonely Grill CD from which it came sell over 3 million copies. The momentum continued throughout the 2000s, thanks to fellow multi-format smashes like “I’m Already There” and a Greatest Hits compilation. Though surprisingly, in 2007, McDonald announced a farewell tour with the group for a solo career. After rounding out that year with his own If Every Day Could Be Christmas (supported on tour with Jim Brickman), the singer/songwriter recently released an inspirational batch of originals compiled on I Turn To You. In a face-to-face chat with ChristianMusicPlanet at the Hilton in Music City, he talks about leaving Lonestar and why he made a faith-based solo project.
CMP: What was it like to see all of Lonestar’s hard work on the road throughout the ’90s pay off with the success of Lonely Grill?
McDonald: It was something we all worked hard for, not only collectively, but as individuals. Even before we put the band together, we all played in other bands around Texas and all paid our dues before getting together. We were together a little over a year in Nashville when we got our first record deal [in 1995], and the first time we heard one of our songs on radio [we were] like kids at Christmas. All of the hard work had finally come full circle, and we saw things starting to happen. Then, when Lonely Grill came along [in 1999] with such great production from Dann Huff [of Whiteheart and Giant performance fame and producer of Peter Cetera, Faith Hill and Carrie Underwood], “Everything’s Changed” became my first No. 1 as a songwriter, and “What About Now” was just one of my favorites because it had that drive. The album also had “Amazed,” of course, and a lot of people say it’s their favorite, which makes sense because now it’s sold almost 4 million copies.
CMP: In 2000, the group released This Christmas Time, which was a noticeable turning point to the more spiritual side of your songwriting. What made you take such an overtly spiritual tone on the originals, especially following such a mainstream sales surge?
McDonald: I think sometimes the true meaning of Christmas—Jesus Christ—gets lost in the [commercialism]. I wanted to express that in several songs [like “Reason For the Season”], and I also wanted it to be a very entertaining project.