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Alabama, Lonestar and Restless Heart Front Men to ignite Branson Stage |
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Tuesday, 17 August 2010 |
A recent article, entitled “The Front Men of Alabama, Lonestar and Restless Heart to perform together in Branson,” appearing in the “Latest Branson Info” section on www.Branson Tourism Center.com, reports on an unusual and exciting concert to be held in Branson, Missouri on October 22, 2010. Tammy Johnson, Director of Operations for the Branson Tourism Center, one of Branson’s largest and most respected vacation planning services said that for one of first times ever the lead singers of the “Super-groups” Alabama, Lonestar and Restless Heart will come together for one performance on one stage.”
“’The Front Men of Alabama, Lonestar, and Restless Heart‘ will feature Alabama’s Randy Owen, Lonestar’s Richie McDonald and Restless Heart’s Larry Stewart,” she said. “What a unique and wonderful entertainment experience it will provide for Branson audiences. With over 50 original number one hits between them it promises to be a show that is as exciting and amazing as it is unique”
Article excerpts:
…the concert’s format is equally unique. All three stars will be on stage for the entire concert performing as an ‘all star’ band for each others sets.
Randy Owen and Alabama have sold over 73 million albums, including 21 gold, platinum and multi-platinum certifications. …42 number one singles including “Feels So Right,” “Mountain Music, “Reckless” and many more.
Richie McDonald of Lonestar…Lonestar had nine number one hits including “Runnin’ Away with My Heart, “I’m Already There” and their biggest hit “Amazed” which was a crossover reaching Number One on both the country charts and the Billboard Hot 100.”
Larry Stewart and Restless Heart… many number one hits including “Bluest Eyes in Texas,” “I’ll Still Be loving You, “That Rock Won’t Roll” and many others including the pop crossover hit “When She Cries.”
Johnson said that the chance to see these three amazing singers performing the hits that helped make the groups they sang with famous is a unique opportunity. She anticipates that tickets will go fast because there will be only one show and suggests making reservations as soon as possible.
She also points out that Silver Dollar City’s National Harvest Festival and the fall foliage will also be bringing additional visitors to Branson and suggests that advance reservations for any of Branson’s shows and accommodations would help ensure not only availability, but the best seats and accommodations. For additional information or tickets for “The Front Men of Alabama, Lonestar, and Restless Heart,” or any of Branson’s other shows and attractions or for lodging arrangements please contact the Branson Tourism Center by either calling their toll free number 1-800-785-1550 or through their website www.BransonTourismCenter.com .
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"Front Men" Join Forces.... |
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Tuesday, 03 August 2010 |
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By Joshua Clark
Entertainment Editor
Branson Tri-Lake News
Bob Cannella and Up Close Concerts have brought to Branson some of the biggest names in country music and three more will be added to the list Oct. 22.
"The Front Men" tour featuring Randy Owen, lead singer of Alabama, Richie McDonald, original lead singer of Lonestar, and Larry Stewart, lead singer of Restless Heart, will hit the stage at Tri-Lakes Center.
"It's called ‘The Front Men' tour because it features the lead singers of three country music supergroups," Cannella said.
"They have 50 No. 1 hits combined and (Owen), (Mc-Donald) and (Stewart) will be on stage together backing each other up. It's going to be a casual atmosphere filled with hit after hit."
Getting three lead singers of such pedigree together seem-ed to come together easily, according to McDonald.
"I know that I always wanted to do something that was closer to what I had always done, and (Owen) and (Stewart) and I were all in these great bands and it's just a great fit," he said, "three of us up there on stage, telling the stories of the songs from a different time in music."
Owen has been the lead singer for the group Alabama since it began in the late 1960s.
The group became the most commercially successful country act in the 1980s, and remains one of the bestselling American musical acts of all time.
The band Alabama is often credited with bringing country music groups into the mainstream, paving the way for the success of today's top country music groups.
"Randy Owen is legendary," McDonald said. "I mean, (he) is one of the ones who paved the way for us, as far as groups are concerned, and he set the bar on how to act as a person and artist, as far as how to treat other people."
Alabama has taken home countless awards and honors, and has tallied more than 30 No. 1 hits, including "Tennessee River," "Old Flame," "Mountain Music," "Dixieland Delight," "Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler)," "She and I," "High Cotton" and "Song of the South." Owen and the band were also responsible for more than 60 Top 40 songs.
Stewart spent more than a decade as front man for the group Restless Heart, which was one of the most popular bands of the 1980s. After their breakthrough hit, "That Rock Won't Roll" in 1986, the band reeled off five straight No. 1 hits with "I'll Still Be Loving You," "Why Does It Have To Be (Wrong or Right)," "Wheels," "The Bluest Eyes in Texas" and "A Tender Lie." The band also tallied more than a dozen Top 40 hits during that time.
"(Stewart) is just an unbelievable person," McDonald said. "It feels like we're brothers up there."
Lonestar burst onto the country scene in 1995 with its Top 10 hit "Tequila Talkin'" followed by No. 1 hits "No News," "Come Crying To Me," "Smile," "What About Now," "Tell Her," "I'm Already There," "From My Front Porch Lookin' In" and "Mr. Mom."
The group's biggest hit came in 1999 with the song "Amazed." Having spent eight weeks at No. 1 on the country charts, "Amazed" would later reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, making Lonestar the first country act to top both the Hot Country Songs and Hot 100 charts since 1983, when Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton accomplished the same feat with "Islands in the Stream."
McDonald sees the evening as a chance for fans to connect on a completely new level.
"People are going to hear the hits, all the songs that made Alabama, Restless Heart and Lonestar who they are and experience the voices that gave those groups life," McDonald said. "For me, I'm going to do all the hits, as well as some material off of my new album. I'll mix it up a little bit."
Having three such heavyweights in the industry on stage together for one evening may present some challenges for most artists. According to McDonald, there is nothing but mutual respect and adoration from all three performers.
"The best thing is we all respect one another and everything we've done in our respective groups," McDonald said. "There won't be any ego involved. These guys are great and this will be a very entertaining show."
In addition to performing an evening of country music hits, the trio will also observe a Branson tradition immediately following the show. "All of the guys will be signing autographs after the concert," Cannella said. "We have searched hard and can't find any show that has ever been in Branson with the original lead singers representing anywhere near this many No. 1 hits."
While these performers have taken the stage separately in the region before, the fact that they will all perform on the same stage will be something that shouldn't be missed, according to McDonald.
"So many people have seen those bands in concert, but this is more intimate," McDonald said. "We try to make the fans feel involved in the show, like they're right on stage and they won't see an unplugged unique show like this very often. They'll get to find out why (Owen) wrote ‘Feels So Right' or why I wrote ‘I'm Already There.' It's going to be a great night of entertainment."
Tickets go on sale Wednesday, Aug. 4, at 9 a.m. at Tri-Lakes Center, or by calling the box office at 417-336-0219. Visit upcloseconcerts.com.
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KCQ Country Music Fest draws 85,000 to Saginaw's Ojibway Park with a few detours for Richie McDonald |
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Sunday, 20 June 2010 |
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From - The Saginaw News
By: Sue White
Randy Houser knew he would arrive in Saginaw running on adrenaline --
the popular country singer was a key player in last week's CMA Fair in
Nashville -- but at Saturday's KCQ Country Music Fest on Ojibway Island,
Richie McDonald had him beat.
After performing a benefit concert Friday night at First Baptist
Church in Nashville, the former lead singer of Lonestar found out his
flight from Louisville, Ken., to Detroit was cancelled. So, renting a
car, he made a mad dash for Michigan, eager to finally say, "I'm already
there!"
"My show was done around 11, and when I found out about the flight,
it was time for Plan B," he said, sitting for a few minutes in the
clubhouse before taking the stage. "Coming out of Nashville, the
interstate was closed down and I thought, oh, this is going to be a long
night. But I called a friend who talked me through some back roads.
"I hit it perfectly from there, only going through a little mist, a
little lightning, instead of the big storms they were expecting. I'm not
a speed demon, but with a lot of coffee, I was in Saginaw by 9 in the
morning. I was too excited to stop, and I'm still running on adrenaline.
I picked up one of those five-hour energy drinks and I didn't even need
it."
Jason Michael Carroll was on time to open the main stage at
noon, said Barbara Sheltraw, who with Jim Kramer hosts the morning show
at WKCQ-FM, 98.1. But immediately afterwards, he had to catch a flight
to Ohio for a show there that night, and he gave WKCQ staffers a bit of a
start when he veered instead to meet a few fans lined up along the
fence.
"What's happening is we have acts who are popular but still
affordable, so everyone's booking them," Sheltraw said. "The more
established ones take their time; the worst problem we've had before
this was trying to haul tour buses out of the mud."
Only Jimmy Wayne, who took a week off his cross-country walk in
support of foster kids to close Saginaw's concert, and the Clio band
Stone Cold had the day to themselves, along with about 85,000 fans who
braved the chance of storms and the reality of a blazing sun to catch it
all. They walked the grounds, lined the fences around backstage and
danced and waved the American flag as Houser sang about his dirty little
hat.
"I'll be perfectly blunt, it's less than last year," said Ken
MacDonald, CEO of MacDonald Broadcasting, which owns WKCQ. "But we're
seeing a much younger crowd, too, to see what we've been calling the
young hunks of country. Last year was Travis Tritt, a country legend,
but I'm thinking people are going to discover, especially with Richie
McDonald, that these are some really talented acts."
This is the 19th year that the station has put on the free country
concert, he said, after 19 years of its sister station, WSAM-AM, 1400,
hosting the annual raft race. And soon, MacDonald said, people might see
a few tweaks in the festivities.
"I'd like to do more than one day, though I'm not sure if we have the
manpower to pull that off," he said. "Or maybe we could expand it into
an art and crafts fair in Hoyt Park and Old Town. This is a wonderful
event for the whole community, for mid-Michigan, and we ought to play on
that."
Last year was one to remember, agreed Stone Cold's Paul Wixson -- "It
was great meeting Travis Tritt and finding out he was really a nice
guy," Wixson said -- but the band had a "fantastic" time playing between
sets Saturday, too.
"We tried to mix up our music, a little country and a little classic
rock, and you could see how everyone was feeding off each other," he
said of the day's younger line-up. "Our dream, of course, is to be one
of the bands on the main stage, but anytime you can meet your heroes and
play right next to them, you're going to go home pretty happy."
Even Stone Cold had people lined up for autographs, a sure sign that
people liked what they were hearing.
But little could beat the fan who showed up at Richie McDonald's
meet-and-greet. "Lonestar" was tattooed along the side of her foot and
she had five song titles tatooed across other body parts, he said.
"She's been following us since she was 10 or 12," he said, and a
boyfriend even proposed to her during an earlier Lonestar concert. Now
22, she caught up with her favorite country singer, telling him that she
turned that proposal down but was happily married to someone else.
"She's a true fan."
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Evening of the Arts raises scholarship funds for students |
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Sunday, 25 April 2010 |
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By Joe Gulick |
AVALANCHE-JOURNAL
Friday, April 23, 2010
Several students currently attending Texas colleges are funding
their higher educations in part with money raised for scholarships at
the Lubbock Independent School District's annual Evening of the Arts
concerts. April 23rd's concert at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center is the
fourth one.
The Evening of the Arts is one of the biggest musical events of the
year for the school district. The show
featured a variety of talent, including an appearance by recording
artist Richie McDonald, former lead singer with the band Lonestar.
Every dollar
spent on the tickets went toward scholarships for LISD graduates who
study music or art education at Texas colleges or universities, said
Robert Rumph, the school district's director of fine arts.
"The goal is for them to come back to Lubbock to teach," he said.
The concert spotlighted performers from all four LISD high schools
and rotational representation from middle schools and elementary
schools, Rumph said. The time limitations of producing a 90-minute show
prevents featuring students from every school in the district every
year.
Graduates from all four LISD high schools have benefited from the
scholarships and are currently attending Texas Tech. Wayland Baptist
University, South Plains College and West Texas A&M University,
Rumph said.
McDonald, who sang two songs at the Evening of the Arts, also performed at a Saturday concert that benefited the same
scholarship fund.
The CH Foundation, the Helen Jones Foundation and individual donors
have also contributed to the scholarship fund, he said. Altogether
$23,000 has been raised over the years, he said.
"We get some outstanding support from the community," he said.
Rumph said the money raised from a silent auction at the concert also went to the scholarship fund, he said.
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Mark Chesnutt To Join RIchie McDonald & Tracy Lawrence On Tour |
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Sunday, 28 March 2010 |
-
Country artist MARK CHESNUTT
has announced that he will tour with RICHIE McDONALD & TRACY
LAWRENCE’s “Country Rat Pack” tour for select dates this SPRING and SUMMER.
CHESNUTT will perform with the tour for five shows beginning APRIL 3rd in FT. PIERCE,
FL. He will also join the tour for stops in OCEAN CITY,
MD on MAY 7th, NORTH BEND,
OR on MAY 28th, COLUMBUS, GA on
JULY 17th and WEBSTER, MA on AUGUST 15th.
CHESNUTT was
added to the tour after Country artist TRACY BYRD
revealed that he would no longer be a part of the tour.
CHESNUTT
said: “TRACY BYRD is
a very good friend of mine so when they called asking if I could fill
in, there was absolutely no hesitation from me; I said yes. Being a ‘Rat
Packer’ gives me a chance to reunite with my old Roadhouse buddy TRACY
LAWRENCE and I've always respected RICHIE McDONALD. I just can’t wait.”
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A Message From World Help |
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Friday, 12 March 2010 |
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Since the
earthquake hit Haiti in January, World Help has been working around the
clock
to provide basic needs to thousands whose lives have been devastated by
the
quake.
We have seen an
incredible response to this catastrophe and in appreciation for what our
donors
have done, we created a music video using footage and photos from Haiti
and put
them to the song that Richie recorded with the Children of the World,
“Blessed are the Hands.”
Our prayer is that
this video will touch the hearts of those who have given and
prayed
for Haiti.
We are challenging
individuals to continue to pray for Haiti and the restoration that is
taking
place.
Click here to see how "Blessed Are The Hands" is helping!
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