Lonestar Members Prefer Making Music To Making Minimum Wage

The members of the hot new band Lonestar are almost religious about signing autographs, and part of the reason may be their determination not to return to some of the nonmusical jobs they’ve held and hated in the past.

Asked what some of these were, co-lead singer John Rich replies first:

“Fed 600 head of pigs twice a day for a couple of years.”

So is he a fan of the recent movie “Babe”?

“Yeah,” Rich says. “I’d like throwing him some clabbered milk and rotten bread.”

Drummer Keech Rainwater says he used to repair wooden boats in 104-degree temperatures in Texas. Keyboardist Dean Sams used to work construction for a firm that built Steak & Ale franchises. Lead guitarist Michael Britt delivered pizzas and before that was a pharmacy technician for five years. The other singer, Richie McDonald, had a job mixing pig feed in the Nashville suburb of Lavergne.

“He used to come to rehearsal with wheat up his nose,” recalls Rich, not sounding particularly sympathetic. “One time he left a lever on and filled a basement four inches deep in animal fat and had to mop it up and scoop it out.”

Sams says they had to lean on McDonald to give up the feed-mixing job when they got the band together.

“He was really worried about money,” Sams continues. “He was a hard sell. We’d go, ‘Let’s see: you want to mix pig feed or sing in a band.”’ McDonald finally decided on the band.

Tour musing

Long tall Terri Clark, the striking young woman in the cowboy hat, has found touring this year with the great George Strait so addictive that she says she would like to hook up with another high-profile headliner as well: Alan Jackson.

“I really love Alan’s music,” she explains. “I met Alan several years ago, and he almost cut a song I wrote that’s on my album. He’s known about me, anyway, since before I had my record deal. So it would be really cool to get to tour with him.”