Ep. 90 - LONESTAR's Dean Sams, November Music of the Month

We are so excited to share with you none other than Dean Sams of LONESTAR, the iconic country group, who has amassed in excess of 10 million record sales since their debut in 1995 and have achieved TEN country #1 hits such as “Now News,” “I’m Already There,” and more, plus their Billboard #1 hit song, “Amazed.” Keyboardist and rhythm guitarist Dean Sams joins us on the show today as our November Country Music Artist of the Month.

Backstory

Growing up extremely poor with a single mother that raised three children. Often times they would move from one crummy apartment to the next in the middle of the night for the “free rent for a month,” deals that would be offered. That led to 7th grade, at a school he really liked, and when they had to move again for 8th grade, and he said he’d “show his mom.” He did and he skipped 40 days straight of school which resulted in having to repeat 8th grade.

But he got through 8th grade and got to play both offense and defense in football and he loved it so much, that he thought professional football would be what he would do. Instead, he found out his junior year that he wasn’t allowed to play football anymore because he had used up all of his eligibility by having to repeat his 8th grade year and was kicked off the team. Scott, Dean’s best friend at the time, told him he should join him with choir for “lots of girls and trips!”

“I kind of did choir as a joke and that joke turned into my greatest passion outside of my kids, and my greatest love outside of my kids, in music,” says Dean. “I am the man I am today because of my adversity and I think it’s all in how you approach it. I don’t take credit for how I approach it, it’s a God thing.”

Dean knows how bad life could have been with his backstory as his siblings have gone on tangents and done drugs, ran away from home, and more. “I’m the lamest person you’ll ever meet,” says Dean with a chuckle as someone who has never done drugs or anything crazy like that.

“I haven’t even given you the worst… it was way worst than failing eighth grade, I had a lot of really crummy things happen….I could either go down this road of being a bad kid and doing things I shouldn’t be doing… I looked at my life and said, ‘it’s already bad, how could I make it better?’” Says Dean.

“I mentioned that from an early age I went through a lot as a kid… I have always thought, in my mind, that I was here for a greater purpose, and I never knew what that was. I really think that everyone is here for a greater purpose, and we don’t know what that is unless we stay positive, stay focused on the right things, and treat people well,” says Dean. “I got to see firsthand people come in and out of my life that were mean and mean-spirited and treated me poorly and those around me poorly. Interestingly, instead of making me not to like them, I felt sorry for them. It takes a lot of work to be that nasty and that mean. Life is what we make of it…. I was always somehow to just find something positive in every negative situation. Even as much success as the band and I have had, I have learned more from my failures than my successes.”

Playing Instruments

“My senior year is when I got into music, it was the end of my junior year when I found out I couldn’t play ball anymore, so I got into choir,” says Dean, who had never played an instrument or sang before. “I really did it as a joke and I had to have an elective anyway!”

Doing something that wasn’t regular school work just seemed like a great thing to Dean at the time. Scott and a few of his buddies talked Dean into trying out for the Texas All-State Choir which they thought it was funny because he had never sang before. Scott had to sing an Italian piece over and over to him because Dean couldn’t at the time, and still can’t, read music. Joke was on Scott though, Dean ended up placing first in area, first in region and second in the state of Texas. The only reason he got second was because, after the performance piece, you have to go to a room and have to sight read it unseen and Dean was TERRIBLE at it. Each of the three judges could give you points out of ten and he got two’s and three’s.

“I got enough points that I got second in the state of Texas and a full ride scholarship,” says Dean. “I remember that my favorite song at the time was by Ronnie Milsap, ‘Stranger in my house,’ and for whatever reason, I could go sit down in the choir room and play it on the piano.” That struck Dean’s interest and he would play piano all the time. At graduation, his mom gifted him a cheap Yamaha guitar that he still has and wouldn’t take a million dollars for it - it means that much to him.

After trying college, Dean hated it so much and went back to Garland, Texas, where he started to put together a series of “terrible bands.” As a part of the bands, one of his female singers - Lorrie Gray - asked him to play harmonica so he figured it out. Dean jokes that he can play a lot of instruments well but not any great.

Breaking Into The Music Industry

Dean was faced with many of the challenges that new artists face; getting seen and making a living. Putting his then-wife through college, he was working multiple jobs, performing for exposure, singing and dancing at Opryland, and writing music. At the Opryland park, a lot of great talent came out of there, and at the original audition that he did in Arlington, Texas, he saw an amazing performer. That performer was Richie McDonald and Dean was shocked when he found out he had made it through but John hadn’t. So when Richie moved out to Nashville, he saw the show and asked Dean to come out.

After striking up a conversation, they almost did a duo, but decided on a band. Dean was a leader of the bands he had put together before and was, quite frankly, tired of working four jobs just to make ends meet. Maybe a band was the way to finally make some decent money at one job. Joining them was another Opryland worker, John Rich. While being awful at bass guitar, John had a high soprano, Dean could sing low, and Richie could sing lead. Mike Tucker, from one of the original terrible bands, joined as a drummer and an additional guitar player and they were a band.

Traveling in a two-door Jeep Cherokee they did over 2500 performances in the first year together and it was the start of Lonestar!

CrossOver Success

Lonestar has touched people across all genres and while they weren’t intentional about being a pop-country crossover, they were intentional about touching people. The first album, Lonestar, was very successful and had their first single, “Tequila Talkin’,” that went to number four and then the follow-up, “No News,” was number one for three weeks. The sophomore album was “Crazy Nights” that had two number ones, “Come Crying to Me” and “Everything’s Changed.”

Despite the success, the records sales started slipping, so they started making some changes. That first change was that the record felt that they sounded one way with Richie as a lead and one way when John Rich sang so they decided to go with Richie as the solo-lead singer. John Rich was rightfully upset and ended up causing issues that resulted in him getting removed from the band. He went on to become half of the country-pop duo Big and Rich!

A new producer took them to a new direction that was more refined of who they were. They lost their cowboy hats and the first song they released off the new record was “Amazed.” It spent nine weeks at number one on the country charts and crossed over to being a two-week number one on the pop country list. The first time since “Islands in the Stream” with Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers.

Playing For Fans

“There’s nothing like it. We as a band, we love recording - it’s something that’s really fun to be creative and do that whole process - but what we really LOVE to do is to play live and to get that instant gratification that we can make a difference,” says Dean. “Getting reactions…. tells us that we are doing something right. And if you land on a song that can touch people in that way - that’s a pretty powerful statement. When all is said and done, when we aren’t touring anymore and fans couldn’t care less about what we are doing.. when I look back at the roll-a-desk, I am going to … remember the fans we touched .. not the awards we’ve won or the number ones.”

Bonus Story: Dean’s horseback riding fiasco that resulted in a national television prank played on him by his band members.

Playing For the Troops

Sometimes a song can take on new meaning when current events come into play and after September 11th, their hit song “I’m Already There” - a song about them being on the road and missing their family - took on a new life for military families fighting overseas. People were able to inject the song into their lives and what it meant to them. From funerals to truck drivers to military members to even astronauts - who even took the CD into space and let it go inside the cabin and took a photo with Earth in the background. He came to a show of ours and he had that CD put into a plaque saying thank you for keeping him and his family close through music.

Lonestar played the CBS performance on the largest military ship in the Navy with Clint Black, Celine Dion, Jessica Simpson, etc. that had Cuba Gooding, Jr. as the host, with all the military men and women as the audience. When they were playing “I’m Already There,” with every person on the ship standing, singing, with tears rolling down their face. Tying in music to feelings and touching people with positive feelings, that’s a huge show that I’ll always remember.

Playing in Iraq three different times, playing for the troops over there, there is one particular show Dean remembers that was in a remote military base, over a hundred miles out in the middle of nowhere, just outside of Iraq.

“I just remember that that show was so meaningful. It was a smaller base, we couldn’t do a full blown show, it was just acoustic and we shook every hand,” says Dean. “We saw so many tears of joy and sadness … it’s something I am going to remember in being able to reach people in such a positive way.”

Tips for Being on the Road with Family

In this day and time, it’s so much easier than it used to be in staying close with loved ones when on the road. “Back when we were doing it, there was no FaceTime, no zoom, no texting… I literally remember being on the phone and going to a pay phone with a little bag of chain, standing in the rain at 34 degrees, talking to my family. That was how we stayed in touch. We did our one call a day and that is what we do.”

Today, there are so many great ways to stay connected but, at the end of the day, it’s all about staying connected. As long as you are staying in good communication, that’s all you need to do. One ritual Dean and his daughter do is send each other pretty sunrises and sunsets. You have to find your own ways to tell your family members they are special and loved when you are on the road. That connection, when you get home will be as strong as ever.

Adjusting to New Band Members

“We have certainly been through our share of changes and some people don’t even remember,” says Dean. Most people don’t remember that John Rich was a part of the band. The band changed again in 2007 when Richie decided to go on a solo career, which led to Cody Collins to being their new lead singer. Cody was with them for five years until Richie asked to come back to the band in 2012.

In March of 2021, Richie left again to try another music career with the Front Men of Country. Drew Womack has stepped into the lead vocals role for them after a lot of success on his own with Sons of the Desert that had a lot of hits in the late 2000’s. They also sang on LeeAnn Womack’s big hit “I hope you dance,” and won a Grammy for that. Drew also wrote Kenny Chesney’s first number one song, and is an established singer. He’s brought a ton of great energy into the band and the fans have been blown away by Drew and he’s been embraced by both long-time fans and new fans!

“People are happy to hear these hit songs sung with such passion and great quality,” says Dean. “He’s from Texas, we’re from Texas, we’re in the same age bracket … it makes a difference!… It’s been great for us!”