Lead guitarist for Lonestar, who’s performing in Rexburg this week, was once an aspiring pharmacist

Michael Britt has been an integral group of country music’ Lonestar for the last 30 years. He spoke with us ahead of his upcoming concert in Rexburg on Thursday. Watch our conversation in the video above. | Photo courtesy Michael Britt
IDAHO FALLS – For more than 30 years, Michael Britt has enjoyed sharing the stage with fellow band members as they’ve performed in venues across the globe.
The 56-year-old Texas native is the lead guitarist for Lonestar, the country music quartet behind hit songs like “What About Now,” “I’m Already There,” and “Amazed.”
The band will be performing at Brigham Young University-Idaho on Thursday as part of a tour promoting the release of their album Ten to 1, a re-recording of 10 of the group’s No. 1 hits.

The band has been to Idaho numerous times over the years, but Britt tells EastIdahoNews.com this is the group’s first visit to Rexburg. He has fond memories of sight-seeing throughout the western U.S. in between shows, and Idaho is one state where he loves to spend time.
“We actually did that one time in Twin Falls,” Britt says. “It’s usually out west that we get days off on the road. We saw the waterfalls out there (referring to the city’s namesake and Shoshone Falls Park).”
Sun Valley, Coeur d’Alene, Boise and Pocatello are other places he’s visited.
“We love Idaho. It’s beautiful country,” he says.
Though band members have come and gone over the years — Drew Womack is the group’s fourth lead vocalist — Britt has been there from the beginning. He and keyboardist Dean Sams are the group’s founding members.
While the lead singer is often considered the star of the group, Britt has no qualms about sharing the spotlight.
“We’ve always been a democratic band. When we were playing clubs and bars (in the early years), we had to play four to five hours a night. That’s just too much for one person to be singing, so we all sang,” he says. “When we started getting record label interest, they wanted to focus on Richie and John (former vocalists for the group).”
John Rich left the band in 1998 and is now a member of the country duo Big & Rich. Cody Collins joined the group in 2007 when Richie McDonald left. McDonald left the band for the second time in 2021.
Today, playing second fiddle (or guitar in his case) is how Britt prefers it. The idea of being out front makes him uncomfortable.
“I love singing harmony, but I’m not a big — I only sing the lead (out of necessity),” says Britt.
And the fact that he gets to play guitar for a living is something he compares to winning the lottery.
“I grew up thinking that playing music was something that was totally unattainable,” he says.
He was raised by blue collar parents near Forth Worth. Though he played in garage bands in his youth, he wanted to go to college and make his parents proud.
English was always a subject he excelled at and early on, he thought about being a writer.
Later, he got a job working in a drug store and decided to become a pharmacist.
“I got tired of all the science stuff I was taking so I changed my major to English,” he recalls.
It was around this time that he started making money playing in his friend’s band, and he dropped out of school.

Michael Britt, right, with his fellow band members. | Courtesy photo
Lonestar’s origins date back to 1992, according to an article from Country Thang Daily. Britt, Sams, and the other three original band members formed Texasee in Nashville’s Opryland theme park. The name combined their home state of Texas with Tennessee, where they lived at the time.
It was only when record labels started taking notice that the band changed its name.
“They took us backstage and said, ‘BNA Records would like to sign you but we gotta change your name,’” Britt recalls with laughter. “(Texasee) was just too confusing and hard to say. They had to explain it every time.”
It was their producer’s friend who suggested the name Lonestar. It stuck, and the single, “Amazed” catapulted the group to super stardom in 1999.

After acquiring 22 top 10 singles and multiple awards over the years, the group is thrilled to have a new album and be on tour again.
Britt’s looking forward to their live performance in Rexburg on June 15.
“We just like having fun. We’re at the point in our careers that we go out on the road because we like … being together and playing music,” he says. “This is what we’ve worked for all these years and we’re not to the point where we want to stop doing it yet.”
To learn more or purchase tickets, click here.
WATCH OUR INTERVIEW WITH BRITT IN THE VIDEO ABOVE.
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Source: eastidahonews.com