Country

The latest wonder kids of US commercial country, Lonestar's (right) Amazed hit single has quickly become the most successful country song in the US since the early 1970s, which perhaps says more about the cultural vacuum the rather more creative and interesting alt.country people inhabit than anything else. Nevertheless, Lonestar are now superstars in a league that includes Shania Twain and Dixie Chicks. The band of four musical drifters (Deans Sams, Keech Rainwater, Richie McDonald and Michael Britt) is also a throwback to the golden days of reigning MOR Nashville glories and soft-as-marshmallow songs. Lonestar's success seems to have generated renewed interest in this particular genre of country music, with many imitators now cropping up. And that, as they say, is the sincerest form of flattery. Lonestar play Dublin's Vicar Street on Tuesday, October 17th.