Some big-name Nashville stars of today and yesterday are heading to Tucson in the coming months, from the pop-country quartet Lonestar to a trio of 1990s twangers with a slew of chart-topping hits between them.
From now through late April, Tucson will get eight shows representing all shades of country music, from old-school traditional to traditional with a contemporary twist.
It all starts this weekend with Lonestar headlining the 98th Tucson Rodeo on Saturday, Feb. 18.
The band comes with three of the four original members — founding lead singer Richie McDonald left in 2021 to join The Frontmen with Tim Rushlow and Larry Stewart — and a catalogue of hard-to-forget country pop hits including the chart-toppers “No News,” “Smile,” “I’m Already There,” Mr. Mom,” “My Front Porch Looking In,” “Tell Her,” “Come Cryin’ to Me,” “Amazed” and “What About Now.”
This is the band’s second Tucson appearance since they played the Fox Tucson Theatre last May, introducing us to new lead vocalist Drew Womack, who joins founding members Michael Britt, Dean Sams and Keech Rainwater. Womack has a deeper baritone than McDonald, which adds an earthiness to the band’s sound.
The concert starts at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the arena at the Tucson Rodeo Grounds, 4823 S. Sixth Ave. Tickets are $20 through tucne.ws/1mlb.
An a capella country quintetIn today’s rock-and-rap-infused country, it’s hard to imagine a country band that has no instrumentation, relying on harmonies and the purity of their voices.
That pretty much sums up Home Free, the a cappella country quintet bringing its “Road Sweet Road” tour to the Fox Tucson Theatre on Feb. 23.
Home Free is bringing its “Road Sweet Road” tour to the Fox Tucson Theatre.
The group, which got its start on the NBC show “The Sing-Off” in 2013, is country music’s version of Pentatonix, the a cappella pop group that went from opening act to stadium headliners on the strength of their voices. Home Free — Austin Brown, Rob Lundquist, Adam Rupp, Tim Foust and Adam Chance — covers songs from some of Nashville’s biggest names, from contemporary stars to long-ago legends, and even dips into pop now and then.
The band also has a half dozen studio albums to its credit that include original songs mixed in with covers. They are touring on their months-old sixth album, “So Long Dixie.”
Tickets for the show at the Fox, 17 W. Congress St., are $27.50-$59.50 through foxtucson.com
LoCash returns to Tucson
The country duo of LoCash just released what they think will be the most patriotic song of 2023: “Three Favorite Colors.”
On their website, Preston Brust and Chris Lucas said the song is one about loyalty, patriotism and unity and how when we stand together, we truly live in the greatest country in the world.
The country duo LoCash — Preston Brust and Chris Lucas — are playing a show at Desert Diamond Casino on Saturday, Feb. 25. It’s their first Tucson show since they opened for Billy Currington at the AVA at Casino del Sol in 2018.
The song dropped on Feb. 3 and will surely be a highlight of the pair’s Feb. 25 show at Desert Diamond Casino, 1100 W. Pima Mine Road. Newcomer Drake Milligan opens the show.
This is the first time we’ve seen LoCash (“I Know Somebody,” “I Love This Life,” “One Big Country Song”) on a Tucson stage since they opened for Billy Currington at the AVA at Casino del Sol in summer 2018. Tickets are $25-$45 through ddcaz.com.
Cologuard Classic concert
Chase Rice (“Drinkin’ Beer. Talkin’ God. Amen,” “Eyes On You”) posted on Facebook in 2015 that if you “aren’t golfing with Jack Daniels, a cigar and a golf board, you ain’t golfing.” So we can fully expect to see him on the Omni Tucson National Resort course at some point before he headlines the Cologuard Classic concert on March 4. Country newcomer Chayce Beckham opens the show, which is a military appreciation concert. Tickets start at $59 through cologuardclassic.com.
One night, three shows
Here’s something we haven’t seen in some time: Three big-name country shows on the same night in Tucson.
That’s what’s happening on March 24, when Rosanne Cash and John Leventhal play the Fox Tucson Theatre, 17 W. Congress St.; Josh Turner brings his “Long Black Train” 20th anniversary tour to the Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress St.; and Jimmie Allen (“Freedom Was A Highway,” “Down Home,” “Make Me Want To”) is on stage at Desert Diamond Casino.
Tickets are available at foxtucson.com, ddcaz.com and rialtotheatre.com.
Old-school country
The name “Roots & Boots” fits the trio of old-school country artists heading to Fox Tucson Theatre on April 23.
Aaron Tippin (“Workin’ Man’s PhD,” ‘You’ve Got to Stand for Something”), Collin Raye (“Little Rock,” “Love Me”) and Sammy Kershaw (“Queen of My Double Wide Trailer,” “Vidalia”) were grinding out chart-climbing hits in the 1990s. That’s when country music saw arguably its most remarkable resurgence on the coattails of artists including Alan Jackson, Clint Black and Garth Brooks, whose late 1980s successes spilled over into the ’90s.
Aaron Tippin is headed to the Fox for the “Roots & Boots” show.
Tippin and Kershaw lean more blue-collar country than pop while Raye was the king of the swoonful pop-infused ballads.
Tickets are $55-$90 through foxtucson.com.
