Collectively, Larry Stewart, Richie McDonald, Tim Rushlow, and Larry Stewart have recorded some of the biggest hits of the past three decades on country radio as lead singers of Restless Heart, Lonestar, and Little Texas, respectively.

Now, the three voices are teaming as The Frontmen for a brand new single, “If It Wasn’t For The Radio.” Billboard is premiering the track below, which Rushlow says seemed to be tailor-made for the trio. “Dave Fenley, Austin Cunningham, and Kellys Collins all wrote this song, and it just landed in our lap from a friend. I thought it was really intriguing, so I sent it to Larry, and his exact words were ‘Wow. This is a strong song.’ So, we sent it to Richie, and he agreed. We all sat down and decided to try to work it up and see whether it could be for us or not. It didn’t take two seconds for us to think ‘This could be really good.’”

Though Stewart and McDonald are still performing with the bands for which they are known – and Rushlow has embarked on a successful career with a big band sound – the three have been performing together sporadically over the past few years. “We’ve been doing shows as The Frontmen for a long time, playing for the troops on aircraft carriers to say thank you to the men and women who are serving our country. We’ve done a lot of that. We also try to do some shows together at some performing arts centers, casinos, or theaters. We’re all fans of each other.”

That feeling, according to Rushlow, also bleeds over into the crowds that have been in attendance. “I don’t think we realized until the meet-and-greets after the show where people will say ‘It’s one thing for us to see one of you here, but the opportunity that we have to see three singers from three of our favorite bands all in one night in an unplugged setting and hear the stories behind the songs was really special to us.’ We heard that enough that we realized it wasn’t a fluke. People were really enjoying it. I don’t think we thought we would record anything. The song just landed in our lap, and we thought it would be a fun thing to just try out. It turned out great that we could take a song and split it up evenly over three verses into three silhouette stories was great. We just all related to the stories within this song, and just tried to convey the emotion of this song from what we already had experienced. It wasn’t a hard stretch. One thing I liked that we did in the studio was that whoever took the verse would take the following chorus as the lead vocalist, and we would wrap our harmonies around it.”

Even though Rushlow, McDonald and Stewart have busy years lined up separately, The Frontmen will play a few select dates together in 2018. “I think there’s a sense of unity or brotherhood that exists among us. Larry is still with Restless Heart, Richie is still with Lonestar, and I’ve got a big band that I tour with. We all have separate careers that we are very happy with, and each of those fill us up with what we want to do. But, when we come together, there is this unique wisdom that exists among us that makes us realize ‘We’ve walked this similar path. Let’s go have some fun together.’ So, we walk out on stage, and we let out. It’s pretty amazing to go from each of our hits to the other, and just having fun. A lot of people will come up and say ‘You guys look like you are having a blast out there.’ That’s because we are. We don’t have a set list every night. We just go off the cuff, and it just flows. It feels honest and natural. I don’t know where that goes from here, but it will be exciting to see the response that we get from the song.”

The Frontmen Tour Dates

Feb. 3, 2018 – Gulfport, MS – Island View Casino Resort

Feb. 23, 2018 – Shawnee, OK – Firelake Arena

Mar. 2, 2018 – Jackpot, NV – Cactus Pete’s Casino Resort

Mar. 3, 2018 – Jackpot, NV – Cactus Pete’s Casino Resort

Mar 15, 2018 – Tower, MN – Fortune Bay Casino

Mar. 16, 2018 – Tower, MN – Fortune Bay Casino

Mar. 17, 2018 – Morton, MN – Jackpot Junction Casino Hotel

https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/country/8094769/the-frontmen-if-it-wasnt-for-the-radio