From There to Here: Greatest Hits

1	Tequila Talkin' 3:27
2	No News 2:53
3	Runnin' Away With My Heart 3:31
4	Come Cryin' to Me 3:43
5	You Walked In 4:31
6	Everything's Changed 3:53
7	Amazed 4:01
8	Smile 3:35
9	What About Now 3:32
10	Tell Her 3:28
11	I'm Already There 4:13
12	With Me 3:51
13	Not a Day Goes By 4:07
14	My Front Porch Looking In previously unreleased 3:44
15	I Pray previously unreleased 3:47
16	Walking in Memphis previously unreleased 3:50
17	I'm Already There (Message from Home) Bonus Track 4:31

Barnes & Noble

It's no wonder that Lonestar have scored so many hits with their love-obsessed songs: Their warm, close-knit harmonies and lead singer Richie MacDonald's husky, blues-tinged vocals are the perfect tools with which to dissect matters of the heart. This sturdy Greatest Hits collects 14 hits -- including 8 chart-toppers -- plus 2 new songs and a bonus track. The soaring power ballad "Amazed" perched at No. 1 for two weeks, but its success has been overshadowed by the 2002 ASCAP/BMI Song of the Year, "I'm Already There," a touching story of parents separated only by distance and the strength of family ties -- the song that has taken on greater meaning as recent conflicts overseas have uprooted more Americans from their homes. Otherwise there's a good balance of barn burners and ballads, from the fiddle-fired rocker "With Me" to the Brooks & Dunn–styled honky-tonk lament "Tequila Talkin' " to "No News," a funky grinder about a beautiful heartbreaker. Of the new tunes, the radio-friendly original "My Front Porch Lookin' In" is a buoyant celebration of life at home, while the other is a terrific interpretation of Marc Cohn's "Walkin' in Memphis," a spirited evocation of Bluff City's cultural totems buoyed by MacDonald's gritty, insistent vocal. The unusual bonus track features phone calls received by San Diego radio station KSON from local military families expressing support and encouragement for their loved ones overseas, as "I'm Already There" plays in the background. Yeah, it's hokey, but those on the receiving end of the messages likely received a much-needed boost -- and it makes for real tasty icing on this sweet, sweet cake. David McGee

All Music Guide

Greatest Hits is the first collection of Lonestar's greatest hits, released after four albums and one holiday record. Not all of their singles are here -- the holiday tunes, of course, are left behind, as are smaller singles -- but all the big songs are here, highlighted by "Tequila Talking," "Everything's Changed," "What About Now," "Smile," and the big crossover hit "Amazed." These tunes, along with the nine other songs that comprise this record, illustrate that even though Lonestar proudly takes its name from Texas, the band doesn't belong to that state's legacy of musical mavericks. They're a straightforward bunch, whether they're singing ballads or midtempo country-rockers, and even when there's plenty of twang in the voice and the guitars, the melodies are firmly in the pop-leaning country mainstream. Still, that twang counts for something -- at its best, it made Lonestar's music seem rootsier, more real than many of its peers, and while it wasn't always consistent, the band did make some very good singles that may not have been the best of contemporary country in the late '90s, but captured the sound of the time well. They're all here on this fine retrospective. Stephen Thomas Erlewine