“My Front Porch Looking In”
Lonestar
Written by Richie McDonald, Frank Myers, and Don Pfrimmer
Radio & Records
#1 (1 week)
July 18, 2003
Billboard
#1 (1 week)
July 26, 2003
My only non-negotiable for this feature is that even if I remember a song, I do my best to listen to it with a fresh pair of ears.
Lonestar benefits tremendously from this approach here. I had this one lumped in my memory with their other ode to domestic life, which is one that I seriously doubt will benefit from fresh ears when we get to it down the road.
This one is so much better than I remember, though. It helps that I’m genuinely nostalgic for this early 2000s version of pop country, which still prominently featured fiddle. I love the fiddle and I miss it being prominent on radio hits.
I also love the specificity of this record. It reinforces the euphoric gratitude that our protagonist is expressing, as he notices every little detail about the family that he loves so much.
Why isn’t it a solid A? Mostly the messenger.
Richie McDonald goes too far at the end of the record, going arena anthem pop and undercutting the intimacy established earlier on. Martina McBride avoided this pitfall on “Blessed” and it made for a better listen.
Still, this ain’t “Mr. Mom.” And the handful of A-list men today who love being dads and don’t mind singing about it have since perfected the formula that works well enough here.
“My Front Porch Looking In” gets a B+.
Every No. 1 Single of the 2000s
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I argued in the review of Martina McBride’s “Blessed” that post-9/11 country music careers followed two general tracks. The first was the “stick a boot in your ass, it’s the American way” track. The second was the “love my family so much it hurts” track. Lonestar definitively followed the second track, occasionally to cringeworthy depths. These two successive #1’s define country music in 2003 in a nutshell. From one week to the next, we go from “hanging those bad boys high in the street for all the people to see” to “a carrot top with a sippy cup of milk”. Charming!
For all of its saccharine schmaltz, “My Front Porch Looking In” sounded pretty good. Richie McDonald needed a lifetime ban for possession of his man card after singing that chorus, but its sung respectably and performed pleasantly, offering a nice reprieve from the artificial shock and awe bluster of that summer. Even when it gets recurrent play today, I find myself getting into it. But if only one single from Lonestar’s Greatest Hits CD made it to #1, I’d have definitely preferred their cover of “Walking in Memphis” which I still find exceptional.
Grade: B
I do agree, their cover of “Walking in Memphis” outshines the original. I’ll also throw in “Class Reunion” and “Unusually Unusual” as singles in this stretch that should’ve done better.
I saw Lonestar in concert in 2006, and it felt like they were trying to shed the gloss on stage. Their performances were a lot less polished, making even the songs I like least by them more palatable.
The “Coming Home” and “Mountains” albums are noticeably a bit less glossy than the Dann Huff era, but they didn’t quite stick the landing because they were still recording eye rolling lines like “20 years of bacon, eggs, and tears” and “them dang ol’ hills will get you every time”.
Big fan of Class Reunion and was surprised it wasn’t able to build off the momentum of whatever it followed (I think it was Mr. Mom but I can’t remember).
I don’t think I’ve heard “Class Reunion”. I’ll have to check it out.
Lonestar performed at my county fair in 2012 with the original members. They returned just last year (2024) and I had no idea who the new lead singer was until he sang “Whatever Comes First”. I was scratching my head thinking that that was a Sons of the Desert song and not a Lonestar song. It didn’t hit me until the show was nearly over the Drew Womack of Sons of the Desert was the new lead singer.
Oh wait. “That Used To Be Us” is “Class Reunion”. I have heard it.
Grade “C-“. Nothing offensive, but just boring lyrics, production, and performance.
The words “sippy cup” and Richie’s ear-splitting cloying delivery kill this song for me. Shame, since the underlying premise and hook are genuinely good.
Also, how the FUCK was this the top single of 2003 on Billboard Year-End when it only spent a single week at the top?
Regarding it being the top single of that year, it probably spent a ton of weeks in the Top 10 as well the Top 40 and amassed a ton of whatever points the Billboard system uses/used (if memory serves, one of Josh Turner’s singles that only got as high as #2–Time is Love maybe?–ended up as the top country single of it’s respective year).
I think I remembered reading that the band members really didn’t want to do this song or “mr. Mom” but relented at the insistence of lead singer Richie. I mean would I have wanted to record this and have my name attached…no but is it a bad song? No way just needed the right performer.
Hey I’ll go to bat for the song too. This was a a heavy recurrent on K95 Richmond when I started heavily listening to the radio back when I was 15. Can’t believe that was 18 years ago. I also love Mr. Mom and remember K95 playing “Walking in Memphis” quite a bit along with all the hits from “Lonely Grill” found memories. While Lonestar has never been a favorite I do enjoy a few of their singles. Als, Kevin I hope you’ve been doing well. I was worried as I haven’t seen these features in a while.
I don’t mind this one much, certainly a nice break from their endless parade of ballads. I still think they peaked with the one-two punch of Tequila Talkin’ and No News, but this one and even, yes. Mr. Mom were okay with me.