The Frontmen will bring an arsenal of country hits to a concert Friday night at Penn’s Peak, located on Maury Road, Jim Thorpe.

Collectively, the trio - Richie McDonald and Tim Rushlow, formerly of Lonestar and Little Texas, respectively, and Larry Stewart of Restless Heart - amassed 40 top 10 Billboard country hits as their groups’ lead vocalists. McDonald also plays keyboards, with Stewart and Rushlow on acoustic guitar.

Stewart’s biggest hits with Restless Heart, founded in 1984, include “I’ll Still Be Loving You,” “Why Does It Have to Be (Wrong or Right)” and “The Bluest Eyes in Texas.” Stewart departed the band in the early 1990s, though later returned.

A member of Little Texas from the late 1980s to late 1990s, Rushlow’s hits with the group include “What Might Have Been,” “God Blessed Texas” and “My Love.” McDonald spent most of the last 30 years with Lonestar, scoring hits such as “Amazed,” “I’m Already There” and “My Front Porch Looking In.”

BlackHawk, formed in 1992, will support The Frontmen at Penn’s Peak. The group’s hits include “Every Once in a While” and “I’m Not Strong Enough To Say No.”

Reflecting on his musical roots, McDonald recalled his mom being a strong singer and his grandfather playing the organ.

The vocalist, who sang in church and choir, taught himself to play guitar as an early teen.

“It started from there. I enjoyed singing and performing. During talent shows in junior high, I realized I enjoyed the spotlight.”

In terms of influences, McDonald named, among others, Lubbock, Texas-born Buddy Holly and Mac Davis. McDonald enjoyed watching the latter’s variety show as a child.

“I loved the part where he made up a song on the fly. I was fascinated by songwriting from an early age from his show.”

Other influences include Kenny Rogers, Ronnie Milsap and Alabama, the latter for whom The Frontmen opened some shows in 2021.

McDonald, who moved to Nashville in 1992, joined Lonestar that same year. After two gold-selling albums, it was 1999‘s “Lonely Grill” that vaulted the group to multi-platinum success.

“We were at a critical point in our career,” McDonald said. “We had to find a focal point. We found a new producer. Dann Huff kind of changed the sound of Lonestar. He had a different vision, a little edgier sound.”

One of “Lonely Grill’s” four No. 1 country hits, “Amazed,” had “sat around for five years before we cut it,” McDonald said. “It was pitched to many different artists. It was simple, but a special love song.”

After “Amazed” ran its course on the country charts, the single - armed with a pop remix - hit No. 1 on Billboard‘s all-genre Hot 100 chart.

“We never had any idea or discussion that it would be a crossover hit,“ McDonald said. “It was more of a business decision from the label to try to broaden our fan base.”

In 2001, Lonestar again found success beyond the country charts. Though released before 9/11, “I’m Already There,“ the title track from the group’s fifth studio album, became associated with the attacks and deployed military members.

“A song I wrote from a phone conversation with a 4-year-old, I never had any idea it would mean so much to so many men, women, families,” said McDonald, who has three children with wife Lorie. “It was one of those songs that connected loved ones who were separated at the time, thousands of miles away.”

Though riding high with Lonestar, McDonald left the group in 2007. That year, he discussed his Frontmen idea with Stewart: three lead singers performing hits recorded with their respective bands.

Upon Rushlow joining, “we started doing shows overseas for the Navy, playing for the men and women fighting for our freedom,” McDonald said. “We did that for a while and did a handful of shows over the years.”

In 2018, The Frontmen released debut single “If It Wasn’t For The Radio.” When McDonald left Lonestar again in 2021, “Tim, Larry and I thought, what are we gonna do for the rest of our lives? We thought, it’s now or never if we wanna jump into thing full speed ahead.”

McDonald, who credits Restless Heart with opening doors for bands such as Little Texas and Lonestar, noted that “we all respect what we had done in our groups. There are no egos.”

The trio, in the process of signing a record deal, plans to release a new single in early 2023. Frontmen members wrote five of the six songs cut, with plans to cut about six more.

Looking to 2023 and beyond, “I‘m pretty content with what The Frontmen are doing right now,” McDonald said. “This is where I wanna be for a long time to come.”