Once in a while an opening act will upstage the headliner. However, that is just what happened Sept. 26 at Asheville’s U.S. Cellular Center when little-known Nashville-based singer/songwriter Brent Rupard outshone the well-established modern-day country band Lonestar.

On acoustic guitar in an emotive voice, Rupard sang songs of his about a girl with a six-pack of beer knocking on the door, a girl named Atlanta he passed through and about a girl who “ain’t nothing but a train.”

Also, the Kentucky native sang about his mother praying on the front porch. He prefaced this by saying “We’ve all had someone make sacrifices for us and tonight we’re here for the firefighters — they put their lives on the line every day.”

The concert — hosted by the Asheville Firefighters to fund their Coats for Kids program, their burn camp for children and their shelter program for burned-out families — filled about one-third of the 6,500 seats.  

Rupard for his part finished a 45-minute set with a tight instrumental jam with his two sidemen, one on Dobro, one on mandolin.

After a 20-minute intermission, Lonestar, a 22-year-old band with with 10 No. 1 country records and more than 10 million records sold as credentials, took the stage. 

In a flash, about 100 people were standing right in front of the stage and stayed there throughout Lonestar’s 90-minute set.

The band’s booming-voiced lead singer and songwriter Richie McDonald shook many hands.

The band, with most members from Texas, played to loud applause most of its hits, including “I’m Already There” (an overseas serviceman talking to his four-year-old daughter) and “Amazed” (a love ballad that crossed over to number one on the Billboard charts in 1993).

Lonestar tunes are catchy pop-ish songs, a far cry from the country of Merle Haggard and George Jones. The band does have a pedal guitar player but he was lost in the mix that night.

The lone non-Texan in the band is keyboardist Dean Sims who hails from Asheville. After McDonald introduced him. Sims said, “I saw my first concert here. I was nine-years-old. The band was Black Oak Arkansas — does anybody remember them?”

Small cheers in response to Sims’ question, then big cheers erupted as Lonestar finished up competently, covering the Beatles’ “Get Back,” Pink Floyd’s “Just Another Brick in the Wall,” Kiss’ “Rock and Roll All Night” and the Eagles’ “Lyin’ Eyes.”

“This is what we did before we had our own songs,” McDonald said. “We still like doing it.”