When you think of a typcial blue-collar job, you probably don’t think of a country music singer. But Mark Miller, lead singer of Sawyer Brown, describes his job as just that.

“I look at us as a blue-collar band,” he said in a recent press release. “We go up there and we work.

“We believe in doing our job and doing it well,” Miller said. “We still do the same things we did when we first started out — we still do all of that.”

Sawyer Brown entered the country music scene in 1984 and scored its first number one song, “Step That Step,” in 1985. The band has since sold more than 11 million records and has scored 15 Top Ten country hits.

In the early years, Sawyer Brown performed a lot of up-tempo songs, but in 1991, the band went through a transformation and began to sing more slow songs with a lot of sentiment.

Songs like “The Walk” and “Cafe On The Corner” brought Sawyer Brown increasing critical acclaim and commercial success.

In the past five years, every Sawyer Brown single has reached the Top Ten on the nation’s country music charts, seven of them becoming number one hits.

“We never put ourselves above the audience,” Miller said. “We are the audience; and they are us. And I enjoy that part of it, keeping that with us, that blue-collar attitude.

“Sawyer Brown is all part of their show, their party,” said Miller. “And our lyrics are just a part of their daily dialogue.”

Sawyer Brown will headline a Hilton Coliseum show tonight with special guests Lonestar and Kevin Sharp. Like Sawyer Brown, Lonestar is also composed of five members. All of the Lonestar members are from Texas, the Lone Star state.

“It kind of became a requirement to be a Texan and to be a Dallas Cowboy fan,” said group member Dean Sams in a press release.

Lonestar has had several hits on its debut album, including “Tequila Talkin’,” “No News,” and “Runnin’ Away With My Heart.”

“I think our goal in the studio was to capture what we do live, because our show is pretty rockin’, a lot of energy,” said band member John Rich.

Kevin Sharp, 25, is a cancer survivor who was given no chance of survival five years ago. His bald head is a reminder of the radiation and chemotherapy treatments his body has endured.

“Sometimes I’m afraid I’m dreaming,” said Sharp in a press release. “Maybe this is heaven.”

In 1991, Sharp went into remission and said music helped him through it all.

“It was so healing,” Sharp said. “Just to be around it was like an energy pill. I’d prepared to die for so long that I didn’t know how to live — I was more scared of living than I was of dying. It was music that brought me back.”

Sharp’s first release, “Nobody Knows,” recently reached number one on the country music charts. “I knew the minute I heard it that it was a hit,” he said.

“Today, I appreciate everything in life so much more than ever,” he said. “Even the smallest things are beautiful to me.”

Tonight’s concert is set to begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for the show are $21.50 and are still available at the Hilton Coliseum box office or by calling Ticketmaster at 233-1888.