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Rascal Flatts will travel across the U.S. with three more country groups this summer as they launch the American Band tour. Little Big Town, the Eli Young Band and Edens Edge will open the series of shows, which begin June 15 in Hartford, Conn. “We are always looking for new [...]
Rascal Flatts will headline a private party hosted by Big Machine Label Group and CMT Radio Live in Nashville on Feb. 21, the night before Country Radio Seminar begins. Additional performers include The Band Perry, Edens Edge, Brantley Gilbert, Martina McBride and Justin Moore, as well as surprise guests. New [...]
Rascal Flatts hint at an upcoming documentary about the band. Dierks Bentley’s Home reveals a fresh kind of heartbreak. Miranda Lambert’s On Fire tour grows from a spark to a blaze. Johnny Cash’s Rolls Royce limo goes up for auction. Taylor Swift’s “Long Live” finds second life in Brazil. Country’s [...]
Rascal Flatts bassist-vocalist Jay DeMarcus and his wife, CMT Insider correspondent Allison DeMarcus, are expecting the birth of their second child this summer, the couple announced Wednesday (Jan. 25). The musician and his wife, a former Miss Tennessee, were married in Nashville in 2004 and welcomed their first child, daughter [...]
Rascal Flatts have been named the recipient of the CRS 2012 Artist Humanitarian Award to be presented at Country Radio Seminar in Nashville on Feb. 22. The award was created in 1990 to honor country artists who have exhibited exceptional humanitarian efforts during their career. Past recipients include Tim McGraw [...]
Biography
A country trio known primarily for its pleasing harmony and Grammy-winning songcraft, Rascal Flatts are comprised of Gary LeVox, Jay Demarcus, and Joe Don Rooney. Cousins Demarcus and LeVox grew up in Columbus, OH, a town Demarcus eventually left in 1992 to pursue a music career in Nashville. Meanwhile, LeVox pursued his own musical success with a Christian group; at the behest of his cousin, however, he also relocated to Nashville toward the decade’s end. Although LeVox quickly found work as the keyboardist for country star Chely Wright, he still found time to play local shows with Demarcus. One night, the duo asked Oklahoma native Joe Don Rooney (who played guitar in Wright’s band) to join them during a Printer’s Alley gig in Nashville. A bond was quickly formed, and the musicians abandoned their other duties in favor of forming Rascal Flatts in the late ’90s.
After landing a record deal with Lyric Street Records, Rascal Flatts recorded an eclectic mix of country and pop for the trio’s self-titled debut. The album arrived in 2000, and “Prayin’ for Daylight” became the group’s first smash single. Rascal Flatts ultimately sent four singles to the Top Ten before the band’s second album, Melt, appeared in October 2002. Co-produced by the bandmates themselves, Melt sold a million copies in eight weeks and yielded the band’s first number one country hit, “These Days.” By this time, Rascal Flatts had established themselves as a highly successful country act, with a particularly strong following among younger listeners (an elusive demographic to most country stars). A live album served as an amiable segue between Melt and 2004′s chart-topping Feels Like Today, while Me and My Gang arrived in April 2006. Rascal Flatts’ 2007 release, Still Feels Good, enjoyed a similar reception, going platinum before the year’s end and yielding another number one hit, “Take Me There.” Unstoppable followed in 2009. After Lyric Street Records ceased operations, the trio signed with Big Machine Records and released its seventh studio album, Nothing Like This, in 2010. ~ Andrew Leahey & Rick Cohoon, Rovi