Rascal Flatts new EP, How They Remember You, will be out this Friday, featuring seven songs that will be new to the fans but not to the band. “These songs, truth be told, are over-cuts from some projects we’ve worked on before,” Jay DeMarcus explains. “And so, they’re songs that we wanted them to be out there but for whatever reason didn’t have room on the projects that they were cut for.”
The guys always loved the songs but never had a chance to put them on a project until now. According to Jay, “We got to thinking one day, let’s finish these out. We have nothing to do while quarantined, we’re locked down. Our fans want new music why not go in and finish these out, get ‘em mixed and make ‘em part of a special project.”
Putting the How They Remember You EP together gave Rascal Flatts a rare chance to work on new music, which is something they hadn’t done in a while and couldn’t have come at a better time. “We went in and reworked the arrangements a little bit and kind of brought them up to date in some aspects,” says Jay. “And it was so much fun to work on new music because we hadn’t worked on new music in three or four years now. So, to be able to pass some of the time of the lockdown and the quarantine creating music again was very therapeutic for me.”
As evidenced by the title track and Rascal Flatts’ current single, Joe don Rooney says of the songs on the EP, “Some of them really do hearken back to kind of the good old days, if you will, of Rascal Flatts sound, and it’s just really well written songs.”
Thomas Rhett co-wrote one of the songs on the album called “Looking Back” with his dad, Rhett Akins, along with Jesse Frasure and Ashley Gorley, but the band didn’t know that until after they recorded the song, because Jay says, “What I like to try to do is not be skewed by the writers that are on it, so I find out afterward. I like to just listen with no filter on it and go, ‘That’s a great song. I don’t care who wrote it.’ … Now, after we cut it I like to find out but certainly not in the beginning stages.”
Throughout their 20 years as a band, Rascal Flatts has honed in on the kind of songs they like to record and that fit the band, “We’ve just always been driven by message in the song and in the music,” explains Jay. And I think that you would have to start with – what is a Rascal Flatts’ song and what makes it unique? Gary’s lead vocal. Nobody in the business sings like, or has sung like ever, Gary delivers a vocal when he sings it. The soaring melodies that we do when we go into a chorus. The choruses always lift so that Joe Don and I can sort of couch around Gary with our harmonies. I think it’s what sets us apart from other acts that are out there in country music. There’s a unique buzz and a blend that happens when the three of us sing together that you can’t manufacture. It either happens organically and naturally or it doesn’t.”
Fans can hear that signature Rascal Flatts sound on the How they Remember You EP, which will be available, wherever music is streamed or downloaded, on Friday.
Rascal Flatts – how choose EP songs :40
Joe Don Rooney – “Some of them really do hearken back to kind of the good old days, if you will, of Rascal Flatts sound, and it’s just really well written songs. I don’t think any of us wrote any of these songs. They’re all outside pitches. That speaks volumes for the songs. It was just really a unique project to put together at this time when everything’s shut down. It’s hard to really get a lot of people to be able to be available to finish out some of the songs. So, it was very much a lot of cut and paste and piecemealed together project but it sure has worked out really well and I’m really excited for the fans to hear this new music, and especially the lead single, ‘How They Remember You.’ I really think it’s an unbelievable lyric and I think we’re blessed to be the ones to record that song.”
Rascal Flatts – why these 7 songs :42
Jay DeMarcus – “These songs, truth be told, are over-cuts from some projects we’ve worked on before. And so, they’re songs that we wanted them to be out there but for whatever reason didn’t have room on the projects that they were cut for. And we got to thinking one day, let’s finish these out. We have nothing to do while quarantined, we’re locked down. Our fans want new music why not go in and finish these out, get ‘em mixed and make ‘em part of a special project. We went in and reworked the arrangements a little bit and kind of brought them up to date in some aspects and it was so much fun to work on new music because we hadn’t worked on new music in three or four years now. So, to be able to pass some of the time of the lockdown and the quarantine creating music again was very therapeutic for me.”
Rascal Flatts – knowing the writers :28
Jay DeMarcus – “What I like to try to do is not be skewed by the writers that are on it, so I find out afterward (me too). I like to just listen with no filter on it and go, ‘That’s a great song. I don’t care who wrote it.’ So, it doesn’t really matter to us, I think, at the end of the day who writes a song. Obviously, there have been writers throughout our career that have written more than others and it’s a testament to what kind of genius writers they are. But I don’t like to be clouded by knowing who’s on it at first. Now, after we cut it I like to find out but certainly not in the beginning stages.”
Rascal Flatts – what makes Rascal Flatts song :42
Jay DeMarcus – “We’ve just always been driven by message in the song and in the music. And I think that you would have to start with – what is a Rascal Flatts’ song and what makes it unique? Gary’s lead vocal. Nobody in the business sings like, or has sung like ever, Gary delivers a vocal when he sings it. The soaring melodies that we do when we go into a chorus. The choruses always lift so that Joe Don and I can sort of couch around Gary with our harmonies. I think it’s what sets us apart from other acts that are out there in country music. There’s a unique buzz and a blend that happens when the three of us sing together that you can’t manufacture. It either happens organically and naturally or it doesn’t.”