Like a lot of artists who record Christmas albums, Rascal Flatts had to record the album in the middle of the summer, which meant trying to come up with ways to get into the holiday spirit when it didn’t feel like Christmas at all. Gary LeVox jokes that they used lots of egg nog to feel festive. But Jay DeMarcus says, “We actually strung some lights up in the studio and Miles McPherson who played drums on it wore a Santa hat the whole time. And I think Dave Cohen, the keyboard player, had a couple of those Elves on the Shelves sitting on his rack while we were cuttin’.”
Apparently a broken air conditioner also helped. Gary says, “It was literally arctic cold in there. Like, we wanted it down, but it was broke. So we didn’t have a choice.”
Rascal Flatts’ The Greatest Gift of All will be released on October 21st, and will feature several holiday classics like “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” plus a couple of Christmas covers, including Stevie Wonder’s “Someday at Christmas.”
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Rascal Flatts – getting into Christmas spirit :31
Gary LeVox – “Lots of egg nog.”
Jay DeMarcus – “We actually strung some lights up in the studio and Miles McPherson who played drums on it wore a Santa hat the whole time, and ….”
Gary – “It was awesome. But it was literally arctic cold in there. Like, we wanted it down, but it was broke. So we didn’t have a choice. It was absolutely …”
Jay – “And I think Dave Cohen, the keyboard player, had a couple of those Elves on the Shelves sitting on his rack while we were cuttin’.”
Joe Don Rooney – “Yeah, and he’s Jewish, which is amazing.”
Jay – “Yeah, he said I can’t believe you even called me to work on this record (laughs)”