CURRENT SINGLE: “How They Remember You”
Rascal Flatts is marking their 20th anniversary as a band with the release of Twenty Years of Rascal Flatts – The Greatest Hits, this Friday, October 2. It’s a collection of 20 of their biggest hits and fan favorite songs throughout their career, from “These Days” to “Yours If You Want It,” and so many life-changing songs in between. When the band looks back on their collective body of work, Jay DeMarcus says, “I hope that people feel like we made the kind of music that matters to people in the season that they’re in, in their life. I hope that our music somehow touches them on a deeper level than just turning it up with the top down and having fun to it. I hope that it speaks to them, helps them through a difficult situation, gives them encouragement when life throws a bunch of crap at them that they don’t understand. I hope that our music, when it’s all said and done, and we leave this earth, lasts so long that people are still being touched by it, people are still being moved by it.”
Rascal Flatts was considered too pop for country when they first debuted back in 2000, but now, you can hear their influence in a lot of the sounds of today’s country music, and Gary LeVox says, “Something that we are real proud of, I think we opened the door for a lot of new artists doing the kind of music that you even hear today, 20 years later – the Dan & Shay’s. Because there was no sound like the sound that we had when we came in, in 2000. You know, it’d be nice to say that we’ve had that kind of impact.”
But the people that Gary is most proud to have impacted with Rascal Flatts music are the fans. “With our fans, rthe greatest thing that we hear continuously is that the music that we’ve written or that we cut, we have told their life story through Rascal Flatts music. I mean, every step of their life, from marriage to graduation to divorce to addiction to cancer. We’ve really told people’s life story, and that is timeless. And that is the greatest reward as an artist that you could ever receive from fans.”
It’s easy to understand why Rascal Flatts music has become the soundtrack to so many people’s lives. As Gary explains, when you listen to the songs on their ten studio albums, “We talk about love and life and loss and war. And we talk about redemption and we talk about forgiveness and we talk about being better. And we talk about moving forward and not living in the past, but moving onto the future, and it’s okay to make mistakes and it’s never too late to change as a family unit or as a parent or as a person.”
After this year, the guys in Rascal Flatts plan to step away from the group to pursue some solo endeavors, including Jay running his Christian record label, Gary making at least a couple of solo albums, including a gospel album, and Joe Don really focusing on becoming a full-time songwriter. “20 years in a band together is a long, long time,” Jay said in a recent interview, “but I don’t think we’ll ever be one of those bands that go, ‘That’s it. We’re breaking up. You’ll never see us again.”
Get Twenty Years of Rascal Flatts – The Greatest Hits, this Friday.
Rascal Flatts – your mark on country music :43
Gary LeVox – “Something that we are real proud of, I think we opened the door for a lot of new artists doing the kind of music that you even hear today, 20 years later – the Dan & Shay’s. Because there was no sound like the sound that we had when we came in, in 2000. You know, it’d be nice to say that we’ve had that kind of impact. And I think with our fans, the greatest thing that we hear continuously is that the music that we’ve written or that we cut, we have told their life story through Rascal Flatts music. I mean, every step of their life, from marriage to graduation to divorce to addiction to cancer. We’ve really told people’s life story, and that is timeless. And that is the greatest reward as an artist that you could ever receive from fans.”
Rascal Flatts – music mean to fans :34
Jay DeMarcus – “I hope that people feel like we made the kind of music that matters to people ion the season that they’re in, in their life. I hope that our music somehow touches them on a deeper level than just turning it up with the top down and having fun to it. I hope that it speaks to them, helps them through a difficult situation, gives them encouragement when life throws a bunch of crap at them that they don’t understand. I hope that our music, when it’s all said and done, and we leave this earth, lasts so long that people are still being touched by it, people are still being moved by it.”
Rascal Flatts – reflect when hear old songs :22
Gary LeVox – “We do reflect when we hear stuff. For me, it always goes back to like where we recorded it, when we did, what was happening right at that time. I kinda go back to the studio and where we were in our careers, and it’s an amazing journey every time you hear something that takes you back to when you first recorded it.”
Jay DeMarcus – “The Gap turtlenecks we wore on the cover. (Oh yeah, for sure) It’s amazing.”
Rascal Flatts – life in songs :20
Gary LeVox – “We talk about love and life and loss and war. And we talk about redemption and we talk about forgiveness and we talk about being better. And we talk about moving forward and not living in the past, but moving onto the future, and it’s okay to make mistakes and it’s never too late to change as a family unit or as a parent or as a person.”