#477 - Rascal Flatts Special Episode (They're Back Together!)

Published Oct 25, 2024, 5:30 AM

This special episode is all about Rascal Flatts, in honor of the band being back together after breaking up five years ago! Throughout the years, Bobby has sat down with Jay Demarcus, Gary Levox and most recently, all three members of Rascal Flatts! Jay shared the untold story of how Rascal Flatts was formed and Gary talked about the unknown future of the band due to COVID. Then Gary, Jay and Joe Don stopped by the studio to talk about their upcoming Life Is A Highway Tour, their favorite songs to play live, Joe Don's sobriety and much more!

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This is the Bobby Cast.

Hey, welcome to episode four seventy seven. Let's talk about Rascal Flats. So it's a special episode and we've had these guys in over the past ten years and now they're back together again, so we thought we'd kind of walk down that trail together. Now. If you remember, they were about to go on a farewell tour in twenty twenty within COVID hit and they never got to go out on the road and say goodbye because well they were breaking up. And then they just went ahead and broke up and decided they do stuff individually. So that's what they did. So you had Gary who went out and performed solo and did a Christian album, and he had Jay who started a record label, and he had Jodahn who took some time to work on his health. And so what we did is we went back through the archives and a lot of this is from when I was talking to them individually from the past decade. And I want to start first with Jada Marcus. Jay has dark hair. He's one of the two cousins. Jay plays what like bass guitar, he plays a little bit of everything. He's super savant as far as music comes. But this is Jay talking about how Rascal Flats came together back in the day, what Nashville was like when they first started out, and he shared what he thought the future of the band was gonna be, like, we'll go to back to the beginning of the Flats or Rascal Flats, not the Rascal Flats. So if everybody's listening right now, I'll call him the Rascal Flats, dear God. So we're gonna we're gonna move past college. We'll get back to that in a minute. You're in town and you have a cousin that you guys weren't super close.

We weren't growing up, but we lost touch, right, and which is Gary?

Yeah?

And Gary had been winning some karaoke competitions. Yeah.

So I kept hearing grumblings back home when I would go back for the holidays that hey, you know your cousin Gary, he's been singing a little bit.

And I'd be like, really, that's new.

And it wasn't that I was being mean about it, but I was following my own path and I had the Christian band. And then somebody told me that he was talking to a producer in La about doing an R and B thing and that he and Jamie Fox had spent some time together. My uncle had actually told me that, and I was like, he knows Jamie Fox. That's kind of cool. And it was lost on me that again, he was talking about singing and doing a pop thing.

And then my mom.

Called me one day and she goes, now, your cousin Gary's gonna call you and you need to listen to him sing. He's been winning some contests up here. He's been singing in Ohio and oh yeah, and you need to listen to him sing.

I was like, Mom, are you kidding me?

The last thing I want to do is tell some family member who I'm not really that close to anymore, you shouldn't try this. And she said, well, I've talked to She called Judy Gary's mother, Jude Babe. They were closer than sisters.

They still are.

She said, well, listen, I've already told Jude Babe that you're going to listen to him, so you just need to let him come over there when he's down there and sing for you. Well, he was on his way to vacation in Florida, and he stopped by my apartment in Brentwood and I sat down, and I believe, if I'm remembering correctly, the first song he sang was One Last Cry by Brian McKnight, and I knew it well enough on the piano to kind of hack through it, and he just stopped me in my tracks. I mean, when he opens his voice and you hear that come out of him, it's otherworldly. I mean, I describe it in the book as all of these ingredients of gospel and R and B and country rolled up into one. I'd never heard anything quite like it before, and it had an immediate, identifiable personality to it that was just shocking to me. And we kept talking over the next several weeks, several months, and I said, you know, you got to move to town. It's never going to find you in Columbus. And he was struggling because he had a great job, he had debt, he had bills, he'd already forged a life for himself. And he called me one day and he said, that's it, I'm coming to town. I can't do this anymore. And if I don't do it, I'm afraid I'll regret it for the rest of my life. And he lived on my couch. I had a one bedroom apartment and he lived on my couch, and we played everywhere we could, and when people would hear him, the reaction was just undeniable. You could see it in their faces. They were like, oh my god, this guy is up there singing Merle Haggard, but singing like r and b licks in it. And now if you turn on country radio, you hear a whole host of singers that were touched by him and influenced by him. And that's a testament to what his gift was and what he was able to bring to this town and build upon.

So you guys are playing show as a printer's alley a couple nights a week, few nights.

A week, Yeah, and doesn't even exist anymore in the place we played, well was it? It was a fiddle and steel guitar bar, and think it's a boutique hotel.

Now. So you go and you say, hey, Gary, we're gonna get a gig, just the two of us. And how do you get that gig? Do you go up in to say, hey guy, here's the tape. What's that?

I'll tell you so the guy playing up on stage, we'd go in and hear him sing, and he would let us sit in and do a song. The owner was in there one night, Allison was her name, and Greg Perkins. They owned it together, and she walked over and she said, would you guys want to do a night here? And Gary said, I don't even live here full time. I'm just visiting on the weekends. She said, if you guys will do a couple of nights here a week, I'll fire him and give you his gig.

The guy that you were singing, the guy that was letting us, the guy that helped you. That's how cutthroat Nashville is, you know. And and we so we left and we talked about it, and I said, do you do you want to do this? And then that that's I think that's around the time he called me and said, I'm moving to town. Let's take that gig and see see what happens. And it was the two of us sitting beside a cigarette machine, and I had my keyboard and he had a mic when I had Mike's. And we sometimes there were two people in there, sometimes there were twenty, sometimes there were forty, but slowly but surely, we started to build a following that would come in and see us. And then the owners came to us and said, we're thinking about buying the other side of this building, knocking down the wall that separates the two putting a stage together. Would you put a band together? And I knew a bunch of guys from various bands, and I was sitting in with and Gary and I were friends with a circle of buddies that were great musicians and had been playing in different places with them.

So we put a band together.

So you're playing with Shelley right at this time too, right, like as your main you can playing with Shelley right. You're playing keys?

Yeah, I was your band later.

Okay, so you're running the band, you're playing keys, and you had hired a guitarist, which was Joe Done. Yeah. And so when you're putting the band together, is that when you bring Jo Donne in.

No, he didn't start playing with us right away. A guy named Shane Sutton played with us. Fantastic player, fantastic singer. And we were playing down there for probably several months, and then I get a call one night and Shane says, man I can't get out of bed. I've got the flu, I've got a fever, and I'm sorry to do this to you, but I can't make it tonight. It was on a Monday night, and I thought, oh no, what are we gonna do. I know who can play this, I know who can do it. I'm gonna call Joe on. I called him up and I said, hey, what are you doing tonight? And he's like nothing, I'm just sitting around. I said, let's let's uh, let's play tonight.

You want to?

You want to sit in with us?

I said, I've been telling you about my cousin anyway I want you to. I want you to hear him and meet him in real life. And I've been telling you know, Gary about Jodawn how talented he was. And so we pull up the club and Jodahn's sitting his guitar, lamp up and he's up there tuning up. Gary looks at me, he goes, who is that? I said, well, man, I didn't want to tell you this, but Shane's sick, and he goes, are you kidding me? This guy isn't gonna know a thing that we do. We got to play at all three am and if this sucks, I'm out of here. You can have this by yourself. And I was like, Gary, please, like, just get him the shot. He would barely even speak to Joe on It was so funny. He was so frustrated. And I understand. See Gary was getting up at four thirty am to throw papers. So we finished in the club at two.

He slept right to work.

Yeah, and he go right to work throwing papers. So I understood his frustration.

But then we got up there together in the first song I think we played it on one of your shows, is the first song we ever played together was Church on the Cumberland Road by Shannondah, And we hit that first course man, and I don't know what happened, but it was just we all knew immediately. We looked at each other like that is good and we've got to have more of that.

So Shane that original guitar players the name right. It basically got Wally pipped, and Wally Pip played first Bays for the Yankees forever. And while Pip got hurt nothing, he didn't do anything wrong. I know he got hurt. And here it comes, lou Gary was gonna fill in and then here it's now the lou Gary world. I know, what does Shane say about that?

Shane.

Shane's still a buddy of ours. We still see him out playing with different artists and playing guitar, but he, you know, he obviously gives us massive amounts of crap for us firing and basically you never I had to call him and tell him he couldn't come back, and that was really awkward. I was like, I think we're gonna go ahead and stick with Joe don but I think anybody that heard us sing together, and he would definitely tell you this too, God that there was a special chemistry in a blend that we had that was not common what.

Was happening in Nashville at that time? Though you got you three or now you go, okay, this might be something, but what was like the environment like because you guys cut through so hard because you were so different. Now you kind of created where everyone else has gone, so it doesn't seem like you're that different. You guys have opened these roads up for a lot of artists nowadays. At the time, who was popping around town where they're like, you know what, You're not like them? We don't know if this is gonna be a thing quite yet.

Yeah, you know, Nashville was pretty safe back then. I mean there were glimpses of pop in music. I mean you had your South sixty five's and your I forget Marshall Dylon was around, but they were definitely trying to be five guys that danced and were trying to bring the boy band vibe over to country music, and it really wasn't resonating because they didn't play instruments. It felt no offense to those guys that were trying to make a living and do something, but it felt contrived, honestly.

And we were.

Fans of bands that were really great harmony bands like Diamond Rio and Shenandoah at the time, and the Eagles were a huge influence on us. So that's really what we were trying to do, was bring elements of what we loved about pop music, but still great authentic harmonies and the songs, the meat on the bone of the songs with something to say in a different way, is really what we tried to hone in on and make the foundation of what we were. We weren't even really trying to be a band. We didn't set out to do that. I wanted to produce and write and help Gary get a record deal so that I could try to be a record producer and be successful in that way. I'd already done the artist thing, and we know how that turned out by the book, but it sort of had no aspirations to do another artist thing. I wanted to kind of forge a different career. But the more we had a following and the more we sang together, it just felt like it was evolving into that.

Let's rewind. I grew up Pentecostal for a while. My grandmother was Pentecostal.

You did.

Yeah, scary you know it's for me that when they would speak in tongues that scared the crap out of there. I know me too, And so I remember going and my grandmother who adopted me for a long time, and she would speak in tongues in church, and it never became something that I was just like, oh this is I was always scared by it. Yeah, this that there was so much passion and love in a Pentecostal church, no doubt the most by the way of all of you know, my time of of you know, being really in the fabric church. That was that was the closest I'd ever seen church. So as much as I'm like, that scared me, it was also I'd never seen a close knit group like the Pentecostal Church. What was your experience, because I know.

That's that was a big part of your life, much the same I was scared to death. They always told you to bring your friends to church, and I'd say to my mom, why would I ever scare want my friends to see what lunatics you guys act like when you run around and speak in tongues and jump all over the pews and everything, And I was never You know, this is the truth, though I have to say it, I was never very very comfortable in that environment because it wasn't the way that I believed that I needed to express myself and my beliefs. I was, yeah, and it would, and it always troubled me a little bit, but I admired the fact that people were so dedicated to it. And You're absolutely right, there was so much love, so much. I've always felt like I was surrounded by a family of people that would do anything in the world for me, even though I may not have agreed with exactly how they went about it.

You know.

So for me, I'm glad that I went through that because it laid a really deep foundation.

For the groundwork for my faith later on in life.

And I had to really figure out what I believed and why I believed it, because I knew I didn't believe a much of that stuff that I was exposed to. And I'm not saying that it wasn't real. It was real for them, whatever that was. But I had to deconstruct my belief system and figure out why I believed what I believed and not just because I was indoctrinated with it when I was a kid.

And so you start to play music, but you're playing Christian music. Now why Christian music?

Well, I wasn't allowed to listen to quote unquote secular music when I was a kid, you know. I couldn't listen to Kiss and ac DC and until later on in life, like a lot of the kids were listening to that. So I went turned to bands like Petra and Milon Lefever and White Heart and bands that were rock but were using a positive christ centered message. Those were my influences. And so going to church and believing in God myself and believing in Christ myself I started to write a lot of that kind of music, and the more I wrote, the more I really got into that and felt like maybe that was what I was supposed to do. And when I got to college and I was working at the studio there on the campus, I was doing all kinds of demos and having my roommate Neil sing the demos, and I was mailing them to publishers to try to get a songwriting deal. And I got a call from Benson Records one day, Don Cook at Benson Records, not the Country, Don Cook the Koch, and he said, I love your band. We'd like to bring it to town to talk about doing a record on you. And of course had to tell him we're not a band. I was just trying to get a pub deal.

But so as you're deciding where to go to school, these folks come to you and say, if you'll go to school here, we'll pay We'll actually pay you away your debt, we'll pay your carpet. Like they say, hey, we're gonna write yourchther three thousand dollars otherwise, yeah, something like that. We're gonna pay you if you come to school here and perform with the band. That was at school.

Yeah, so this this guy was known for hand picking the best musicians at the school and putting together a recruiting ensemble. So this this particular group of kids would be for singers, for musicians, a couple of other road crew and things. And we traveled on a tour bus and we went around to youth camps, youth conventions, We went around to churches, We went around to camp meetings, and during a Pentecostal church, I know, you know what a camp meeting is. But we would sing and then we would talk about the school, and so we'd try to recruit kids to come to the school.

We'd go overseas.

I had the opportunity to see a whole bunch of the world at a very young age playing with that group. But as long as you played in that group, you could keep your scholarship, you could keep going to school. And that's kind of what my job was. So a lot of these kids that would go home for this summer that wasn't me. I toured all of my summers in school, and Neil and I were dear friends. We became dear friends, and lo and behold, we ended up in East to West together.

I look like there were more than one lead singer.

We both we both shared leads.

You both were doing the lead.

It worked well for us because I played bass and keys too, so then there's no doubt Neil did the lion's share of the lead vocals. And I would take a verse here or there, and you know, and that sort of thing, and maybe sing one song on the albums I would sing. So it worked really really well because I cared, you know, I was such a musician and muse o head that I wanted to like play everything I could and play a lot of it on the record, and so I was content to let Neil kind of shine and do his own thing. And he was a fantastic singer. But it worked well for us.

I think that's a big part of why, again, from the outside looking again, why Flats has been able to be so wonderful is that you can sing, but you're actually okay not being the lead.

When I stand next to somebody that sings like Gary does every night, it's like, what's the point. I love to sing, and I but I love singing harmony with him because I feel like we have something unique and he's you know, it's like anything he sings is better ten times better than anything I would come up with, And that's okay. I think one of our strengths is we realize what gifts and strengths we all three individually bring to the table, and we try to lean on those with each other. And you're right, I am okay because I get to sing beside one of the greatest vocalists I've ever had the privilege of being around every night, and that's a treat. But I will tell you when we played the clubs, you know, we'd have to play five hours a night, so we passed around the lead vocals a lot more often back then, because it's a lot to ask Gary to sing five hours a night in smoky bar rooms. Back then, you could still smoke in the bar rooms, and so we did sing a lot more.

But I saw.

The value of having that lead vocalist a stab and the sound that he had was so identifiable and so great that it wouldn't It just wasn't that important to me to have a song on the record where I sing. Now, Joe Don and I have sung verses here and there on some songs, but I just don't think it's that important to either one of us to like, Oh, look at me, I can sing a lead vocal too.

Hang Ty, the Bobby Cast will be right back. Wow, and we're back on the Bobby Cast.

You know, I remember watching because I was over in Pop whenever you guys crossed over. Yeah, so I was. I grew up in Arkansas. I was a diehard country Fanily, when I went to Pop, I kind of checked out a bit because I was just consumed by what I was doing with my work. Yeah, and you guys, what Hurts the Most? That's was big on the country and then started to creep into my world. So you're making it over in country, but it's got to be a whole different world once. Oh yeah, boulders are falling instead of.

It was weird, man, When when What Hurts the Most number one on Top forty radio, it was a moment that I'll never forget because we started getting calls to then go to which was unheard of back then. It was a different time, not a lot of like now, you'll see a lot of country acts like Dan and Say and Florida Georgia Line and folks like that and a little big town at the Amas and at the Grammys and things. It just wasn't that common back in you know, fifteen to ten, fifteen years ago, and we were getting calls to do those shows, People's Choice Awards, you know, and it was like, wow.

This is cool.

This is beyond the scope of the CMAS, the cmts and the ACMs, which we loved, but we were opened up and exposed to another, a whole other world. And I remember sitting on the floor of the American Music Awards with Gary and Gary sitting next to me, and he nudged me and he goes, would you ever thought we'd be able to do this? Sit in this room with jay Z, Beyonce, Madonna, Lady Gaga, all of the these people, And he said, no, I'm going to lay something on you you haven't thought about. I said, what this was the year two thousand and six. He said, We've sold more records this year than anybody in this room. And it stopped me in my tracks. And he wasn't saying it to be boastful or to like be you know, braggadocious about it. He was saying, can you believe what we've done outside of just being in country music? And it was overwhelming to me. I never will forget that night, in that moment that we shared during the commercial break there, which.

Is the two of us, it was so cool. Did you guys get crap for being a mainstream success from any of the Nashville you know, hardcore of country folks. Not really.

No, No, To be honest, we didn't.

We had.

I mean people I felt like were you.

Know, except for the moment there when the song was released Murder on music Row and they talked about pop coming over and infiltrating country. It was a little bit of a movement there, but most people rallied around us and got behind us.

And you know, there was a batch of us.

Doing something different in Keith Urban and US and Shadaisy at the time, and a few people that were putting poppier elements into the country music, and I feel like they welcomed it. And it was you know, some of the critics, of course, derided us early on and we got a bad rap, but most of the people in the music industry were kind of excited that there was kind of a new movement coming along.

You know.

Blessed the Broken Road another song that crept into my life.

We had that sweet spot where you're kind of in a deel, you know, and you just sit there in it and soak it all up, because it seems like you have a moment in time where you put a song out it resonates with people, and you have your fingers crossed, and you put another one out and it resonates with people. It was such a magical time for us. We had about ten years there that were just phenomenal. And it's a testament to the songwriters in this town too, because the songs we were able to get our hands on, the writers that were sitting in rooms writing for us, that knew what we wanted to say, how we wanted to sing, it really had their fingers on the pulse of who Rascal Flats was.

I can't thank them enough. Was there ever a point with you guys, you three, that you're like, this is probably it. We're done.

When Lyric Streets shut down in twenty ten, we sat around in my man room and looked at each other and we're like, do we have anything left to say? Even I mean, it's been a great ten year run. We were getting ready to either quit or make a management change, and a lot of things were going to change, and we knew it and it was going to be tough, and we sat around and considered whether or not it wasn't time to lay Rascal Flats down, and I think after an hour or so of talking with each other, it was just like, it hurts me to think about the last time that I'll look over to my right and not see Gary beside me. When I think about that day, it makes me emotional. I don't know when that day will be, but I wasn't ready to face it. And to think about never making music with the two of them again. Boy, it's something that even though we were in twenty years and we love each other like brothers and we've certainly fought like brothers before. I love those guys with all my heart. And we've done some things that a lot of people will never see or never be able to do. And we've been in the trenches together, and we know each other in ways that our own wives don't even know us. And to think about not having that anymore, I think all of us were not ready, and we were willing to stay together because we felt like we had more to say and more to do, and we still do. I don't know that it's going to come to a close anytime soon. I think we will all three have things we want to do individually as we get older and have opportunities to. But I don't see us ever really going away and and having an official, quote unquote breakup.

Do you ever think about a sideband.

I'm in one already, and it's tough to be in that one sometimes in the time that it takes in the commitment level, I've thought about maybe doing side projects, things.

Like that side band that you're in. Why do I know this or do I know this is a secret?

No, I mean, I mean I'm in Rascal Flats.

In the commitment I was like, how do I not know?

No, No, I I don't have I mean, I certainly love making music on any level, and you're producing music by the way, Yeah, well, I open up a Christian label back in October, so I've got artists signed there to that label that I'll be releasing records on. So there my time commitment there with that new thing and my life is pretty substantial. So I'm going to try to make sure that's as successful as it can possibly be. And I want to continue making music and producing for other people.

And I've had I've had the.

Chance to do a lot of great things, and you know, I'm made a really great point in my life now to where I really really enjoy everything that I'm doing right now, and I'm not just doing it because I have to.

You know, the Bobby Cast will be right back. Welcome back to the Bobby Cast.

So then a few months later, I sat down with lead singer Gary Lavaux. Now this has been four or five years ago, and this is for Gary and I were actually really close friends. And it's interesting because he did not know the future of Rascal Flats when we were having this conversation because it was just the beginning of COVID and I was like, what is even going to happen? He knew they were going to break up kind of, but he didn't know if they were going to tour it. You'll hear this, but again he talked about the early days moving to Nashville, forming Rascal Flats, even a solo project, and who he thinks the best country singers of all time are, and a whole bunch more. You know, I saw you guys. You're doing some promotion now for the new EP July thirty first, which we're going to play this whole interview thing on the radio show This is long form podcast to count down a lot of things. So I saw you guys doing promotion on one of those morning talk shows like Good Morning America or something Today's show. Were you guys together virtually or do you come in on the different boxes?

Jill Don and I were together. Jay was in Hilton Head playing golf.

And are you like Jay, we're doing promotion. Least you can do is come hang out.

Yeah, that's exactly by what we said. But he wouldn't doing it.

So it's the whole virtual thing is weird because it doesn't really feel like it counts, even though it does.

No.

I know, I was doing American Idol with the whole last five episodes, and I'm doing it from my house. I swear to god, I didn't wear pants for network television.

Yeah, I didn't on the Today Show.

You're not now?

No, I know. It's just it's so comfortable now.

The new EP, how they Remember You? We released July thirty first, and when I was thinking about EPs, have you guys put out just an EP in a long time?

Never?

Because I would think you guys are just full straight ahead album guys yeap. What was this? What made you think about putting out a smaller project?

Well, because we were actually had this other project going on, and then we were we had these songs like kind of left over from projects that we really liked but never had the chance to and this Quarantine thing kind of put it where we were kind of looking at and we were like, man, we should finish these out. And so it just came up to h and then Dan Huff got another song that he really liked, how They Remember You, which is the new single, and then so we just kind of put it all on an EP and we had seven and we were like, let's just go with seven. So Borshett it was like, yep, it's great. So Big Machine put it out. Well it will be.

Up and that's new right you being with Scott war shout out Big Machine? Is that new ish?

No, we've been there for ten years.

E been there that long.

Yeah. Wow, we got lost because of Tailor. Thanks Bobby.

Yeah, I forgot. Wasn't there a fourth member?

Yeah?

Guy for hearing and then he went to cooking. It was weird.

So you got seven try, but seven's almost a record to be fair, Yeah, it is. I mean it's like it's somewhere, it's like the purgatory of EP to LP.

Yeah, you know, the whole game's changed. Who knows what to do anymore? Some people were just doing singles. People want to do records. I mean, you know, I missed the whole body of work. But to be honest, nobody really wants the whole body of work.

I agree, even my favorite artists like I would rather now consume a couple of songs a month, yep, and have them consistently come at me a couple of time, because what happens with me, just as a music fan, first and foremost, is that you give me thirteen tracks and I'll go through it once and not give some songs the fair credit, just the acknowledgement they deserve, because sometimes you gotta hear a song two or three times you really love it, and I won't do that because I'd be like, thirteen tracks, it's just too much overwhelming.

Yep, I know, yep.

And then the artwork nothing really, you know, everything that you used to love about music or can't wait for a new thing to come out and just kind of it's disappeared.

You're one of the best singers in town and your your voice is still so pure. Have you felt your voice get lower higher through the last fifteen twenty years? Does it move at all?

You know, it really has.

I think it's gotten stronger for some weird reason.

I don't know. I can hit things now easier than I could before. I don't know.

Why do you think that is?

Yeah, I think it's just kind of like a muscle, you know, It's just like any kind of athlete. And I think the more you use it correctly and it stretches and all that kind of good stuff, it just kind of I don't know, I've just been blessed with being able to not lose much.

How old were you when it started to be Wow, Gary's actually better than the other kids, or I don't know, seventeen year olds.

You know, I don't even really know, because I mean, like I did some but I was still into sports that I really wasn't even thinking about music really, you know. And then but like high school, I'll do like I would be in the musicals like South Pacific and Guys and Dolls and all that, and these show choir kind of things, and I always ended up getting like the you know, like the lead or I have a solo part in something and it was you know, I was probably better than average, but.

But it wasn't blown away crowd and they walked out like they weren't like, holy crap, what you want. I guess you weren't La Vox, right, But the Gary freaking was killing everybody that was. That wasn't a thing early.

Yeah, yeah, maybe, but I think the soccer was my big thing, So I think that kind of overshadowed the music thing.

I was soccer. Huh, yep.

Do you think you could go and play? I guess really wasn't MLS. And did you try to play in college or no?

No, I didn't.

I had I had a scholarship to Taylor University and didn't take it. My stepdad at the time had started an electric company, so I was doing that and I'm like, this is going to be mine one day, all this, you know, so I just I started making money, and you know, started making that five seventy five an hour.

I thought I was big balling.

You know, it's crazy to hear about how much you love sports.

Now.

I've heard stories about you and how good of an athlete you still are, and I guess you don't show it a lot. But one of my dear friends was Clarence is your manager yep, And he was I don't know if it was boxing or something, and he was like, we were on the tour.

Bus, oh yeah, on boxing problem.

And they were like, we got and I guess you would put on some gloves and we're just kind of just you know, dicking around. And he was like, you would not believe how fast his breaking hands are. And he was like deceivingly, Levox is one of the best athletes you know of all, because it's a weird thing to be such a good athlete and such a great singer. I look at guys like you, or a Sam Hunt or a and Go or even a Chuck Wicks, like the guy is a great athlete and a good looking guy. You guys have and I have nothing. You guys have all the elements and I have nothing. And I just look at you all and go here I am fingernails keeping the mountain, trying to climb. You guys got your little trolley and just right up with all the skills, like God just gifted you so many.

Oh that's not true at all, that's not true at all. But I know what you're saying, like that not for me, but like the Sam Haunts and the Chuck with they're they're really good at everything and they're and they look good and yeah, and they look great.

Now.

See, I would put me in that category, but I don't know.

I did put you in the category.

I wrote it down for you that thank you.

Oh.

No.

One of the tracks quick Fast in a Hurry Rachel walmax On, who I just love love her. She's such a great singer. So when you were putting together the record, there's only one one feature on here, why Rachel?

It was just one of those things, like, I mean, she opened she did like a couple of shows for us, opened up and and like I went out there and we were all kind of watching, and I was like, God, I.

Had no idea. She can blow. She can absolutely kill it.

And then so we're just like we should quick Fast in a Hurry was kind of fresh on our minds, you know, and we had just kind of tracked it and we were just like, man, we should ask Rachel.

She'd be into it.

And Clarence manages her too, so you're like, just keep it all in the family.

And she crushed it.

Who do you see in town now where you go? Man, they can just sing like if you were doing a mount Rushmore of current. Let's say we got to put some perimeters on this. They've had to have had a hit in the past five years. Okay, so I'm going to eliminate any of the nineties guys that maybe you saw on the upper end when you were coming in. Who can really sing Mount Rushmore? Four people?

Boy, that's tough. Carrie Underwook can really sing Rachel Trifle.

Let me stop being carry a truffall. She goes into studio, doesn't allow them to touch her voice? Do you know that?

Really?

I don't know. I'm asking you. I've heard that.

Have you heard that? No, I haven't heard that, Garth, I've heard that.

Do you allow them to touch your voice?

Yeah?

Heck yeah, I want to be great really yeah, but that's you know, but just kind of like tone stuff like how much verb and all that, and I mean, but I'll take pitch corrector all.

Day, but you don't need pitch corrector. Well, you know, sometimes you have perfect pitch.

It's pretty close. It's pretty close.

All right, you got Carrie, go ahead, you got three more Carrie.

Ronnie Dunn.

Mmm, good one.

I mean for a country country singer, Hey, I put Luke Combs in there.

Yeah, I would too.

Yeah, and.

See there's some that just haven't had a hit in front the last five years, but I would put I don't wanna miss some.

But oh, you're gonna miss a lot. So I think it's okay because there's so many.

No, I'm gonna put Bobby Bones.

There's a lot of pitch corector. When I go in to do it's just pitch director. I don't even I just call in and I'm like, hey, just take this. I don't even have to go. I just slam it on. There. Are you guys not gonna say goodbye on the tour?

You know? Not for now?

I mean, I don't know what's happening. It's just, you know, every state's different now that states that were in Phase three you're going back to phase two. And you know it's just crazy. I mean, who who knows? I mean, I don't know.

You know, I know.

Jay's doing his own thing. Joe Don's right in a bunch and you know, and I'll just tell you that you know and everybody that I'm so I'm doing a solo record.

I'm working on a solo record right now.

Is that breaking news?

That's breaking news?

I knew it already, but I keep I keep such a good secret.

M so low.

So wait what is that? I'm gonna ask you about that? So you're doing a solo record? What and what it was? I feel like, what's the So.

I'm doing a first I'm going to do a solo I'm doing a solo Christian record.

It's been a dream record.

Of mine forever and I'm halfway done with that now and it's I'm so excited about it. It's just gonna be great. And I think I'm going to do a solo country record right after that.

Wow.

Ye Now what kind of expectation do you put on yourself in the solo country world where you've had You're as successful as you could have possibly been, Like, you can't be bigger than the flats? Yeah, So now it's you. How do you like? What is the goal with you? Same? Yeah?

I mean the same. I'll just see where God takes it.

But there's just there's you know, it's you know, sometimes it's difficult for the three of us to agree on songs to cut and things that I really believe in most of the time it would work out.

But there's you.

Know, there's just I think, you know, I mean, I feel the responsibility in the in the calling to continue to keep singing if Flats does or not. So, but there's songs that I really believe in that I love and they're you know. I mean, I don't know if they'll be different from Flats because I was the lead singer of Flat, so I mean, they're all all kind of sound like that, but and maybe not all the harmony stuff on there. But there's songs that I really truly believe in that I love that I think are giants and I think that the world needs to hear. I mean, I think they're you know, I think they're really really good. And I've already got some recorded for that. So I'm just excited. I'm excited about doing my own thing, and you know, and it's excited to see what happens, you know, if the Flats get together at some point when everything clears off. I mean, I don't know, we'll see, but I'm going to continue to work and I feel like that's that's been my calling and what I need to continue to do.

And do you know those guys well as anyone. If let's say a vaccine happens with Corona in March of next year, you guys decide to go out and play ten shows, and just this is just a hypothetical. Will they be cool with you singing your solo songs up there if it's out? Yeah?

Yeah, h yeah they would. Yeah.

I mean we also, I mean we get along great. We just don't know what's happening. And you know, everybody kind of you know, you know, a couple of the guys wanted to do their own thing early on, and it just this Corona thing.

It's it's just weird. It kind of gave us a year off before we were going to take a year off, you know. Yeah. So I don't know, it's just just the way it worked out.

Before I moved, I guess that's about three moves ago. But I was living in a condo and you looked out the window right on the printer's alley.

Yep.

So when you first moved to town, did you guys play any of those Printer's alley spots?

Yep?

Right there, Fiddling Steel we played there, but we played all of them, but our main gig was like Mondays and Tuesdays the fiddling steel, and then we would play Barbers and we played Lonnie's Western Room.

We'd play all those down there.

What does that mean? You would play them? Like talk about them? What's a Monday night?

So Monday night?

Well, when I first moved to town, it was Jay set up by the cigarette machine with a little keyboard and we had some tracks like well they call me the Farm and that's my name. We'd sit there and sometimes the security guard was the only person that would be in there. But we would play there from nine to three on Mondays and Tuesdays. Then we started building a following. Then we met and Joe Don came in and then but we played from nine to three, take breaks, and then we'd take a break, and then we'd go to barbers across the street and play over there and sit in a carry out I and then we just stayed in the alley. We're gonna be somewhere every night playing music.

What does that mean to develop a following when you're playing small bars with without social media? Like? What is that? Just the same people coming to see you?

Yeah, just same people would come in. They knew when we were playing. And what was great back then too, was like Mark Chestnut, Toby Keith and all that. So when everybody was off the road, everybody would go to Printer's Alley and hang. So he might be playing with Mark Chestnut's guitar player, you know, Toby Keith's drummer, you know Martina McBride's you know, acoustic player. It was just a I mean, it's what country music was.

You know. Then they knocked it.

All down and built you know, the condo I used to look condo that you used to live.

What was the final straw that made you come to Nashville?

You know what?

I was sitting in my mom's kitchen and how old I was twenty I was twenty seven and I was sitting in my mom's kitchen and I was singing along with the radio, and I was like, it just hit me. And at that moment, I just kind of looked up and I said, God, I feel like you give me some type of gift to sing, and I'm so sorry that I haven't used it. It was just the weirdest thing. And I was like, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it. So I took out because I worked for the Board of Developmentally Disabled for ten years. It's right out of high school. So I had to leave that job, you know, state job, sold everything and moved to town. And but that's what it was in my kitchen. I'd really I sold everything through everything in my truck, moved moved to Nashville.

Were you dominating karaoke competitions back off?

Yeah?

Yeah, yeah, because that was the extra hundred bucks, you know if you won. I was like, you know, if I had to hit three on Friday, I'd be extra three hundred dollars, you know, then Saturday, and then there was one place on Sunday.

But then they caught on.

So if you won too much, then you couldn't win anymore, you know, so then you had to start venturing out.

You go it on the East, uh fake mustache, out of town clothes. So you and Jay obviously are related with Joe Don. Did Jay find Joe Don? Who's Who's what was that?

So Jay was the.

Band leader for Shelley, right, and then he hired uh Joe Don to play guitar for Shelley And so he had j been telling me about Joda on how you Know High ten and how Grady scenes and plays. So he came down at the Filling Steel Guitar Bar one night and our guitar player didn't show up, so he invited jod On in and we did h Church on the Cumberland Road. It was the first song we ever did, and the rest was history. We were like, wow, I don't know what that was, but that was I mean, it was just it was incredible. So we asked him and.

That was that.

How quickly until you had a name?

Though it took a while because we were because I think Jaybert and I were going by Deuces Wild and then there was three of us in there, so deuces Wild didn't make any sense. And then you know it was hard to come up with a name. And uh but we we sat there and we were thinking, so we're ok Ohio because Joe nas from Oklahoma. It's just terrible.

And then so it was awful.

And so this piano player named Jelly Roll was in town or was playing with us, and he was like, man, back in the sixties, I used to have a band called Rascal Flats. And we're like, what's it mean, Jelly He was like, hell, I don't know, no idea. We were like all right, So we literally rode on a napkin, uh, and we paid him five hundred bucks for the name, so if it did work, we could get sued later.

So that's the story.

And how quickly that you guys were like, Okay, we're going to do this until you actually started to make any sort of money from it into tea bigger than just a bar, meaning a record label.

How it was.

Did that happen pretty quick? When people heard of you?

Yeah, you know, there was a see so I moved to town February ninety eight and we got signed in ninety nine. And then but we were humping I mean, we were killing it every night. We were playing somewhere every night. And then yeah, so but we were working for tips only and then we got paid forty bucks a night and then so the first real money was was when we signed our deal with Lyric Street Records.

Yep, do you guys ever baby act for anybody as that third act where they really were like, hey, we'll look out.

For you, you know what all of them did really and that was like our first tour ever was Jody Messina and Jody kind of did that for us. And then it was Toby Keith. Toby really took us under his wing. And then Brooks and Done. I mean, really, you go out there and try to steal everything that they've got their fans, you learn so much. And then Brooks and Done and then I mean they all kind of took us under their wing and really showed us the ropes and you know, how to put a tour together and how to treat fans.

And you know, because we were on that the Brooks and.

Done thing where they had jugglers and stuff all day long, you know, so yeah, we I mean we learned from all of them. All of thems kind of kind of took them and took us under their wing and really showed us the ropes. And they were I forget who it was that told us. They were like, see all those fans out there, you need to go steal every single one of them.

Oh that's cool, we'll try. That's cool.

And that's what we told everybody that's open for us since then.

The how they remembew the EP when it comes out. Why do you name song PEP different people give me different ones? Why do you name the whole project after a song?

You know? I don't know. I guess just because it's easy.

It's the first thing and it's hard to encompass, like because all of it has a different feel and the whole body of work feels different, you know.

Let's you know, but something like the.

Craftmanship record that would have been the other time Spent record.

You guys had seven Do you have seven songs on this thing? Did all? Is it a rule that three of three of you have to agree on the song or two or three? What's the what's the dynamic there?

Pretty much? Yeah, pretty much? And then but I'll get in there sometimes just come in. I just I hate the song.

I'm not doing it.

You ever done that to a song? It ended up being a massive hit where it's like I don't know if this is the one.

I'm sure there, I'm sure there.

Jay's probably been the worst at that Jays because he's like songs like no, I'm not doing that, you know, like like Sarah Beth, you know about skin.

I don't want to sing about cancer. I don't want to do you know, it's a tough subject. I don't want to sing about it.

It's a hit, and it's happened a couple other times we were like, hey, Jay whatever other songs that you hate, man.

That'd be great.

Let the Yeah.

So you and Jamie Fox have been friends for a while.

Huh m hmm, yep, long time.

You guys just sit around Jamie's house singing.

We did all the time.

You know, how'd you guys become friends?

He I got a deal offered to me by Capitol Records in early on, like a pop deal, And so I went to LA and my old manager at that time used to work for Jamie, and so ended up going there, staying there, and uh after I turned that deal down, I ended up just staying living with Jamie for a few months, just staying with him.

And then we're just and he had just lived together.

Just started the w he started, just started the Jamie Fox Show on the WB and so he was just getting going. I mean, his comedy stuff was happening. But he's truly one of the most he might be the most talented person I've ever seen. He's great at absolutely everything. I mean not just great, but I mean sets the bar for I mean comedy talent, I mean his the way he plays piano, and I mean he's just and and he loves music. He loves country music. He loves all genres of music and he can act. I mean, it's just it's not fair. It's not fair at all.

It sounds like he's a good dude too. He's a great dude, which sucks you kind of.

Want to hate someone. Yeah, he's from Texas.

I never liked you, yeah, because it's just you have it all.

You just you have it all. Yeah, and I'm covening. Yeah, I'm envious and I'm covening you.

Life is the Highway was never a single, right, It just became a smash kind of because people liked it, which is rare.

Yep.

Yeah, the Cars movie, yeah, you know, and then radio picked it up because it was just doing so good and just kind of they played it.

But it was never a.

Single, and really one of the songs that I would assume you guys are associated most with, depending on what the age group.

Yeah, for sure.

Yeah, it's funny because I was just just doing a singing with a buddy of mine, Jonathan mcgreynod's in the Christian world. The gospel world is amazing. He's the same way, so talented, so gifted, not fair, coveting, nine neighbor, that's what I'm doing on with him too, because it's just ridiculous. But anyway, his his assistant who knows nothing about country music, never even heard of Rascal Flask But new Life's the Highway.

Really, Yeah, Life's the Highway, the original version. Don't tell me, is it like Eddie cock now who sings lives Highway? Tom Conchran. I get Eddie money and Tom Cochran mixed up because to me, the same person, what's the most profitable song you guys have put out.

For me?

The ones I wrote fast Guards, Freedom and I Melt and Bob that Head and Summer Nights and all that. But you know, I mean, all in all broke, it's got to be broken Road or what hurts the most.

If someone says, hey, Gary, what are you gonna want you to come? Like my cousin's having a little wedding here and he's you're really important to him, and he says, you sing two songs? Any two songs at the wedding?

What do you pick? Broken Road? In my wish? I mean, those are always the ones that they ask it is.

Yeah, somebody asked me to.

I tried on moving on once but that didn't work.

Yeah, probably not a.

Good it wasn't.

Yeah, do you still get excited because you know the new project's coming out, you get excited it's gonna come out or is it just another day like it's just part of the bro I'm.

So fired up.

I'm so excited, more excited that I've been in a long time. I'm so excited to have you know, I love everything that we did with Flats and being a part of that and all of that, and who knows what will happen in the future, but I'm so excited about just having my own songs that I picked that I hand you know, hand picked and helped co produce and using you know, different It's just fresh, it's new, and it's exciting, and you know it's just uh.

And singing about the Lord is gonna be awesome.

I mean, it's been a dream record since I was a kid, so, you know, and then the country stuff, the country record that'll come after that is you know, I mean, I've already got some cut for that that just they're great, They're great songs. We live in town with the greatest songwriters in the world.

So right here, hang tight, the Bobby Cast will be right back. Welcome back to the Bobby.

Cast and finally the guys came back together. And maybe you heard this, but when they were in our studio room, it was the first time those three guys had been together in the same room in five years. And they gave us life updates. They talked about how insanely successful their career was from Rascal Flats back in the day. They did talk about their life as a Highway twenty fifth anniversary retort they're going to do starting in February of next year, their favorite songs to play live jodhn Sobriety, and so much more.

So.

Here's the clip of these guys all back together on the Bobby Bones Show. Now, Rascal Flax, we'll look at you guys back together. What a sight to say. You know, I've been screaming about this for about a year now and I don't take credit for it, but I take credit for it. Congratulations, I got you back together. Let's go. I'm not getting any percentage though. Uh Let's let's start with you. Gary. When was the call made that we should do this thing again.

It was a couple of months ago.

I think, yeah, yeah, I think my wife called you and said, you've got to get him out of there.

Alice Allison called and I said, okay, all right, let's roll.

So was it we should do this, Let's feel it out and see if we can everything can align, or and Joe don I'll come to you. Or was it like, yeah, we feel good, let's go a little bit of all that.

You know, our management talked about it. We leaned on them because they know way more than we do with how the landscape is today. I mean it's been five years, you know, And yeah, and they felt like next year in February through April would be good.

Did you miss it? Everybody? Did you miss each other? Did you miss wow?

What?

What did you miss? Well?

I mean I miss playing music. I miss some of my most favorite memories in my life. My adult life is being on stage with these guys. So yes, when it was yanked away from us in twenty twenty, pandemic hit and everybody was kind of at a loss. Not to be able to put a proper exclamation point on our career really hurt. And so you know, I've said it my entire life. Gary is one of the best singers I've ever heard, and it's really sucks not to be standing next to that every night. So I think it was a perfect opportunity for us to go out and celebrate twenty five wonderful years together. And I'm looking forward to seeing our fans because they've given us more than we could have ever imagined or hoped for.

So the tour has not called it farewell tour, which, by the way, you know we're doing two days with you guys on this show. So tomorrow tickets are on sale and go to Rascal Flats dot com get tickets at ten am Eastern war remind you tomorrow as well. But it's not called that. Hey, this is our last run. This is called the Life of a Highway tour. So maybe we're not Maybe this isn't a farewell Gary.

I don't know.

Are you exactly you got I wanted?

You got us together?

How you're our agent?

Yeah?

Yeah, you made me buy a hat when I came in.

How much does it was?

Seventy five dollars? See, we got to go work. Yeah, you try to say it's about hurricane relief, and you know, I just want to put it in his pocket.

It's ridiculous. That's hurricane relief.

Yes, I get it.

So maybe this this thing just is awesome and you love doing it, maybe you just keep going. Is there a chance this is not the end?

I think that's why we didn't call it a farewell tour. We're going to see how these twenty two shows go. We're gonna stick our toe back in the water, and if the fans seem to love it and we feel like there's a demand there, who knows what will happen. Right now, the focus is on February and March and next year.

Have you Jodana, you rehearse at all? All three of you guys? Have you done anything musically?

Yeah? You know what.

We did some auditions for some new band mates actually last Tuesday and it went great, the three new guys and.

Of your Body guy that's taking my places.

I was hoping we could just AI this stuff like holograms, but no. But the rehearsals went great, and it was nice to be back with Jay and our drummer Jim Riley, who's been with us for twenty five years the whole time he was there, and just to play through the music again. I mean, it's you know, it's a lot of music and blessed to have some songs that I think were.

Impactful, rushed people where you rusted. Oh yeah, but I mean you guys have played I know Gary been doing shows. You haven't seen you do shows, but.

It's been playing keys most of the time.

Then getting getting my fingers back on the bass again and get into that music was it was surreal and frightening.

Did you practice before you guys, did your your deal together or do you just show up and be like, we'll figure it out as we go. We've done this lot many times.

The night before I kind of listened back through the music and kind of played around for this is the first time the three of us have been together in the same room in five years.

Wait together at the same time.

No, Gary, wasn't there actually classic kicking things all right?

Perfectly classic Gary.

Yeah, yeah, he couldn't make it. But working through musically, is there what we need to do? And hire those new band guys And it worked out great. But uh it like Jay was saying, yeah, I I've got a lot of cobwebs in these hands. You know, it's been a while. I've kind of gotten away from music for you know, a lot of different reasons. And but I'm back and I'm definitely trying to practice as much as I can at the house. And my son Jagger is sixteen. He's eating alive with music and he's actually gotten me back into, you know, jamming with him, which has been fabulous.

Gary, do you practice singing at all?

Are you good?

You know i'd sing all the time?

Good?

I do? I really? I do?

Know?

You literally do? I realize, Like Gary's been at my house and he's like singing, and I'm like, wow, he really does what I would do if I could sing like that. It's all the time. Does your wife ever really say, hey, yo, bro, we're good?

Yeah, yeah all the time? Yeah, like we got it, we got it, We're good.

You love it?

You still love you love it?

I do, man, I do.

Yeah.

I feel like that's what God's called me to do. So I just you know, I'm not going to stop him from doing what he's what He's given us. And you know, we're so excited to see all the fans and all the demand has been crazy, so it's been, Uh, it's gonna be a blast.

What's this like for you three guys sitting here? I didn't realize was the first time in five years because I think I'd be a little nervous if we hadn't done this and we're like, let's say me, Amiy and Lunchbox that have been together, we've been together twenty something years.

Well, yeah, after they said that, I thought, I can't imagine not seeing y'all or being in the same room for five years and then suddenly at an interview or coming on the show, this being the first time y'all are sitting together and us doing that. Like, I'm trying to think how I would feel, well, nervous driving up here.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely, I'll be very honest about that.

Yeah.

I missed being around These guys are two of the funniest people I've ever been around in my life, and just so many memories, so many wonderful memories. And it hasn't all been rosy. I'm not gonna, you know, sugarcoat it, but it's it's so good to be back in the same room together and see Gary and hug him and be together again. It's really special.

Like, like, what songs do you even like to play? You have so many? Like what's so because I think I like the ballads? Yeah, yeah, because I like the feel ballads?

Yeah I do too.

Well, we've got plenty.

You do have a lot.

We had to force ourselves to put up tempo singles out so everybody wouldn't fall asleep, and they came to a show.

A medley of mids and a medle.

Ballance, so good night. Let me ask this extremely cliche question, then, what's the one song you're looking forward to playing live? I want a different answer from all three of you. Let's go to you first, Jay.

Uh Bless the Broken Road. It's always been one of my favorites. I think it showcases are blend in our harm and he's just about as well as any song we've ever done.

That's a good one. It's going to be a hit.

Gary's the Highway.

Oh she took my answer that song, and it's been discussed, but I think for younger listeners or fans of your music to hear that song and they go, that song's awesome. It's from cars. It's a big hit. It was never actually a radio.

Song, huh, It's true.

It just it pops so hard that then people just started playing it randomly and is now maybe your most streamed song ever.

I think it started popping off on TikTok and then it just started going from there.

You know.

It's interesting how you talk about TikTok. Yeah, I saw you use that accent. Were you just singing with the highway?

Yeah yeah, and uh, Tom Cochran just got inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, and so they called me and asked me that if I'd go out there, and thought I did, and he killed it.

He named his farm flats farm that he bought.

Oh yeah, yeah, because he made so much money all you guys, Yeah, I wonder I just we.

Just kept saying you're welcome all night. Just you're welcome.

Tom.

You think he made more money off you guys doing it than him doing it?

Absolutely absolutely helped.

Yeah, yeah, dang, that's pretty cool. Yeah, do you guys mechanical do you guys make mechanical world off that a little bit? But mostly goes to him.

Mostly goes to him. Time we get the sound exchange money, but.

It's in Canadians, it's loonies and tunies and that's what the what the conversion.

Is one on that shall know what year that was and like what was it cars two.

Thousand and six?

I think, yeah, good for you.

You know, you know what year he wrote it? Eighty eighty six, ninety one. That late. Yeah, I didn't realize.

I thought it was like much younger than that. Okay, I have more questions about this because I like the dynamic here. We're back together, a bunch of friends. You got like all the Grammys, you have all the number one songs. What else is there to do? Or is what else to do? Just to celebrate what you've done?

Oh man?

You know what what I think eluded us that we never were able to take home was Entertainer of the Year. All those years that we sold, you know, wonderful amounts of tickets on all those tours, we never really took that trophy home at the ACMs or the CMA's.

Sore spot, I mean from it's hard. It's hard you guys were you guys are the biggest thing in pop, not only in pop but country at the same time.

Will it's it's I wouldn't say sore spot because we've been so blessed, but it's the one thing that I wish we would have been able to have achieved in our career.

Do you think it's because there was jealousy because you guys had transcended where your rightful place was, and you didn't try to You didn't try to be this massive pop sensation. Do you think there was jealousy? And so I bet you were held back from that.

There was a lot of hair envy. Let's be honest. Our hair was on point back then, wasn't Gray, you know, magnificent?

The politics of the business, you know, who knows all we can do is we're in charge of trying to make and write and record great music and after that, who knows?

You know?

And for me, I think like Album of the Year two, you know, in two thousand and six, and we outsold everybody that put out a record in any genre in the entire world.

That's one of my favorite memories. Sitting beside Gary at the Grammys in Los Angeles during a commercial break, he leaned over to me. It was just a moment that he and I shared together, and he whispered. He said, look, there's jay Z, there's Beyonce, there's Lady Gaga. And I was like, yeah, this is pretty incredible. He said, Now I think about this. This year, We've sold more records than all of these people in this building. And it gave me chills and it was just he and I sharing that moment together because you know, two boys growing up in Columbus, Ohio, who would have ever dreamed that moment would come.

And you still didn't win Album of the Year.

No, no, you can get a performance, but Paisley played ticks. I'd like to kick you for true story. We're like, what's the most We couldn't even get a performance.

That's funny.

Yeah, I was in therapys was representing Country Let's go yesterday. I was in therapy talking about how I am. I have a very sore spot. I understand I've been blessed and all the same stuff you guys just said blah blah blah. But I am like so irritated that I haven't hosted the ACMs or CMAS yet. And I've been very close, like three times and on ACMs now I'm like second Banana, Reba doesn't. I'm there with her the whole time, but I'm not the host. But I think both can exist. Well, I'm really irritated and yeah, and and I think it's human nature.

It's well and you would kill it.

So I think it's it's time.

But I mean it's it's weird that I could that you would think, wow, Rascal fights say they have done it all, all the hits. Yet still, when I asked the question, I kind of wanted to see where the human part of you went, like what is there to do? And it was, Oh, we didn't have Entertainer of the Year. Yeah, and I don't think anybody would have ever even known you didn't.

Yeah I thought you did.

Yeah, me too.

Yeah, just roll with it.

It's pretty funny.

Yeah, yeah we did.

Yeah, teach was awesome.

When the Mandela effect we won. We want we did, we want it several times.

Okay, I'm gonna ask this question in a sensitive way because I said some stuff and I said, I hope you guys tour. I've been saying it forever, but I said, when you do do this tour, don't put out any new music for a bit. What are you guys doing you do a new music? I just gotta be honest. I said that I want to come forth, and I was like, we want you to tour. You have to get back together like we demand it, but don't put out new music. When you do it, let's celebrate you. Then after that tour can put out new music.

Well, as you well know, it gets harder and harder the longer you're together and the longer you were touring, because you compete against yourself. There's so many great songs in the catalog to play on radio that putting another new one out just to put a new one out is seems a little an exercise and futility.

So you said you're not putting a new stuf.

We're not.

We're own to perfect.

Yeah.

The only way I would say that, I think you need to after this tour. But I think this tour is about the celebration and you guys get back together.

Yeah, and you know it's really to celebrate the fans forgiving us absolute career.

I mean, this is the.

Silver you believe. And we're not just talking about our hair color. I'm talking about twenty five years.

What's like the moment you look back at jodn have you guys' career and it could be at your height, or it could be when you first started to pop or when you first played your first show together that you look back and you're like, man, if there was like one moment they show, like show me a Rascal Flats moment they showed this moment, what would it be?

Well, I mean it's like got a top ten list for that, you know. But in all honesty, I truly mean this. Our work with the Vanderbilt Children's Hospital through the years, it's been extraordinary. I mean, that's that's our legacy, and just being able to have a platform, to be able to raise the kind of money we're able to raise for the hospital and to meet so many amazing families, so many amazing children. There's some sad situations obviously, but a lot of positive ones too.

For me, that's like the ultimate you know, do you guys ever do Letterman?

Yeah, the coldest stage and in any theater in the.

He picked the most random song off of our record because he didn't like any of our singles. He picked this I think Still Feels Good is the one that he wanted and.

Played an album cut on the It was the title the album to.

The ship there but.

On the show what about Leno? Do you ever do Leno?

Oh?

Yeah, right after Joe Don showed his rear end.

Yeah, tell me that I got us on Leno? Where was your d got it? Got it?

Yeah?

We did all of them. Conan, I mean, I don't there wasn't any that we didn't do.

Yeah, I've still got the plaque from Leno that says, hey, Rascal flats more butts, more showers.

They give you a placticea to that.

Yeah, that's that's better than the year you just want to hanging right in my living room the butt.

Okay, well, I'll just use an example like FGL. Eventually they'll get back together. Eventually. They don't like each other right now, yeah, but they'll get back together at some point because they miss it or they miss like I don't know, do you recommend that they like somehow try to keep some sort of relationship because eventually it's gonna happen regardless. You know.

It's interesting. I've had a chance to sit down with the Restless Road guys and several different duos over the years, and especially the past four years, and my advice is always to nurture your relationship and take care of it first, because a lot of crap from the outside can get in and convolute it. And if you don't stay tight, and you don't stay honest with each other and care about each other, you run the danger of letting the business tear you apart and it's the truth of it.

So with Gary and I it's a little different. We're families.

We're families, so we've always found a way to stay connected and always found a way to care about each other. And I think we found a jode on somebody that feels as close as family. So you know, it's not all a Betta Roses. When you're in a band for twenty plus years and you've got three distinct personalities and different opinions, you're gonna have disagreements. But I feel like we did a very good job for the most of the amount of time we were together of trying to put our personal pursuits to the side and serving Rascal Flats as a whole. And I think that's why we were able to have that longevity. Now, we never had somebody that cared enough about us to say, why don't you guys take a year off, recharge yourselves, go and do some things that you guys want to do personally, get those out of the way, and then come back together in a more healthy environment. We got on the machine and the machine did not stop. So I've been grateful for the past few years because it's made me appreciate what we were able to do together and what kind of ride we were actually on together. And now I can come back to this and go, this is really really special and it's a big part of my life that I've missed extremely.

Over the last few years.

But I'm glad we had this time because Gary got to do what he should have been doing, his own music, his own shows. Joe don concentrated on his personal health and his well being, and I'm so proud of him. I have to say that what this man has come through on the other side of it is remarkable, and he's a completely different person, and I really really am proud of what he's been able to do. And then I got to do some things that I've always wanted to do. I always felt like I would be good on the other side of the business, and I've been able to try that with Red Street. So I think all of us are stronger now and we have a greater appreciation for it, maybe than we did in twenty twenty.

Joe, No, I think I saw a tweet from you. It's like, hey, Sobriety, I liked it, whatever it was, Oh thank you, Yeah, I remember liking it. Pushing a little heart so what is your situation now? How long you've been so.

Three years and it's kind of crazy. For my birthday, September thirteenth is my actual sober date as well, So we got three years and it's it's different, I'll tell you that. Grateful to be sober today and present and like and I never dreamed that was possible, and I wouldn't have been able to do that without this time off. I mean, this past five years, I've just you know, I've needed it for a long time and it was just finally time and some really great friends in Nashville got me the help I needed and I'm forever grateful.

Once Gary was in my house and he spit in a mountain dew can. First he cut the top off, like the hillbilly he is, yeah, with the pocket knife, and then he was there for a bit and he just spitting in the can, Spend in the can, spend the can, just left it And like a day later, my wife's like, why is there a mountain dew can with a bunch of like dip spit in it?

Yeah, told her you should have told her you have an issue that you haven't been telling her.

Oh that's the greatest memorabilia in Rascal Flat's history, like.

I have on your man you carry spit tune.

I think people don't understand how a country you guys are at times, because again you mentioned the hair earlier, like you guys were pretty.

Yeah, And I think there were a lot of years you mentioned it where people didn't know what to make of us. We were a little on the pop side and scared some folks. But when we'd get into a conference room on the radio tour, people would I remember this, people would drill us and they'd go like, you guys don't really know country, and then we'd start singing Merle Haggers.

Oh you're as hillbilly as as anybody around here. It's just all the hair. Was like, Wow, you guys are so pretty.

I feel pretty with our hair.

Look at that.

That's pretty right there.

Yeah that's me. That's a that's a cutout. I like to look at myself and go okay. So here's all I want to say. Rascal Flats back on tour. Starting off in February, When do you start practicing together? When do you start doing the rehearsal?

Boy in January?

Any Pyro, Yeah, we've.

Taken all of kisses stuff away from them now that's they're retired.

All the bills and whistles?

Have you done any of that? You gotta play all the hits, right? Can you get all the hits in?

We figured we'd do a whole bunch of new material.

And Letterman show. Can you play all the hits in one concert? All the number ones?

I started kind of scratching out set list the other day, and it was fun because we've been away from it from a minute for a minute, so some new things occurred to me that I never really saw before, and they were sitting right in front of me. So I'm excited for us to get back in and start hammering away at it. And I hope Gary doesn't get mad at me for putting too many songs in a row that he has to scream.

What's the hardest song to sing for you? Gary?

Oh?

Every night you have to sing it. It's but either it gets difficult because you're doing it night after night, or it's just hard to do it once.

I'm out be one.

Yeah, probably, that's always for sure.

That's one of the highest ones.

That's why we don't do it live.

But they're all demanding.

I mean you mean we haven't we are doing that.

You can do that Rolling Stones and they get people on the back to play the stuff. Yeah yeah, and just like do that. You ever heard somebody impersonate you or start to sing like you and they sound just like you?

Yeah, yeah, that's true. Shame d J does.

But like you know the guy from Journey, Oh yeah, he sounds the guy. This things now sounds just like Yeah, ever heard anybody online?

This thing is just like hey, you know what the drummer Dean Castronovo is even better than our now is and singing in the Journey Oh yeah you know him?

Yeah yeah, yeah, as a major like I wouldn't have known that.

Well we he was. He's been in Journey for a long time. We did a Crossroads with him, and also the supergroup that I put together back in twenty twenty. He played drums on that record and it was remarkable to hear him sing that Journey stuff. I mean, they offered him the gig before Rnell and he was like, no, it's too hard on a singer.

I want to tell everybody, tickets go on sell tomorrow, get them, and so yeah, get the life. As a Highway Tour. Go to Rascal Flats dot com. Laura Lane and Chris Lane coming out with you guys. Go watch them because if you go and they sell out every show, they'll do more shows. You heard it here for Thank you guys. I love to see you guys back together. I'm super happy for it and I'm really looking forward to seeing you guys back on the stage. So they are Rascal Flats. Love you, Bobby, Thank you, and there you have it. Thanks for listening to the special episode all about Rascal Flats. Go watch them if they come to town. It's such a fun, energetic show with so many songs that you know and also songs that you knew but you're like, oh yeah, I forgot they sang that one. It's awesome. All right, Thank you. Be sure to subscribe to the Bobbycast wherever you're listening, and also, if you do not mind and you have a few seconds, go rate this five stars.

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