History Music / RascalFlatts

[[caption-width-right:350:Left to right - Joe Don Rooney, Jay [=DeMarcus=] and Gary [=LeVox=]]]

A prominent CountryMusic band known for its slick country-pop production. It was founded in 2000 by lead singer Gary [=LeVox=], his second cousin Jay [=DeMarcus=] (bass guitar, piano, keyboards) and Joe Don Rooney (guitar). [=DeMarcus=] and [=LeVox=] first made themselves known as members of Music/ChelyWright's road band, meeting Rooney after another musician in the band didn't show up.

Rascal Flatts signed with Disney's newly-formed country music label, Lyric Street Records, in 1999. The band led off its career with a highly successful album that produced four Top 10 hits. Next in the series came ''Melt'', which produced their first Number One hit, "These Days." The band's momentum has continued through six studio albums and one GreatestHitsAlbum for Lyric Street. Following the 2010 closure of Lyric Street, the band was to have transferred to another Disney label, but instead went with the independent Creator/BigMachineRecords.

The band's sound is quite divisive in country music: although it was always much closer to pop than most mainstream country, they were generally met with positive reception on their first albums. Starting with ''Me and My Gang,'' the band's sound has become much more processed and reliant on bombastic guitar and strings, after changing {{Record Producer}}s from Mark Bright to Dann Huff. With the switch to Big Machine, their sound once again mellowed somewhat, culminating in their abandonment of Huff (except for one track) on 2014's ''Rewind''.

* {{Determinator}}: The subject of "Stand".

* HiddenTrack: "Skin (Sarabeth)" was a hidden track on ''Feels Like Today'', done as LoopholeAbuse to get around the label's limitations on how many tracks the album could have. A program director discovered the song and started playing it, causing it to get as high as #38 while then-current single "Fast Cars and Freedom" was climbing. As a result, "Skin" got officially shipped as the next single, and later pressings of the album officially added it to the track listing.

* LongRunnerLineUp: Same three guys since 1999.
* LoudnessWar: One criticism of the Huff-produced albums.

** ''Rewind'' also seems to be an example, as they finally ditched Huff (except on one track) in favor of producing either by themselves or in collaboration with rock producer Howard Benson.

Rascal Flatts signed with Disney's newly-formed country music label, Lyric Street Records, in 1999. The band led off its career with a highly successful album that produced four Top 10 hits. Next in the series came ''Melt'', which produced their first Number One hit, "These Days." The band's momentum has continued through six studio albums and one GreatestHitsAlbum for Lyric Street. Following the 2010 closure of Lyric Street, the band was to have transferred to another Disney label, but instead went with the independent Big Machine Records, also home to Music/TaylorSwift.

* MoralGuardians: The music video for "I Melt" struck a few nerves due to a shot of Joe Don Rooney's naked butt.

* CommonTime: A surprising number of aversions: "I'm Movin' On," "Feels Like Today," "Skin (Sarabeth)", "Every Day", "Easy" (a duet with Natasha Bedingfield) and "Come Wake Me Up" are all in 3/4 or 6/8.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Their first three albums, the first in particular, are more anchored in lighthearted harmony-driven country-pop in the vein of "Prayin' for Daylight", compared to the more PowerBallad-driven sound of "What Hurts the Most" onward. Interestingly, their Big Machine albums have had them gradually moving back to the early sound.

* HeavyMeta: "Backwards" pokes fun at the {{Dead Unicorn Trope}}s of country music by addressing the old joke about playing a country song backwards and getting one's dog, truck, wife, etc. back.

* NotChristianRock: According to one of its writers, "I Won't Let Go" can be seen as being sung from God's perspective to someone who is struggling.

* FakeShemp: When on tour with Sara Evans in 2012, they often had her sing Natasha Bedingfield's part on "Easy".

* RecordProducer: [=DeMarcus=] has produced albums by James Otto (who is his brother-in-law), Music/{{Chicago}}, and [[Music/BrooksAndDunn Kix Brooks]].

* TruckDriversGearChange: "Summer Nights" goes up a half-step twice at the end. By the final chorus, it's too high for even Gary to sing, and he noticeably sounds strained.
** In an odd variant, "Easy" goes up a minor third (C-sharp minor to E minor) halfway through the second verse.

** "Me and My Gang" is a blatant emulation of Big & Rich's sound.

** In an odd variant, "Easy" goes up a minor third (E major to G major) halfway through the second verse.

* TruckDriversGearChange: "Summer Nights" goes up a half-step twice at the end. By the final chorus, [[VocalRangeExceeded it's too high for even Gary to sing, and he noticeably sounds strained]].

* StepUpToTheMicrophone: Gary lets Joe Don and Jay share the lead vocal on "Long Slow Beautiful Dance" and a rendition of "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" made for a multi-artist Christmas album. They later released a cover of "Mary, Did You Know?" that was mostly sung by Joe Don and Jay, with Gary only coming in near the end.

* CarefulWithThatAxe: The TitleScream of "[[LyricalColdOpen BOB! THAT! HEAD!]]" It got to the point that some stations actually cut out the intro.

* StepUpToTheMicrophone: Gary lets Joe Don and Jay share the lead vocal on "Long Slow Beautiful Dance" and a rendition of "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" made for a multi-artist Christmas album. Joe Don and Jay also sang most of "Mary, Did You Know?" by themselves on Creator/{{ABC}}'s ''[[http://www.cmaworld.com/cma-country-christmas CMA Country Christmas]]'' in December 2011.

* HiddenTrack: "Skin (Sarabeth)" was a hidden track on ''Feels Like Today'', done as LoopholeAbuse to get around the label's limitations on how many tracks the album could have. A program director discovered the song and started playing it, causing it to get as high as #38 while then-current single "Fast Cars and Freedom" was climbing. As a result, "Skin" got officially released as a single after "Fast Cars" had finished its run, and later pressings of the album officially added it to the track listing.

* LyricalShoehorn: "The last sacred blessing and, hey / Feels like today" in "Feels Like Today". Really? That was the best rhyme the writers could come up with?

* MelismaticVocals: A common criticism of [=LeVox=], even now that he's stopped oversinging, is that he doesn't really have the kind of voice suited for melisma.

** In an odd variant, "Easy" goes up a minor third (E to G) halfway through the second verse.

* HiddenTrack: "Skin (Sarabeth)" was a hidden track on ''Feels Like Today''. Somehow, radio stations discovered the song and gave it unsolicited airplay while "Fast Cars and Freedom" was climbing the charts, leading to its eventual release as a single after "Fast Cars" peaked. Later pressings of the album included it officially in the track listing.

A prominent CountryMusic band known for its slick country-pop production. It was founded in 2000 by lead singer Gary [=LeVox=], his second cousin Jay [=DeMarcus=] (bass guitar, piano, keyboards) and Joe Don Rooney (guitar). [=DeMarcus=] and [=LeVox=] first made themselves known as members of ChelyWright's road band, meeting Rooney after another musician in the band didn't show up.

* HiddenTrack: "Skin (Sarabeth)" was a hidden track on ''Feels Like Today''. Somehow, radio stations discovered the song and gave it unsolicited airplay while "Fast Cars and Freedom" was climbing the charts, leading to its eventual release as a single after "Fast Cars" peaked.

* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: The liner notes to the ''Rewind'' EP credit the production to "Rascal Flatts and Jay [=DeMarcus=]".