Rascal Flatts are definitely back. The trio, made up of Gary LeVox, Joe Don Rooney and Jay DeMarcus, just released Life Is A Highway: Refueled Duets, their first album in eight years. The record is a surprising new chapter for Rascal Flatts, who announced in 2020 they were going to embark on their farewell Life Is A Highway Tour, which was canceled because of the pandemic.
No one, least of all Rooney, could have predicted what would happen in the five years since then. After experiencing a life-altering accident in 2021 while intoxicated, Rooney got sober, changing everything not only for him, but for the future of Rascal Flatts as well.
“It’s like a big piece of myself was missing,” Rooney tells the CMA. “Jumping back in with these guys again, being on tour the first three months this year, and then being back at CMA Fest, it feels like it’s back, like the piece has been put back in place. It’s so special.”
Life Is A Highway: Refueled Duets includes collaborations with artists like Jason Aldean, Carly Pearce, Blake Shelton and more. But one of Rascal Flatts’ favorite songs on the project is “I’m Movin’ On,” their duet with Kelly Clarkson.
“A fun memory for me, making this duets record, was when I sent the track to Kelly Clarkson, to sing ‘I’m Movin’ On,'” DeMarcus recalls. “I waited around for probably six weeks, and I was like, ‘I wonder when I’m going to get a vocal back,’ because she wanted to cut those by herself in Los Angeles. So late night one night, she sent me an email back with her vocal on it. I sat in my studio by myself and I listened to it, and I just started bawling like a baby. I could hear the pain and the transparency and the vulnerability in her vocal. It was one of those moments that I was just stopped in my tracks.
“I remember sending a link to these guys and going, ‘This is one of the best vocals I’ve ever heard her do, and one of the best renditions of this song I’ve ever heard in my life,'” he continues. “That was one moment that stands out to me, like really being grateful that we have the friends we do, and were willing to come in and contribute to this project.”
For Rooney, working on Life Is A Highway: Refueled Duets became a welcome home for Rooney that he didn’t know he needed, until it happened.
“For me, it’s the behind-the-scenes stuff in the project,” Rooney says. “Actually being in the studio and working with Dann Huff, seriously. Being at [DeMarcus’] house again, and getting to make music again after five years of me not doing anything. I came back, and I was a little bit worried. I was afraid to sing; I was afraid to play guitar, and these guys helped me out a lot. Being at Jay’s house especially, and working on some of the final touches and the vocals on some of the duets on the Refueled album, this guy helped me out a lot. I’m grateful.”
Find Life Is A Highway: Refueled Duets, and all of Rascal Flatts’ music and upcoming shows, at RascalFlatts.com.
Photo Credit: CMA / Hunter Berry