Rascal Flatts announced at the start of 2020 that they would embark on their farewell Life is a Highway Tour later in the year, which would mark the official end to the trio, after 20 years together, to pursue other interests. While the tour unfortunately did not happen this year, because of the pandemic, Jay DeMarcus is already looking ahead to 2021 as his first year without being part of Rascal Flatts, a realization that is bittersweet for the 49-year-old.
“I’m gonna miss the times that we shared together that no one knows about, that no one sees – the looks at each other on the stage, the moments that we look at each other and we know that we’re at our best,” Jay shared with BMLG. “The time in the trenches that no one knows about that the three of us have shared together that have bonded us together for life is what I will miss the most. You can’t make up for time spent together. No one can do that, and we’ve seen the best of each other, we’ve seen the worst of each other.
“We’ve held each other through the saddest of times, through love and loss, and it’s a brotherhood,” he continued. “It has always been a brotherhood, and the day that we don’t have that anymore and we can’t just reach out to each other so easily is gonna be very, very sad and heartbreaking for me. But I know that when we’re old men together someday, sitting around on a porch and sharing old stories and singing ‘Prayin’ for Daylight’ when we’re 75, we’re gonna have a heck of a legacy to look back on.”
Jay previously said that his time with the award-winning group was one of the biggest benchmarks in his life and career.
“It’s the thing that I’ve done that has meant the most to me most of my adult life,” Jay acknowledged. “Aside from my marriage and the birth of my children, it’s the most important thing that I’ve been a part of the entire time, practically, that I’ve been an adult. And the impact it’s had on my family, we’ve been very, very blessed because of what we’ve been able to do. The fact that I’ve been able to do something that I love so much, wake up every day to do for a living, has been one of the greatest things you could ever hope for.
“I also realize how fortunate we are because it doesn’t happen to everybody,” he continued. “Everybody that has the dream of making it in music doesn’t necessarily get to live it out to the degree that we have had. I’ve been really grateful, as I look at it, that it’s been as great as it has been the last 20 years.”
Jay just released the Christmas song, “A Strange Way to Save the World,” with Jason Crabb. Download the song on iTunes.