Rascal Flatts are opening up about their new Life Is A Highway: Refueled Duets album, out now. The record includes nine of their biggest hits, sung with some of music’s biggest stars, including Jason Aldean, Carly Pearce, Blake Shelton, and more. The project also has the original “I Dare You” with the Jonas Brothers, which is their current Top 30 single.

Rascal Flatts’ last project was Back to Us, released in 2017. For Gary LeVox, Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney, working with the other artists for Life Is A Highway: Refueled Duets was a way for them to look at some of their former hits in a fresh new way.

“As much as Rascal Flatts’ harmonies are as dialed into our blood as our DNA, we’re also working with some great performers who showed up for us,” DeMarcus tells The Tennessean.

Rascal Flatts credit their two decades of touring, joined by artists who would go on to be superstars, like Shelton and Taylor Swift, with helping them revolutionize an entire genre of music.

“Those summer concert tours left an indelible mark on the industry,” DeMarcus says.

“Because not all of those performers were solely raised around traditional country music,” he continues. “It’s possible that [Life Is a Highway: Refueled Duets] shows how our harmonies and the sounds behind our hits helped lead a movement that broke down some barriers for how mainstream ears and eyes perceived the genre.”

One of the standout tracks on Life Is A Highway: Refueled Duets is “What Hurts The Most,” which they sing with the Backstreet Boys on their new record. For Rascal Flatts, the song, released in 2006, is a pivotal point of their career.

“It’s the group’s definitive moment,” DeMarcus says of the song, which became a Top 10 hit on the pop charts as well. “We went from being believed to be a fly-by-night pop country act to being artists capable of cutting great songs with some meat on the bone.”

When Rascal Flatts announced their Life Is A Highway: Refueled Duets album, it was a way to thank their fans, as they celebrated 25 years since they formed.  The album came after their Life Is A Highway Tour, which was their first tour since what was supposed to be their 2020 farewell tour was canceled because of the pandemic.

But now, with Rooney proudly sober, Rascal Flatts pledge to keep making music for a long, long time.

“I don’t think we’ll ever be one of those bands that can’t play and make music somehow,” DeMarcus says. “And it may be years from now that we’re just doing the Opry a few times a year, and old men just sitting on our porch, getting around playing with our guitars. But I think the three of us will be making music somehow until one of us kicks the bucket.”

See a track list for Life Is A Highway: Refueled Duets below. Find the record, and all of Rascal Flatts’ music and upcoming shows, at RascalFlatts.com.

Life Is A Highway: Refueled Duets Track List:

1. “I Dare You” (with Jonas Brothers)
2. “Fast Cars And Freedom” (with Jason Aldean)
3. “My Wish” (with Carly Pearce)
4. “Mayberry” (with Blake Shelton)
5. “Stand” (with Brandon Lake)
6. “Summer Nights” (with Ashley Cooke)
7. “What Hurts The Most” (with Backstreet Boys)
8. “Yours If You Want It” (with Jordan Davis)
9. “Life Is A Highway” (with Lzzy Hale)
10. “I’m Movin’ On” (with Kelly Clarkson)

Photo Credit: Courtesy of the CMA / Josh Brasted