Rascal Flatts are done making records — at least for the time being. The trio, made up of Gary LeVox, Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney, say for now, they are focusing on singles only, instead of complete projects.
“We’re not doing any records now,” DeMarcus said. “We’re cutting songs as we find them and love them in an effort to pick singles from. And we have enjoyed that actually because there’s no pressure of being on an album cycle. We’ve done a bunch of records and have a lot of great songs on there. But this is kind of freeing in that you only cut when you find those gems that you love and it gives you some songs to keep on the shelf to get to later and to use as you see fit, and as the label sees fit.”
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The trio just released “Back to Life,” which is the first song they’ve released without plans of putting it on a project.
“We’re kind of at a place now where we’re fighting our old catalog, and there’s a lot of music out there that’s Rascal Flatts already,” Rooney told Billboard. “[Singles only] might be the new paradigm for Flatts for some time in the future. I don’t know how far that will be, but for now that’s kind of how we’re thinking.”
“It seems like the new business model,” DeMarcus added. “So we’re picking some songs that we love, cutting them and putting them out as we go, trying to still give our fans a lot of content.”
Rascal Flatts might be done making albums, but they still believe in each song they put out, including their current single.
“When we first heard ‘Back to Life,’ we loved the melody so much,” LeVox said. “The melody was so different. And we’ve had great success with waltzes in the past, too, but this song, the melody was so great. Shay Mooney’s one of the writers on it who did the demo. And somebody that tries to sound just like you really helps when you’ve got a demo … I’m just kidding.”
“But the lyric was great and the melody was incredible, and it was just one of those things that after listening and after we cut it, it just even got more life to it,” he continued. “We just thought it’d be a great, great single for this time of the year.”
Download “Back to Life” on iTunes.
Photo Credit: Getty images/Rick Diamond
