In 2017, Rascal Flatts excited fans when they announced they were working on developing a series of themed restaurants, including one in Cleveland. Sadly, the trio, made up of Jay DeMarcus, Gary LeVox and Joe Don Rooney, took to social media to announce they have walked away from the restaurant business.
“You may have noticed our name was associated with a restaurant project,” the band shared. “We licensed the use of our name to a restaurant developer a few years back, but never participated in the ownership or development of the restaurants in any way. We were not responsible for any obligations of the developer, RF IP, LLC.”
Videos by PopCulture.com
They continued, “Because we know you have been looking forward to enjoying our themed restaurants, we wanted to let you know that this project is no longer happening. We ended the agreement and do not have a business relationship with the developer. They are not authorized to use our name in any way. We wanted to be transparent to our fans in case there was any confusion related to our involvement in the restaurants. Thank y’all so much for your continued support!”
Rascal Flatts also recently announced they were done doing records for now, but they aren’t quitting the music business. Instead, the threesome plan on focusing on releasing singles for the time being, while they figure out their next step.
“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.”
The Flatts’ current single, “Back to Life,” is in the Top 30 and climbing.
“When we first heard ‘Back to Life,’ we loved the melody so much,” said LeVox. “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/Bob Levey
