Both Rascal Flatts and Jason Aldean have earned a multitude of hit songs during their years on the country music charts, but there’s one song that Rascal Flatts feels a little bit of regret about passing on before it went on to become a success for their fellow artist. Speaking to Audacy’s Katie & Company, Rascal Flatts member Gary LeVox revealed that he was first pitched “Fly Over States,” which became Aldean’s seventh No. 1 hit.
The song was co-written by Neil Thrasher, a frequent Flatts collaborator who often pitched LeVox his songs first. “He always pitches me stuff first and of course I passed on it,” LeVox recalled, naming “Fly Over States” as a song he wishes he had recorded. Thrasher also pitched LeVox another Aldean hit, “Don’t You Wanna Stay,” but LeVox was unable to cut it because Rascal Flatts had just released their own duet, “Easy,” with Natasha Bedingfield.
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“We had just cut that song ‘Easy,’ with Natasha Bedingfield. So when Neil pitched that, I was like, ‘Dude, I can’t have two duets,’” he said. “That one I didn’t pass on — we just couldn’t, because we’d already done the song with Natasha. I get a bunch of grief from [Thrasher].” Aldean went on to record “Don’t You Wanna Stay” with Kelly Clarkson, and it went to No. 1 on the country charts and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Country Duo/Group Performance.
Rascal Flatts has had their own share of hits in the 20 years they’ve been a band, including their cover of “Bless the Broken Road,” which topped the charts for five weeks. “I just really couldn’t believe it,” LeVox told Katie Neal of seeing the song stay at No. 1. “You cut something and it’s like, ‘Man, that really felt good. That really felt like this got something.’ But then you go, you know, then it gets on the chart and it dies at like 40 and you’re like, ‘How?’ I have no idea. I have no idea anymore.”
“It was awesome,” he continued. “Then everybody getting married to it… That’s a song that’s timeless. And to think that that song laid around Nashville for 11 years before we cut it was crazy.” “Bless the Broken Road” is still such a popular wedding song that when Neal remarked that Rascal Flatts probably still gets requests to go to people’s weddings and perform the ballad, LeVox replied, “I got about 40 of them just in the last three days. Seriously.”
