Rascal Flatts

Rascal Flatts were originally formed in Nashville, Tennessee, as a duo. It consisted of vocalist Gary LeVox and multi-instrumentalist Jay Demarcus. The musicians were second cousins, both from Columbus, Ohio. Once at a gig another multi-instrumentalist Joe Don Rooney, who earlier played with Demarcus in a country star Chely Wright's band, substituted their session guitarist. After that, he was added to the collective. The band signed to Lyric Street Records and issued their eponymous debut album the same year. The disc featured an attractive mix of country, pop and R&B, generating two breakthrough hits - Prayin' For Daylight and This Everyday Love. At first Rascal Flatts were positioned as a teenage attraction, but their harmonies proved to be catchy for adult auditory too. Besides, the music of this trio appeared to be radio-friendly for both country and pop stations.

In 2002, Rascal Flatts recorded their sophomore attempt Melt, which became twice platinum on the wave of the hit single These Days (one million copies were sold in first 8 weeks after the release). A concert album Rascal Flatts Live in 2003 served wonderfully as a transmission from Melt to the third studio work Feels Like Today, which had a huge success and topped American charts. In April 2006, the band recorded their internationally acknowledged album Me And My Gang. Piercing lyrics of their ballads in Gary's rich vocals interpretation and winding dance tunes made their disc a must have for the wide range audiences. The song from this work called Bless The Broken Road brought the first Grammy to the band. Moreover, the musicians successfully tried themselves as producers on the new Chicago's album, Chicago.

Rascal Flatts shifted more and more to the qualitative adult pop from their original country sounding with every new edition. Sometimes the trio was criticized for this tendency - but may be those people were just jealous about Rascal Flatts' popularity and high sells? In musical respect, Me And My Gang can be called a pivotal work as it featured undoubtedly well-done pop tracks. Anyway, the artists won Country Music Television award of best song for 2007 with What Hurts The Most. The same year they released their new thing Still Feels Good. The artists settled in their pop trend with this album, though being still recognizable, and got assured again that they were adored by the public as always. This time they put more stress on dancing tracks like Bob That Head and thrilling love ballads - Make Me Remember and Better Now, for example, that would be highly appreciated by anyone familiar to the pain of partings. LeVox, Demarcus and Rooney also took a greater part in material creation along with co-producing Still Feels Good. Working hard as always before, Rascal Flatts expanded their discography in 2009 with the subsequent attempt Unstoppable. Staying away from experimenting, the musicians recorded 11 tracks to leave their supporters fully satisfied. Rascal Flatts kept on working hard; thereby the band released their seventh album titled Nothing Like This in 2010, which debuted at the very top of Billboard country chart. The secret of the success proved to be very simple: Rascal Flatts remained faithful to their signature style that is so much enjoyed and loved by numerous fans.