current single: “I DARE YOU” with The Jonas Brothers

Rascal Flatts new album, Life Is A Highway: Refueled Duets will be released on Friday, featuring some of their biggest hits re-recorded as duets with people like Jason Aldean, Blake Shelton, Carly Pearce, Backstreet Boys and the Jonas Brothers. Recording the album was a fun opportunity for the guys to revisit some of their biggest hits.

Rascal Flatts – revisiting hits :42

Jay DeMarcus – “It was fun for me to listen to the original recordings, because as we’ve evolved over the years and our arrangements live have evolved, they kind of have drifted away from the album version. So, it was really fun for me to listen to the album versions and go back in and re-record them kinda the way that we do them now, with our own little spin on ‘em. And it was great to get the input from the guest artists too. That was fun

Gary LeVox – “It was interesting to see their vocal takes on songs that we’ve sang for so long and that were such big hits, and just to hear them do it with kinda their own flavor was kinda interesting.”

Jay – “Most of them would say to me, ‘You’re gonna have to lower that, now. I can’t sing up there where Gary had it.’ That was the funniest (laughs).”

Joe Don Rooney – “Even the girls.”

Jay – “Yeah, even the girls.”

Turning some of their biggest hits into duets, and giving their collaborators the opportunity to create their own versions of Rascal Flatts’ songs was also fun for the band.

Rascal Flatts – working with other artists :35

Jay DeMarcus – “It was fun because we gave the artists freedom to have their own take on it and do their own thing to the song.”

Joe Don Rooney – “Which is great.”

Jay – “Yeah, it was awesome. Sometimes they would have us hire the band, bring them in, sometimes they would take it away and do their own thing with it. And it was so much fun to hear somebody else’s interpretation of a song that had been out for years. It was really neat to hear what they thought it would sound like if they were the ones to have cut it. And you know what else was great, was being able to sing with all the other people, too. Singing harmonies with the likes of Jason and Blake and Carly, that was really special to do that.

Gary LeVox – “Oh yeah, fun project. Really, really fun.”

Jay DeMarcus says the guys are grateful for everyone who re-recorded their songs with them for Life Is A Highway: Refueled Duets.

Rascal Flatts – people saying yes to album :16

Jay DeMarcus – “You know what was great for me was that everybody said yes. I mean, it’s very humbling to think about the fact that you reach out to your friends and they want to be a part of it, give a nod to whatever we’ve been able to do in the industry. It was really special for everyone to say yes, ‘We’d love to be a part of it.’ That was one of the things that I was most grateful for.”