Country music’s multi-platinum, powerhouse trio Rascal Flatts was born in what they describe as “a smoky little club in Nashville, Tennessee called the Fiddle and Steel Guitar Bar.” In a recent exclusive interview, they talked about the fact that their spark was immediate. Lead guitarist Joe Don Rooney described the magical moment, saying, “I think we knew instantly that we had something that none of us had ever had before in any band or any kind of group and the many years that we had before moving to Nashville. I think it was one of those divine things we were supposed to be together. We’re supposed to sing together. We’re supposed to create Rascal Flatts together and have this history already together in ten years and the success. It was supposed to happen. It was divine intervention. And I think we all felt how special this thing could be the first night we really sang together for sure.”
Rascal Flatts Bring Their Live Show to ABC on Saturday Night
Fans who have been lucky enough to see Rooney and his bandmates, second cousins Gary LeVox and Jay DeMarcus, on the road have witnessed their musical magnetism firsthand. But for the many fans that haven’t been fortunate enough to see them in person, Rascal Flatts is bringing the show to ABC this Saturday night.
Rooney gave a sneak peak of what fans will get when they tune in to their first TV special, ” Rascal Flatts : Nothing Like This .” “They’re gonna get to see our live show, if they’ve never been to one before they’re gonna see what we do. Kind of like a day in the life of Rascal Flatts… back stage, on stage.” And Most importantly, they’ll get to see Flatts do what they do best, play country music. “They’ll get to see a great show, a lot of energy.”
Rascal Flatts Collaborate with Justin Bieber and Natasha Bedingfield
And the special should please more than just country devotees. Rascal Flatts have a few special guests up their sleeve – Justin Bieber and Natasha Bedingfield.” Rooney recounted how the collaboration with J.B., a world premiere video duet, came to be. “It’s called, ‘That Should Be Me.’ It was a song on his record and he did a remix of his last album and his management reached out to us and pitched it to us and said, ‘Justin would love to do a duet with us’ and get his hair cut… So we did ‘em both.”
As for the collaboration with Bedingfield, DeMarcus revealed, “We’ve been big fans of hers for a long time and she’s just one of those great, extremely gifted singers. And we had the song ‘Easy’ pitched to us and we just decided it should be a duet. And she was at the top of a very short list of people that we thought could hang with Gary vocally. And it’s one of my absolutely favorite moments of the special.”
Rascal Flatts Enjoy Collaborating with Artists from Different Genres
LeVox explained why he felt that working with artists from the different genres, like the more pop oriented Bieber and Bedingfield, is so important. “It’s just really cool to bring other people from other genres of music in and put some country on ‘em… and be able to touch the masses.”
And he noted that more and more acts seem to be drawn to Rascal Flatts’ chosen genre. He remarked, “Everybody seems to be evolving towards country music. Because I know as a kid growing up, I never thought I’d hear Bon Jovi on country radio. But it’s great to take something kind of different and off the wall and do it with another artist from another genre. It’s really cool to collaborate and see how they do their stuff and how we do our stuff and kind of marry the two together and see what we can come up with.”
Rascal Flatts Discuss Their Dream Collaborators
Rascal Flatts is certainly getting that opportunity. In addition to Bieber and Bedingfield, they’ve been teaming up with a few of their personal favorites recently. Rooney recalled, “We actually got to work in the last couple of weeks with two of our musical heroes – Lionel Richie and Michael Bolton.” But their list of dream collaborators goes on and on. He added, “It’s every one from George Jones to Conway Twitty to Ronnie Milsap to Stevie Wonder to Prince – all across the board.”
LeVox’ pondered the question before chiming in, “Gosh there’s so many. I’d love to do something with Stevie Wonder one day. And I sure wish I would have had an opportunity to sing with Keith Whitley.”
DeMarcus threw in a few names of his own, “For me it would be Merle Haggard. I’d love to perform with Merle Haggard. He’s one of my all time favorites.” But his top choice can, sadly, never become a reality. He added, “From any genre? My dream would have been to have done something with Elvis. It’s a shame that he’s not here anymore. It would have been so much fun to perform with him… You know what I’m sayin’? Holler back at me one time.”
Catch “Rascal Flatts : Nothing Like This Presented by JCPenney” on Saturday, March 12 at 9 p.m. EST/8 p.m. Central on ABC.
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