#477 - Rascal Flatts Special Episode (They're Back Together!) - Bobbycast

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Ladies and gentlemen. We are experiencing technical difficulties.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
This is the Bobby Cast.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Hey, welcome to episode four seventy seven. Let's talk about
Rascal Flats. So it's a special episode and we've had
these guys in over the past ten years and now
they're back together again, so we thought we'd kind of
walk down that trail together. Now. If you remember, they
were about to go on a farewell tour in twenty
twenty within COVID hit and they never got to go
out on the road and say goodbye because well they
were breaking up. And then they just went ahead and

(00:33):
broke up and decided they do stuff individually. So that's
what they did. So you had Gary who went out
and performed solo and did a Christian album, and he
had Jay who started a record label, and he had
Jodahn who took some time to work on his health.
And so what we did is we went back through
the archives and a lot of this is from when
I was talking to them individually from the past decade.

(00:55):
And I want to start first with Jada Marcus. Jay
has dark hair. He's one of the two cousins. Jay
plays what like bass guitar, he plays a little bit
of everything. He's super savant as far as music comes.
But this is Jay talking about how Rascal Flats came
together back in the day, what Nashville was like when
they first started out, and he shared what he thought

(01:15):
the future of the band was gonna be, like, we'll
go to back to the beginning of the Flats or
Rascal Flats, not the Rascal Flats. So if everybody's listening
right now, I'll call him the Rascal Flats, dear God.
So we're gonna we're gonna move past college. We'll get
back to that in a minute. You're in town and

(01:36):
you have a cousin that you guys weren't super close.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
We weren't growing up, but we lost touch, right, and
which is Gary?

Speaker 4 (01:44):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:45):
And Gary had been winning some karaoke competitions. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:49):
So I kept hearing grumblings back home when I would
go back for the holidays that hey, you know your
cousin Gary, he's been singing a little bit.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
And I'd be like, really, that's new.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
And it wasn't that I was being mean about it,
but I was following my own path and I had
the Christian band. And then somebody told me that he
was talking to a producer in La about doing an
R and B thing and that he and Jamie Fox
had spent some time together. My uncle had actually told
me that, and I was like, he knows Jamie Fox.
That's kind of cool. And it was lost on me

(02:23):
that again, he was talking about singing and doing a
pop thing.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
And then my mom.

Speaker 3 (02:28):
Called me one day and she goes, now, your cousin
Gary's gonna call you and you need to listen to
him sing. He's been winning some contests up here. He's
been singing in Ohio and oh yeah, and you need
to listen to him sing.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
I was like, Mom, are you kidding me?

Speaker 3 (02:47):
The last thing I want to do is tell some
family member who I'm not really that close to anymore,
you shouldn't try this. And she said, well, I've talked
to She called Judy Gary's mother, Jude Babe. They were
closer than sisters.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
They still are.

Speaker 3 (03:04):
She said, well, listen, I've already told Jude Babe that
you're going to listen to him, so you just need
to let him come over there when he's down there
and sing for you. Well, he was on his way
to vacation in Florida, and he stopped by my apartment
in Brentwood and I sat down, and I believe, if
I'm remembering correctly, the first song he sang was One
Last Cry by Brian McKnight, and I knew it well

(03:24):
enough on the piano to kind of hack through it,
and he just stopped me in my tracks. I mean,
when he opens his voice and you hear that come
out of him, it's otherworldly. I mean, I describe it
in the book as all of these ingredients of gospel
and R and B and country rolled up into one.
I'd never heard anything quite like it before, and it

(03:46):
had an immediate, identifiable personality to it that was just
shocking to me. And we kept talking over the next
several weeks, several months, and I said, you know, you
got to move to town. It's never going to find you
in Columbus. And he was struggling because he had a
great job, he had debt, he had bills, he'd already

(04:07):
forged a life for himself. And he called me one
day and he said, that's it, I'm coming to town.
I can't do this anymore. And if I don't do it,
I'm afraid I'll regret it for the rest of my life.
And he lived on my couch. I had a one
bedroom apartment and he lived on my couch, and we
played everywhere we could, and when people would hear him,
the reaction was just undeniable. You could see it in

(04:29):
their faces. They were like, oh my god, this guy
is up there singing Merle Haggard, but singing like r
and b licks in it. And now if you turn
on country radio, you hear a whole host of singers
that were touched by him and influenced by him. And
that's a testament to what his gift was and what
he was able to bring to this town and build upon.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
So you guys are playing show as a printer's alley
a couple nights a week, few nights.

Speaker 3 (04:53):
A week, Yeah, and doesn't even exist anymore in the
place we played, well was it? It was a fiddle
and steel guitar bar, and think it's a boutique hotel.

Speaker 1 (05:01):
Now. So you go and you say, hey, Gary, we're
gonna get a gig, just the two of us. And
how do you get that gig? Do you go up
in to say, hey guy, here's the tape. What's that?

Speaker 3 (05:10):
I'll tell you so the guy playing up on stage,
we'd go in and hear him sing, and he would
let us sit in and do a song. The owner
was in there one night, Allison was her name, and
Greg Perkins. They owned it together, and she walked over
and she said, would you guys want to do a
night here? And Gary said, I don't even live here
full time. I'm just visiting on the weekends. She said,

(05:30):
if you guys will do a couple of nights here
a week, I'll fire him and give you his gig.

Speaker 1 (05:35):
The guy that you were singing, the guy that was
letting us, the guy that helped you. That's how cutthroat
Nashville is, you know. And and we so we left
and we talked about it, and I said, do you
do you want to do this? And then that that's
I think that's around the time he called me and said,
I'm moving to town. Let's take that gig and see
see what happens. And it was the two of us
sitting beside a cigarette machine, and I had my keyboard

(05:58):
and he had a mic when I had Mike's. And
we sometimes there were two people in there, sometimes there
were twenty, sometimes there were forty, but slowly but surely,
we started to build a following that would come in
and see us. And then the owners came to us
and said, we're thinking about buying the other side of
this building, knocking down the wall that separates the two
putting a stage together. Would you put a band together?

(06:21):
And I knew a bunch of guys from various bands,
and I was sitting in with and Gary and I
were friends with a circle of buddies that were great
musicians and had been playing in different places with them.

Speaker 3 (06:32):
So we put a band together.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
So you're playing with Shelley right at this time too, right,
like as your main you can playing with Shelley right.
You're playing keys?

Speaker 2 (06:40):
Yeah, I was your band later.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
Okay, so you're running the band, you're playing keys, and
you had hired a guitarist, which was Joe Done. Yeah.
And so when you're putting the band together, is that
when you bring Jo Donne in.

Speaker 3 (06:52):
No, he didn't start playing with us right away. A
guy named Shane Sutton played with us. Fantastic player, fantastic singer.
And we were playing down there for probably several months,
and then I get a call one night and Shane says,
man I can't get out of bed. I've got the flu,
I've got a fever, and I'm sorry to do this
to you, but I can't make it tonight. It was
on a Monday night, and I thought, oh no, what

(07:16):
are we gonna do. I know who can play this,
I know who can do it. I'm gonna call Joe on.
I called him up and I said, hey, what are
you doing tonight? And he's like nothing, I'm just sitting around.
I said, let's let's uh, let's play tonight.

Speaker 4 (07:29):
You want to?

Speaker 2 (07:30):
You want to sit in with us?

Speaker 3 (07:32):
I said, I've been telling you about my cousin anyway
I want you to. I want you to hear him
and meet him in real life. And I've been telling
you know, Gary about Jodawn how talented he was. And
so we pull up the club and Jodahn's sitting his guitar,
lamp up and he's up there tuning up. Gary looks
at me, he goes, who is that? I said, well, man,
I didn't want to tell you this, but Shane's sick,
and he goes, are you kidding me? This guy isn't

(07:55):
gonna know a thing that we do. We got to
play at all three am and if this sucks, I'm
out of here. You can have this by yourself. And
I was like, Gary, please, like, just get him the shot.
He would barely even speak to Joe on It was
so funny. He was so frustrated. And I understand. See
Gary was getting up at four thirty am to throw papers.
So we finished in the club at two.

Speaker 1 (08:15):
He slept right to work.

Speaker 2 (08:16):
Yeah, and he go right to work throwing papers. So
I understood his frustration.

Speaker 3 (08:21):
But then we got up there together in the first
song I think we played it on one of your shows,
is the first song we ever played together was Church
on the Cumberland Road by Shannondah, And we hit that
first course man, and I don't know what happened, but
it was just we all knew immediately. We looked at
each other like that is good and we've got to
have more of that.

Speaker 1 (08:39):
So Shane that original guitar players the name right. It
basically got Wally pipped, and Wally Pip played first Bays
for the Yankees forever. And while Pip got hurt nothing,
he didn't do anything wrong. I know he got hurt.
And here it comes, lou Gary was gonna fill in
and then here it's now the lou Gary world. I know,
what does Shane say about that?

Speaker 5 (08:57):
Shane.

Speaker 3 (08:58):
Shane's still a buddy of ours. We still see him
out playing with different artists and playing guitar, but he,
you know, he obviously gives us massive amounts of crap
for us firing and basically you never I had to
call him and tell him he couldn't come back, and
that was really awkward. I was like, I think we're
gonna go ahead and stick with Joe don but I
think anybody that heard us sing together, and he would

(09:19):
definitely tell you this too, God that there was a
special chemistry in a blend that we had that was
not common what.

Speaker 1 (09:27):
Was happening in Nashville at that time? Though you got
you three or now you go, okay, this might be something,
but what was like the environment like because you guys
cut through so hard because you were so different. Now
you kind of created where everyone else has gone, so
it doesn't seem like you're that different. You guys have
opened these roads up for a lot of artists nowadays.
At the time, who was popping around town where they're like,

(09:50):
you know what, You're not like them? We don't know
if this is gonna be a thing quite yet.

Speaker 3 (09:53):
Yeah, you know, Nashville was pretty safe back then. I
mean there were glimpses of pop in music. I mean
you had your South sixty five's and your I forget
Marshall Dylon was around, but they were definitely trying to
be five guys that danced and were trying to bring
the boy band vibe over to country music, and it
really wasn't resonating because they didn't play instruments. It felt

(10:18):
no offense to those guys that were trying to make
a living and do something, but it felt contrived, honestly.

Speaker 1 (10:24):
And we were.

Speaker 3 (10:25):
Fans of bands that were really great harmony bands like
Diamond Rio and Shenandoah at the time, and the Eagles
were a huge influence on us. So that's really what
we were trying to do, was bring elements of what
we loved about pop music, but still great authentic harmonies
and the songs, the meat on the bone of the
songs with something to say in a different way, is

(10:48):
really what we tried to hone in on and make
the foundation of what we were. We weren't even really
trying to be a band. We didn't set out to
do that. I wanted to produce and write and help
Gary get a record deal so that I could try
to be a record producer and be successful in that way.
I'd already done the artist thing, and we know how
that turned out by the book, but it sort of

(11:11):
had no aspirations to do another artist thing. I wanted
to kind of forge a different career. But the more
we had a following and the more we sang together,
it just felt like it was evolving into that.

Speaker 1 (11:21):
Let's rewind. I grew up Pentecostal for a while. My
grandmother was Pentecostal.

Speaker 2 (11:26):
You did.

Speaker 1 (11:26):
Yeah, scary you know it's for me that when they
would speak in tongues that scared the crap out of there.
I know me too, And so I remember going and
my grandmother who adopted me for a long time, and
she would speak in tongues in church, and it never
became something that I was just like, oh this is
I was always scared by it. Yeah, this that there

(11:48):
was so much passion and love in a Pentecostal church,
no doubt the most by the way of all of
you know, my time of of you know, being really
in the fabric church. That was that was the closest
I'd ever seen church. So as much as I'm like,
that scared me, it was also I'd never seen a
close knit group like the Pentecostal Church. What was your experience,
because I know.

Speaker 3 (12:08):
That's that was a big part of your life, much
the same I was scared to death. They always told
you to bring your friends to church, and I'd say
to my mom, why would I ever scare want my
friends to see what lunatics you guys act like when
you run around and speak in tongues and jump all
over the pews and everything, And I was never You know,
this is the truth, though I have to say it,

(12:29):
I was never very very comfortable in that environment because
it wasn't the way that I believed that I needed
to express myself and my beliefs. I was, yeah, and
it would, and it always troubled me a little bit,
but I admired the fact that people were so dedicated
to it. And You're absolutely right, there was so much love,
so much. I've always felt like I was surrounded by

(12:52):
a family of people that would do anything in the
world for me, even though I may not have agreed
with exactly how they went about it.

Speaker 1 (12:59):
You know.

Speaker 3 (13:00):
So for me, I'm glad that I went through that
because it laid a really deep foundation.

Speaker 2 (13:07):
For the groundwork for my faith later on in life.

Speaker 3 (13:10):
And I had to really figure out what I believed
and why I believed it, because I knew I didn't
believe a much of that stuff that I was exposed to.
And I'm not saying that it wasn't real. It was
real for them, whatever that was. But I had to
deconstruct my belief system and figure out why I believed
what I believed and not just because I was indoctrinated
with it when I was a kid.

Speaker 1 (13:29):
And so you start to play music, but you're playing
Christian music. Now why Christian music?

Speaker 3 (13:37):
Well, I wasn't allowed to listen to quote unquote secular
music when I was a kid, you know. I couldn't
listen to Kiss and ac DC and until later on
in life, like a lot of the kids were listening
to that. So I went turned to bands like Petra
and Milon Lefever and White Heart and bands that were
rock but were using a positive christ centered message. Those

(14:00):
were my influences. And so going to church and believing
in God myself and believing in Christ myself I started
to write a lot of that kind of music, and
the more I wrote, the more I really got into
that and felt like maybe that was what I was
supposed to do. And when I got to college and
I was working at the studio there on the campus,
I was doing all kinds of demos and having my

(14:22):
roommate Neil sing the demos, and I was mailing them
to publishers to try to get a songwriting deal. And
I got a call from Benson Records one day, Don
Cook at Benson Records, not the Country, Don Cook the Koch,
and he said, I love your band. We'd like to
bring it to town to talk about doing a record

(14:42):
on you. And of course had to tell him we're
not a band. I was just trying to get a
pub deal.

Speaker 1 (14:46):
But so as you're deciding where to go to school,
these folks come to you and say, if you'll go
to school here, we'll pay We'll actually pay you away
your debt, we'll pay your carpet. Like they say, hey,
we're gonna write yourchther three thousand dollars otherwise, yeah, something
like that. We're gonna pay you if you come to
school here and perform with the band. That was at school.

Speaker 3 (15:07):
Yeah, so this this guy was known for hand picking
the best musicians at the school and putting together a
recruiting ensemble. So this this particular group of kids would
be for singers, for musicians, a couple of other road
crew and things. And we traveled on a tour bus
and we went around to youth camps, youth conventions, We

(15:30):
went around to churches, We went around to camp meetings,
and during a Pentecostal church, I know, you know what
a camp meeting is. But we would sing and then
we would talk about the school, and so we'd try
to recruit kids to come to the school.

Speaker 2 (15:42):
We'd go overseas.

Speaker 3 (15:44):
I had the opportunity to see a whole bunch of
the world at a very young age playing with that group.
But as long as you played in that group, you
could keep your scholarship, you could keep going to school.
And that's kind of what my job was. So a
lot of these kids that would go home for this
summer that wasn't me. I toured all of my summers
in school, and Neil and I were dear friends. We

(16:05):
became dear friends, and lo and behold, we ended up
in East to West together.

Speaker 1 (16:10):
I look like there were more than one lead singer.

Speaker 2 (16:13):
We both we both shared leads.

Speaker 1 (16:14):
You both were doing the lead.

Speaker 3 (16:17):
It worked well for us because I played bass and
keys too, so then there's no doubt Neil did the
lion's share of the lead vocals. And I would take
a verse here or there, and you know, and that
sort of thing, and maybe sing one song on the
albums I would sing. So it worked really really well
because I cared, you know, I was such a musician
and muse o head that I wanted to like play

(16:39):
everything I could and play a lot of it on
the record, and so I was content to let Neil
kind of shine and do his own thing. And he
was a fantastic singer. But it worked well for us.

Speaker 1 (16:49):
I think that's a big part of why, again, from
the outside looking again, why Flats has been able to
be so wonderful is that you can sing, but you're
actually okay not being the lead.

Speaker 3 (17:01):
When I stand next to somebody that sings like Gary
does every night, it's like, what's the point. I love
to sing, and I but I love singing harmony with
him because I feel like we have something unique and
he's you know, it's like anything he sings is better
ten times better than anything I would come up with,
And that's okay. I think one of our strengths is
we realize what gifts and strengths we all three individually

(17:24):
bring to the table, and we try to lean on
those with each other. And you're right, I am okay
because I get to sing beside one of the greatest
vocalists I've ever had the privilege of being around every night,
and that's a treat. But I will tell you when
we played the clubs, you know, we'd have to play
five hours a night, so we passed around the lead
vocals a lot more often back then, because it's a

(17:45):
lot to ask Gary to sing five hours a night
in smoky bar rooms. Back then, you could still smoke
in the bar rooms, and so we did sing a
lot more.

Speaker 1 (17:54):
But I saw.

Speaker 3 (17:56):
The value of having that lead vocalist a stab and
the sound that he had was so identifiable and so
great that it wouldn't It just wasn't that important to
me to have a song on the record where I sing. Now,
Joe Don and I have sung verses here and there
on some songs, but I just don't think it's that
important to either one of us to like, Oh, look

(18:18):
at me, I can sing a lead vocal too.

Speaker 6 (18:21):
Hang Ty, the Bobby Cast will be right back. Wow,
and we're back on the Bobby Cast.

Speaker 1 (18:31):
You know, I remember watching because I was over in
Pop whenever you guys crossed over. Yeah, so I was.
I grew up in Arkansas. I was a diehard country Fanily,
when I went to Pop, I kind of checked out
a bit because I was just consumed by what I
was doing with my work. Yeah, and you guys, what
Hurts the Most? That's was big on the country and
then started to creep into my world. So you're making
it over in country, but it's got to be a

(18:51):
whole different world once. Oh yeah, boulders are falling instead of.

Speaker 3 (18:56):
It was weird, man, When when What Hurts the Most
number one on Top forty radio, it was a moment
that I'll never forget because we started getting calls to
then go to which was unheard of back then. It
was a different time, not a lot of like now,
you'll see a lot of country acts like Dan and
Say and Florida Georgia Line and folks like that and

(19:18):
a little big town at the Amas and at the
Grammys and things. It just wasn't that common back in
you know, fifteen to ten, fifteen years ago, and we
were getting calls to do those shows, People's Choice Awards,
you know, and it was like, wow.

Speaker 2 (19:32):
This is cool.

Speaker 3 (19:33):
This is beyond the scope of the CMAS, the cmts
and the ACMs, which we loved, but we were opened
up and exposed to another, a whole other world. And
I remember sitting on the floor of the American Music
Awards with Gary and Gary sitting next to me, and
he nudged me and he goes, would you ever thought
we'd be able to do this? Sit in this room

(19:55):
with jay Z, Beyonce, Madonna, Lady Gaga, all of the
these people, And he said, no, I'm going to lay
something on you you haven't thought about. I said, what
this was the year two thousand and six. He said,
We've sold more records this year than anybody in this room.
And it stopped me in my tracks. And he wasn't

(20:16):
saying it to be boastful or to like be you know,
braggadocious about it. He was saying, can you believe what
we've done outside of just being in country music? And
it was overwhelming to me. I never will forget that night,
in that moment that we shared during the commercial break there, which.

Speaker 1 (20:34):
Is the two of us, it was so cool. Did
you guys get crap for being a mainstream success from
any of the Nashville you know, hardcore of country folks.
Not really.

Speaker 2 (20:48):
No, No, To be honest, we didn't.

Speaker 1 (20:50):
We had.

Speaker 2 (20:51):
I mean people I felt like were you.

Speaker 3 (20:54):
Know, except for the moment there when the song was
released Murder on music Row and they talked about pop
coming over and infiltrating country. It was a little bit
of a movement there, but most people rallied around us
and got behind us.

Speaker 1 (21:07):
And you know, there was a batch of us.

Speaker 3 (21:10):
Doing something different in Keith Urban and US and Shadaisy
at the time, and a few people that were putting
poppier elements into the country music, and I feel like
they welcomed it. And it was you know, some of
the critics, of course, derided us early on and we
got a bad rap, but most of the people in
the music industry were kind of excited that there was

(21:31):
kind of a new movement coming along.

Speaker 4 (21:33):
You know.

Speaker 1 (21:34):
Blessed the Broken Road another song that crept into my life.

Speaker 3 (21:37):
We had that sweet spot where you're kind of in
a deel, you know, and you just sit there in
it and soak it all up, because it seems like
you have a moment in time where you put a
song out it resonates with people, and you have your
fingers crossed, and you put another one out and it
resonates with people. It was such a magical time for us.
We had about ten years there that were just phenomenal.

(22:01):
And it's a testament to the songwriters in this town too,
because the songs we were able to get our hands on,
the writers that were sitting in rooms writing for us,
that knew what we wanted to say, how we wanted
to sing, it really had their fingers on the pulse
of who Rascal Flats was.

Speaker 1 (22:17):
I can't thank them enough. Was there ever a point
with you guys, you three, that you're like, this is
probably it. We're done.

Speaker 3 (22:25):
When Lyric Streets shut down in twenty ten, we sat
around in my man room and looked at each other
and we're like, do we have anything left to say?
Even I mean, it's been a great ten year run.
We were getting ready to either quit or make a

(22:47):
management change, and a lot of things were going to change,
and we knew it and it was going to be tough,
and we sat around and considered whether or not it
wasn't time to lay Rascal Flats down, and I think
after an hour or so of talking with each other,
it was just like, it hurts me to think about
the last time that I'll look over to my right

(23:09):
and not see Gary beside me. When I think about
that day, it makes me emotional. I don't know when
that day will be, but I wasn't ready to face it.
And to think about never making music with the two
of them again. Boy, it's something that even though we
were in twenty years and we love each other like
brothers and we've certainly fought like brothers before. I love

(23:33):
those guys with all my heart. And we've done some
things that a lot of people will never see or
never be able to do. And we've been in the
trenches together, and we know each other in ways that
our own wives don't even know us. And to think
about not having that anymore, I think all of us
were not ready, and we were willing to stay together

(23:53):
because we felt like we had more to say and
more to do, and we still do. I don't know
that it's going to come to a close anytime soon.
I think we will all three have things we want
to do individually as we get older and have opportunities to.
But I don't see us ever really going away and
and having an official, quote unquote breakup.

Speaker 1 (24:14):
Do you ever think about a sideband.

Speaker 3 (24:21):
I'm in one already, and it's tough to be in
that one sometimes in the time that it takes in
the commitment level, I've thought about maybe doing side projects, things.

Speaker 1 (24:32):
Like that side band that you're in. Why do I
know this or do I know this is a secret?

Speaker 2 (24:37):
No, I mean, I mean I'm in Rascal Flats.

Speaker 1 (24:38):
In the commitment I was like, how do I not know?

Speaker 3 (24:40):
No, No, I I don't have I mean, I certainly
love making music on any level, and you're producing music
by the way, Yeah, well, I open up a Christian
label back in October, so I've got artists signed there
to that label that I'll be releasing records on. So
there my time commitment there with that new thing and
my life is pretty substantial. So I'm going to try

(25:03):
to make sure that's as successful as it can possibly be.
And I want to continue making music and producing for
other people.

Speaker 1 (25:09):
And I've had I've had the.

Speaker 3 (25:12):
Chance to do a lot of great things, and you know,
I'm made a really great point in my life now
to where I really really enjoy everything that I'm doing
right now, and I'm not just doing it because I
have to.

Speaker 6 (25:24):
You know, the Bobby Cast will be right back. Welcome
back to the Bobby Cast.

Speaker 1 (25:35):
So then a few months later, I sat down with
lead singer Gary Lavaux. Now this has been four or
five years ago, and this is for Gary and I
were actually really close friends. And it's interesting because he
did not know the future of Rascal Flats when we
were having this conversation because it was just the beginning
of COVID and I was like, what is even going
to happen? He knew they were going to break up
kind of, but he didn't know if they were going

(25:56):
to tour it. You'll hear this, but again he talked
about the early days moving to Nashville, forming Rascal Flats,
even a solo project, and who he thinks the best
country singers of all time are, and a whole bunch more.
You know, I saw you guys. You're doing some promotion
now for the new EP July thirty first, which we're
going to play this whole interview thing on the radio
show This is long form podcast to count down a

(26:17):
lot of things. So I saw you guys doing promotion
on one of those morning talk shows like Good Morning
America or something Today's show. Were you guys together virtually
or do you come in on the different boxes?

Speaker 5 (26:28):
Jill Don and I were together. Jay was in Hilton
Head playing golf.

Speaker 1 (26:33):
And are you like Jay, we're doing promotion. Least you
can do is come hang out.

Speaker 5 (26:37):
Yeah, that's exactly by what we said. But he wouldn't
doing it.

Speaker 1 (26:42):
So it's the whole virtual thing is weird because it
doesn't really feel like it counts, even though it does.

Speaker 4 (26:48):
No.

Speaker 1 (26:48):
I know, I was doing American Idol with the whole
last five episodes, and I'm doing it from my house.
I swear to god, I didn't wear pants for network television.

Speaker 4 (26:55):
Yeah, I didn't on the Today Show.

Speaker 1 (26:57):
You're not now?

Speaker 4 (26:58):
No, I know. It's just it's so comfortable now.

Speaker 1 (27:01):
The new EP, how they Remember You? We released July
thirty first, and when I was thinking about EPs, have
you guys put out just an EP in a long time?

Speaker 3 (27:10):
Never?

Speaker 1 (27:10):
Because I would think you guys are just full straight
ahead album guys yeap. What was this? What made you
think about putting out a smaller project?

Speaker 5 (27:16):
Well, because we were actually had this other project going on,
and then we were we had these songs like kind
of left over from projects that we really liked but
never had the chance to and this Quarantine thing kind
of put it where we were kind of looking at
and we were like, man, we should finish these out.
And so it just came up to h and then
Dan Huff got another song that he really liked, how

(27:39):
They Remember You, which is the new single, and then
so we just kind of put it all on an
EP and we had seven and we were like, let's
just go with seven. So Borshett it was like, yep,
it's great. So Big Machine put it out. Well it
will be.

Speaker 1 (27:52):
Up and that's new right you being with Scott war
shout out Big Machine? Is that new ish?

Speaker 4 (27:56):
No, we've been there for ten years.

Speaker 1 (28:00):
E been there that long.

Speaker 4 (28:01):
Yeah. Wow, we got lost because of Tailor. Thanks Bobby.

Speaker 1 (28:05):
Yeah, I forgot. Wasn't there a fourth member?

Speaker 5 (28:09):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (28:09):
Guy for hearing and then he went to cooking. It
was weird.

Speaker 1 (28:12):
So you got seven try, but seven's almost a record
to be fair, Yeah, it is. I mean it's like
it's somewhere, it's like the purgatory of EP to LP.

Speaker 5 (28:21):
Yeah, you know, the whole game's changed. Who knows what
to do anymore? Some people were just doing singles. People
want to do records. I mean, you know, I missed
the whole body of work. But to be honest, nobody
really wants the whole body of work.

Speaker 1 (28:34):
I agree, even my favorite artists like I would rather
now consume a couple of songs a month, yep, and
have them consistently come at me a couple of time,
because what happens with me, just as a music fan,
first and foremost, is that you give me thirteen tracks
and I'll go through it once and not give some
songs the fair credit, just the acknowledgement they deserve, because

(28:58):
sometimes you gotta hear a song two or three times
you really love it, and I won't do that because
I'd be like, thirteen tracks, it's just too much overwhelming.

Speaker 4 (29:03):
Yep, I know, yep.

Speaker 5 (29:05):
And then the artwork nothing really, you know, everything that
you used to love about music or can't wait for
a new thing to come out and just kind of
it's disappeared.

Speaker 1 (29:13):
You're one of the best singers in town and your
your voice is still so pure. Have you felt your
voice get lower higher through the last fifteen twenty years?
Does it move at all?

Speaker 4 (29:21):
You know, it really has.

Speaker 5 (29:22):
I think it's gotten stronger for some weird reason.

Speaker 4 (29:25):
I don't know. I can hit things now easier than
I could before. I don't know.

Speaker 1 (29:30):
Why do you think that is?

Speaker 5 (29:31):
Yeah, I think it's just kind of like a muscle,
you know, It's just like any kind of athlete. And
I think the more you use it correctly and it
stretches and all that kind of good stuff, it just
kind of I don't know, I've just been blessed with
being able to not lose much.

Speaker 1 (29:44):
How old were you when it started to be Wow,
Gary's actually better than the other kids, or I don't know,
seventeen year olds.

Speaker 5 (29:50):
You know, I don't even really know, because I mean,
like I did some but I was still into sports
that I really wasn't even thinking about music really, you know.
And then but like high school, I'll do like I
would be in the musicals like South Pacific and Guys
and Dolls and all that, and these show choir kind
of things, and I always ended up getting like the

(30:11):
you know, like the lead or I have a solo
part in something and it was you know, I was
probably better than average, but.

Speaker 1 (30:20):
But it wasn't blown away crowd and they walked out
like they weren't like, holy crap, what you want. I
guess you weren't La Vox, right, But the Gary freaking
was killing everybody that was. That wasn't a thing early.

Speaker 5 (30:31):
Yeah, yeah, maybe, but I think the soccer was my
big thing, So I think that kind of overshadowed the
music thing.

Speaker 4 (30:37):
I was soccer. Huh, yep.

Speaker 1 (30:39):
Do you think you could go and play? I guess
really wasn't MLS. And did you try to play in
college or no?

Speaker 4 (30:45):
No, I didn't.

Speaker 5 (30:46):
I had I had a scholarship to Taylor University and
didn't take it. My stepdad at the time had started
an electric company, so I was doing that and I'm like,
this is going to be mine one day, all this,
you know, so I just I started making money, and
you know, started making that five seventy five an hour.

Speaker 4 (31:05):
I thought I was big balling.

Speaker 1 (31:07):
You know, it's crazy to hear about how much you
love sports.

Speaker 7 (31:10):
Now.

Speaker 1 (31:10):
I've heard stories about you and how good of an
athlete you still are, and I guess you don't show
it a lot. But one of my dear friends was
Clarence is your manager yep, And he was I don't
know if it was boxing or something, and he was like,
we were on the tour.

Speaker 4 (31:23):
Bus, oh yeah, on boxing problem.

Speaker 1 (31:25):
And they were like, we got and I guess you
would put on some gloves and we're just kind of
just you know, dicking around. And he was like, you
would not believe how fast his breaking hands are. And
he was like deceivingly, Levox is one of the best
athletes you know of all, because it's a weird thing
to be such a good athlete and such a great singer.
I look at guys like you, or a Sam Hunt

(31:47):
or a and Go or even a Chuck Wicks, like
the guy is a great athlete and a good looking guy.
You guys have and I have nothing. You guys have
all the elements and I have nothing. And I just
look at you all and go here I am fingernails
keeping the mountain, trying to climb. You guys got your
little trolley and just right up with all the skills,
like God just gifted you so many.

Speaker 5 (32:08):
Oh that's not true at all, that's not true at all.
But I know what you're saying, like that not for me,
but like the Sam Haunts and the Chuck with they're
they're really good at everything and they're and they look
good and yeah, and they look great.

Speaker 1 (32:21):
Now.

Speaker 4 (32:22):
See, I would put me in that category, but I
don't know.

Speaker 1 (32:24):
I did put you in the category.

Speaker 4 (32:27):
I wrote it down for you that thank you.

Speaker 1 (32:29):
Oh.

Speaker 8 (32:29):
No.

Speaker 1 (32:29):
One of the tracks quick Fast in a Hurry Rachel
walmax On, who I just love love her. She's such
a great singer. So when you were putting together the record,
there's only one one feature on here, why Rachel?

Speaker 5 (32:41):
It was just one of those things, like, I mean,
she opened she did like a couple of shows for us,
opened up and and like I went out there and
we were all kind of watching, and I was like, God, I.

Speaker 4 (32:53):
Had no idea. She can blow. She can absolutely kill it.

Speaker 5 (32:57):
And then so we're just like we should quick Fast
in a Hurry was kind of fresh on our minds,
you know, and we had just kind of tracked it
and we were just like, man, we should ask Rachel.

Speaker 4 (33:09):
She'd be into it.

Speaker 5 (33:10):
And Clarence manages her too, so you're like, just keep
it all in the family.

Speaker 4 (33:14):
And she crushed it.

Speaker 1 (33:16):
Who do you see in town now where you go? Man,
they can just sing like if you were doing a
mount Rushmore of current. Let's say we got to put
some perimeters on this. They've had to have had a
hit in the past five years. Okay, so I'm going
to eliminate any of the nineties guys that maybe you
saw on the upper end when you were coming in.
Who can really sing Mount Rushmore? Four people?

Speaker 5 (33:39):
Boy, that's tough. Carrie Underwook can really sing Rachel Trifle.

Speaker 1 (33:45):
Let me stop being carry a truffall. She goes into studio,
doesn't allow them to touch her voice? Do you know that?

Speaker 4 (33:50):
Really?

Speaker 1 (33:51):
I don't know. I'm asking you. I've heard that.

Speaker 4 (33:53):
Have you heard that? No, I haven't heard that, Garth,
I've heard that.

Speaker 1 (33:58):
Do you allow them to touch your voice?

Speaker 4 (34:00):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (34:01):
Heck yeah, I want to be great really yeah, but
that's you know, but just kind of like tone stuff
like how much verb and all that, and I mean,
but I'll take pitch corrector all.

Speaker 1 (34:10):
Day, but you don't need pitch corrector. Well, you know,
sometimes you have perfect pitch.

Speaker 4 (34:17):
It's pretty close. It's pretty close.

Speaker 1 (34:20):
All right, you got Carrie, go ahead, you got three
more Carrie.

Speaker 4 (34:24):
Ronnie Dunn.

Speaker 1 (34:26):
Mmm, good one.

Speaker 5 (34:32):
I mean for a country country singer, Hey, I put
Luke Combs in there.

Speaker 1 (34:36):
Yeah, I would too.

Speaker 4 (34:37):
Yeah, and.

Speaker 5 (34:41):
See there's some that just haven't had a hit in
front the last five years, but I would put I
don't wanna miss some.

Speaker 1 (34:49):
But oh, you're gonna miss a lot. So I think
it's okay because there's so many.

Speaker 4 (34:52):
No, I'm gonna put Bobby Bones.

Speaker 1 (34:56):
There's a lot of pitch corector. When I go in
to do it's just pitch director. I don't even I
just call in and I'm like, hey, just take this.
I don't even have to go. I just slam it on. There.
Are you guys not gonna say goodbye on the tour?

Speaker 4 (35:11):
You know? Not for now?

Speaker 5 (35:13):
I mean, I don't know what's happening. It's just, you know,
every state's different now that states that were in Phase
three you're going back to phase two. And you know
it's just crazy. I mean, who who knows? I mean,
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (35:25):
You know, I know.

Speaker 5 (35:26):
Jay's doing his own thing. Joe Don's right in a
bunch and you know, and I'll just tell you that
you know and everybody that I'm so I'm doing a
solo record.

Speaker 4 (35:36):
I'm working on a solo record right now.

Speaker 1 (35:39):
Is that breaking news?

Speaker 4 (35:40):
That's breaking news?

Speaker 1 (35:41):
I knew it already, but I keep I keep such
a good secret.

Speaker 4 (35:44):
M so low.

Speaker 1 (35:45):
So wait what is that? I'm gonna ask you about that?
So you're doing a solo record? What and what it was?
I feel like, what's the So.

Speaker 5 (35:50):
I'm doing a first I'm going to do a solo
I'm doing a solo Christian record.

Speaker 4 (35:54):
It's been a dream record.

Speaker 5 (35:56):
Of mine forever and I'm halfway done with that now
and it's I'm so excited about it. It's just gonna
be great. And I think I'm going to do a
solo country record right after that.

Speaker 4 (36:07):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (36:07):
Ye Now what kind of expectation do you put on
yourself in the solo country world where you've had You're
as successful as you could have possibly been, Like, you
can't be bigger than the flats? Yeah, So now it's you.
How do you like? What is the goal with you? Same? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (36:26):
I mean the same. I'll just see where God takes it.

Speaker 5 (36:28):
But there's just there's you know, it's you know, sometimes
it's difficult for the three of us to agree on
songs to cut and things that I really believe in
most of the time it would work out.

Speaker 4 (36:38):
But there's you.

Speaker 5 (36:38):
Know, there's just I think, you know, I mean, I
feel the responsibility in the in the calling to continue
to keep singing if Flats does or not. So, but
there's songs that I really believe in that I love
and they're you know. I mean, I don't know if
they'll be different from Flats because I was the lead
singer of Flat, so I mean, they're all all kind

(37:00):
of sound like that, but and maybe not all the
harmony stuff on there. But there's songs that I really
truly believe in that I love that I think are
giants and I think that the world needs to hear.
I mean, I think they're you know, I think they're
really really good. And I've already got some recorded for that.
So I'm just excited. I'm excited about doing my own thing,
and you know, and it's excited to see what happens,

(37:23):
you know, if the Flats get together at some point
when everything clears off. I mean, I don't know, we'll see,
but I'm going to continue to work and I feel
like that's that's been my calling and what I need
to continue to do.

Speaker 1 (37:35):
And do you know those guys well as anyone. If
let's say a vaccine happens with Corona in March of
next year, you guys decide to go out and play
ten shows, and just this is just a hypothetical. Will
they be cool with you singing your solo songs up
there if it's out? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (37:50):
Yeah, h yeah they would. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (37:52):
I mean we also, I mean we get along great.
We just don't know what's happening. And you know, everybody
kind of you know, you know, a couple of the
guys wanted to do their own thing early on, and
it just this Corona thing.

Speaker 4 (38:06):
It's it's just weird. It kind of gave us a
year off before we were going to take a year off,
you know. Yeah. So I don't know, it's just just
the way it worked out.

Speaker 1 (38:16):
Before I moved, I guess that's about three moves ago.
But I was living in a condo and you looked
out the window right on the printer's alley.

Speaker 4 (38:23):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (38:24):
So when you first moved to town, did you guys
play any of those Printer's alley spots?

Speaker 4 (38:28):
Yep?

Speaker 5 (38:28):
Right there, Fiddling Steel we played there, but we played
all of them, but our main gig was like Mondays
and Tuesdays the fiddling steel, and then we would play
Barbers and we played Lonnie's Western Room.

Speaker 4 (38:39):
We'd play all those down there.

Speaker 1 (38:40):
What does that mean? You would play them? Like talk
about them? What's a Monday night?

Speaker 4 (38:44):
So Monday night?

Speaker 5 (38:44):
Well, when I first moved to town, it was Jay
set up by the cigarette machine with a little keyboard
and we had some tracks like well they call me
the Farm and that's my name. We'd sit there and
sometimes the security guard was the only person that would
be in there. But we would play there from nine
to three on Mondays and Tuesdays. Then we started building
a following. Then we met and Joe Don came in

(39:06):
and then but we played from nine to three, take breaks,
and then we'd take a break, and then we'd go
to barbers across the street and play over there and
sit in a carry out I and then we just
stayed in the alley. We're gonna be somewhere every night
playing music.

Speaker 1 (39:20):
What does that mean to develop a following when you're
playing small bars with without social media? Like? What is that?
Just the same people coming to see you?

Speaker 5 (39:27):
Yeah, just same people would come in. They knew when
we were playing. And what was great back then too,
was like Mark Chestnut, Toby Keith and all that. So
when everybody was off the road, everybody would go to
Printer's Alley and hang. So he might be playing with
Mark Chestnut's guitar player, you know, Toby Keith's drummer, you
know Martina McBride's you know, acoustic player. It was just

(39:52):
a I mean, it's what country music was.

Speaker 4 (39:55):
You know. Then they knocked it.

Speaker 5 (39:56):
All down and built you know, the condo I used
to look condo that you used to live.

Speaker 1 (40:04):
What was the final straw that made you come to Nashville?

Speaker 2 (40:08):
You know what?

Speaker 5 (40:08):
I was sitting in my mom's kitchen and how old
I was twenty I was twenty seven and I was
sitting in my mom's kitchen and I was singing along
with the radio, and I was like, it just hit me.
And at that moment, I just kind of looked up
and I said, God, I feel like you give me
some type of gift to sing, and I'm so sorry

(40:30):
that I haven't used it. It was just the weirdest thing.
And I was like, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna
do it. So I took out because I worked for
the Board of Developmentally Disabled for ten years. It's right
out of high school. So I had to leave that job,
you know, state job, sold everything and moved to town.
And but that's what it was in my kitchen. I'd

(40:52):
really I sold everything through everything in my truck, moved
moved to Nashville.

Speaker 1 (40:56):
Were you dominating karaoke competitions back off?

Speaker 4 (40:59):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (40:59):
Yeah, yeah, because that was the extra hundred bucks, you
know if you won. I was like, you know, if
I had to hit three on Friday, I'd be extra
three hundred dollars, you know, then Saturday, and then there
was one place on Sunday.

Speaker 4 (41:10):
But then they caught on.

Speaker 5 (41:11):
So if you won too much, then you couldn't win anymore,
you know, so then you had to start venturing out.

Speaker 1 (41:16):
You go it on the East, uh fake mustache, out
of town clothes. So you and Jay obviously are related
with Joe Don. Did Jay find Joe Don? Who's Who's
what was that?

Speaker 4 (41:32):
So Jay was the.

Speaker 5 (41:33):
Band leader for Shelley, right, and then he hired uh
Joe Don to play guitar for Shelley And so he
had j been telling me about Joda on how you
Know High ten and how Grady scenes and plays. So
he came down at the Filling Steel Guitar Bar one
night and our guitar player didn't show up, so he
invited jod On in and we did h Church on

(41:55):
the Cumberland Road. It was the first song we ever did,
and the rest was history. We were like, wow, I
don't know what that was, but that was I mean,
it was just it was incredible. So we asked him and.

Speaker 4 (42:06):
That was that.

Speaker 1 (42:07):
How quickly until you had a name?

Speaker 5 (42:08):
Though it took a while because we were because I
think Jaybert and I were going by Deuces Wild and
then there was three of us in there, so deuces
Wild didn't make any sense. And then you know it
was hard to come up with a name. And uh
but we we sat there and we were thinking, so
we're ok Ohio because Joe nas from Oklahoma. It's just terrible.

Speaker 4 (42:27):
And then so it was awful.

Speaker 5 (42:30):
And so this piano player named Jelly Roll was in
town or was playing with us, and he was like, man,
back in the sixties, I used to have a band
called Rascal Flats. And we're like, what's it mean, Jelly
He was like, hell, I don't know, no idea. We
were like all right, So we literally rode on a napkin, uh,
and we paid him five hundred bucks for the name,
so if it did work, we could get sued later.

Speaker 4 (42:52):
So that's the story.

Speaker 1 (42:54):
And how quickly that you guys were like, Okay, we're
going to do this until you actually started to make
any sort of money from it into tea bigger than
just a bar, meaning a record label.

Speaker 4 (43:05):
How it was.

Speaker 1 (43:05):
Did that happen pretty quick? When people heard of you?

Speaker 5 (43:07):
Yeah, you know, there was a see so I moved
to town February ninety eight and we got signed in
ninety nine. And then but we were humping I mean,
we were killing it every night. We were playing somewhere
every night. And then yeah, so but we were working
for tips only and then we got paid forty bucks
a night and then so the first real money was

(43:32):
was when we signed our deal with Lyric Street Records.

Speaker 1 (43:34):
Yep, do you guys ever baby act for anybody as
that third act where they really were like, hey, we'll
look out.

Speaker 5 (43:42):
For you, you know what all of them did really
and that was like our first tour ever was Jody
Messina and Jody kind of did that for us. And
then it was Toby Keith. Toby really took us under
his wing. And then Brooks and Done. I mean, really,
you go out there and try to steal everything that
they've got their fans, you learn so much. And then

(44:02):
Brooks and Done and then I mean they all kind
of took us under their wing and really showed us
the ropes and you know, how to put a tour
together and how to treat fans.

Speaker 4 (44:13):
And you know, because we were on that the Brooks and.

Speaker 5 (44:16):
Done thing where they had jugglers and stuff all day long,
you know, so yeah, we I mean we learned from
all of them. All of thems kind of kind of
took them and took us under their wing and really
showed us the ropes. And they were I forget who
it was that told us. They were like, see all
those fans out there, you need to go steal every
single one of them.

Speaker 1 (44:34):
Oh that's cool, we'll try. That's cool.

Speaker 4 (44:37):
And that's what we told everybody that's open for us
since then.

Speaker 1 (44:40):
The how they remembew the EP when it comes out.
Why do you name song PEP different people give me
different ones? Why do you name the whole project after
a song?

Speaker 4 (44:50):
You know? I don't know. I guess just because it's easy.

Speaker 5 (44:53):
It's the first thing and it's hard to encompass, like
because all of it has a different feel and the
whole body of work feels different, you know.

Speaker 4 (44:59):
Let's you know, but something like the.

Speaker 5 (45:02):
Craftmanship record that would have been the other time Spent record.

Speaker 1 (45:07):
You guys had seven Do you have seven songs on
this thing? Did all? Is it a rule that three
of three of you have to agree on the song
or two or three? What's the what's the dynamic there?

Speaker 5 (45:14):
Pretty much? Yeah, pretty much? And then but I'll get
in there sometimes just come in. I just I hate
the song.

Speaker 4 (45:20):
I'm not doing it.

Speaker 1 (45:21):
You ever done that to a song? It ended up
being a massive hit where it's like I don't know
if this is the one.

Speaker 4 (45:28):
I'm sure there, I'm sure there.

Speaker 5 (45:29):
Jay's probably been the worst at that Jays because he's
like songs like no, I'm not doing that, you know,
like like Sarah Beth, you know about skin.

Speaker 4 (45:39):
I don't want to sing about cancer. I don't want
to do you know, it's a tough subject. I don't
want to sing about it.

Speaker 5 (45:45):
It's a hit, and it's happened a couple other times
we were like, hey, Jay whatever other songs that you hate, man.

Speaker 1 (45:49):
That'd be great.

Speaker 4 (45:50):
Let the Yeah.

Speaker 1 (45:53):
So you and Jamie Fox have been friends for a while.

Speaker 4 (45:55):
Huh m hmm, yep, long time.

Speaker 1 (45:57):
You guys just sit around Jamie's house singing.

Speaker 4 (45:58):
We did all the time.

Speaker 1 (46:00):
You know, how'd you guys become friends?

Speaker 5 (46:02):
He I got a deal offered to me by Capitol
Records in early on, like a pop deal, And so
I went to LA and my old manager at that
time used to work for Jamie, and so ended up
going there, staying there, and uh after I turned that

(46:22):
deal down, I ended up just staying living with Jamie
for a few months, just staying with him.

Speaker 4 (46:27):
And then we're just and he had just lived together.

Speaker 5 (46:30):
Just started the w he started, just started the Jamie
Fox Show on the WB and so he was just
getting going. I mean, his comedy stuff was happening. But
he's truly one of the most he might be the
most talented person I've ever seen. He's great at absolutely everything.
I mean not just great, but I mean sets the
bar for I mean comedy talent, I mean his the

(46:54):
way he plays piano, and I mean he's just and
and he loves music. He loves country music. He loves
all genres of music and he can act. I mean,
it's just it's not fair. It's not fair at all.

Speaker 1 (47:06):
It sounds like he's a good dude too. He's a
great dude, which sucks you kind of.

Speaker 4 (47:09):
Want to hate someone. Yeah, he's from Texas.

Speaker 1 (47:11):
I never liked you, yeah, because it's just you have
it all.

Speaker 4 (47:14):
You just you have it all. Yeah, and I'm covening. Yeah,
I'm envious and I'm covening you.

Speaker 1 (47:19):
Life is the Highway was never a single, right, It
just became a smash kind of because people liked it,
which is rare.

Speaker 4 (47:26):
Yep.

Speaker 5 (47:27):
Yeah, the Cars movie, yeah, you know, and then radio
picked it up because it was just doing so good
and just kind of they played it.

Speaker 4 (47:35):
But it was never a.

Speaker 1 (47:36):
Single, and really one of the songs that I would
assume you guys are associated most with, depending on what
the age group.

Speaker 4 (47:43):
Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 5 (47:44):
Yeah, it's funny because I was just just doing a
singing with a buddy of mine, Jonathan mcgreynod's in the
Christian world. The gospel world is amazing. He's the same way,
so talented, so gifted, not fair, coveting, nine neighbor, that's
what I'm doing on with him too, because it's just ridiculous.
But anyway, his his assistant who knows nothing about country music,

(48:07):
never even heard of Rascal Flask But new Life's the Highway.

Speaker 1 (48:09):
Really, Yeah, Life's the Highway, the original version. Don't tell me,
is it like Eddie cock now who sings lives Highway?
Tom Conchran. I get Eddie money and Tom Cochran mixed
up because to me, the same person, what's the most
profitable song you guys have put out.

Speaker 4 (48:29):
For me?

Speaker 5 (48:29):
The ones I wrote fast Guards, Freedom and I Melt
and Bob that Head and Summer Nights and all that.
But you know, I mean, all in all broke, it's
got to be broken Road or what hurts the most.

Speaker 1 (48:42):
If someone says, hey, Gary, what are you gonna want
you to come? Like my cousin's having a little wedding
here and he's you're really important to him, and he says,
you sing two songs? Any two songs at the wedding?

Speaker 4 (48:51):
What do you pick? Broken Road? In my wish? I mean,
those are always the ones that they ask it is.

Speaker 1 (48:57):
Yeah, somebody asked me to.

Speaker 4 (49:00):
I tried on moving on once but that didn't work.

Speaker 1 (49:02):
Yeah, probably not a.

Speaker 4 (49:03):
Good it wasn't.

Speaker 1 (49:04):
Yeah, do you still get excited because you know the
new project's coming out, you get excited it's gonna come
out or is it just another day like it's just
part of the bro I'm.

Speaker 4 (49:11):
So fired up.

Speaker 5 (49:12):
I'm so excited, more excited that I've been in a
long time. I'm so excited to have you know, I
love everything that we did with Flats and being a
part of that and all of that, and who knows
what will happen in the future, but I'm so excited
about just having my own songs that I picked that
I hand you know, hand picked and helped co produce

(49:35):
and using you know, different It's just fresh, it's new,
and it's exciting, and you know it's just uh.

Speaker 4 (49:41):
And singing about the Lord is gonna be awesome.

Speaker 5 (49:44):
I mean, it's been a dream record since I was
a kid, so, you know, and then the country stuff,
the country record that'll come after that is you know,
I mean, I've already got some cut for that that
just they're great, They're great songs. We live in town
with the greatest songwriters in the world.

Speaker 6 (49:58):
So right here, hang tight, the Bobby Cast will be
right back. Welcome back to the Bobby.

Speaker 1 (50:08):
Cast and finally the guys came back together. And maybe
you heard this, but when they were in our studio room,
it was the first time those three guys had been
together in the same room in five years. And they
gave us life updates. They talked about how insanely successful
their career was from Rascal Flats back in the day.
They did talk about their life as a Highway twenty

(50:29):
fifth anniversary retort they're going to do starting in February
of next year, their favorite songs to play live jodhn Sobriety,
and so much more.

Speaker 3 (50:36):
So.

Speaker 1 (50:36):
Here's the clip of these guys all back together on
the Bobby Bones Show. Now, Rascal Flax, we'll look at
you guys back together. What a sight to say. You know,
I've been screaming about this for about a year now
and I don't take credit for it, but I take
credit for it. Congratulations, I got you back together. Let's go.
I'm not getting any percentage though. Uh Let's let's start

(50:57):
with you. Gary. When was the call made that we
should do this thing again.

Speaker 5 (51:02):
It was a couple of months ago.

Speaker 3 (51:03):
I think, yeah, yeah, I think my wife called you
and said, you've got to get him out of there.

Speaker 5 (51:08):
Alice Allison called and I said, okay, all right, let's roll.

Speaker 1 (51:12):
So was it we should do this, Let's feel it
out and see if we can everything can align, or
and Joe don I'll come to you. Or was it like, yeah,
we feel good, let's go a little bit of all that.

Speaker 8 (51:23):
You know, our management talked about it. We leaned on
them because they know way more than we do with
how the landscape is today. I mean it's been five years,
you know, And yeah, and they felt like next year
in February through April would be good.

Speaker 1 (51:41):
Did you miss it? Everybody? Did you miss each other?
Did you miss wow?

Speaker 4 (51:46):
What?

Speaker 1 (51:46):
What did you miss? Well?

Speaker 3 (51:48):
I mean I miss playing music. I miss some of
my most favorite memories in my life. My adult life
is being on stage with these guys. So yes, when
it was yanked away from us in twenty twenty, pandemic
hit and everybody was kind of at a loss. Not
to be able to put a proper exclamation point on
our career really hurt. And so you know, I've said

(52:11):
it my entire life. Gary is one of the best
singers I've ever heard, and it's really sucks not to
be standing next to that every night. So I think
it was a perfect opportunity for us to go out
and celebrate twenty five wonderful years together. And I'm looking
forward to seeing our fans because they've given us more
than we could have ever imagined or hoped for.

Speaker 1 (52:32):
So the tour has not called it farewell tour, which,
by the way, you know we're doing two days with
you guys on this show. So tomorrow tickets are on
sale and go to Rascal Flats dot com get tickets
at ten am Eastern war remind you tomorrow as well.
But it's not called that. Hey, this is our last run.
This is called the Life of a Highway tour. So
maybe we're not Maybe this isn't a farewell Gary.

Speaker 5 (52:50):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (52:51):
Are you exactly you got I wanted?

Speaker 5 (52:53):
You got us together?

Speaker 4 (52:54):
How you're our agent?

Speaker 1 (52:55):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (52:56):
Yeah, you made me buy a hat when I came in.

Speaker 2 (53:00):
How much does it was?

Speaker 5 (53:02):
Seventy five dollars? See, we got to go work. Yeah,
you try to say it's about hurricane relief, and you know,
I just want to put it in his pocket.

Speaker 1 (53:08):
It's ridiculous. That's hurricane relief.

Speaker 4 (53:10):
Yes, I get it.

Speaker 1 (53:11):
So maybe this this thing just is awesome and you
love doing it, maybe you just keep going. Is there
a chance this is not the end?

Speaker 3 (53:18):
I think that's why we didn't call it a farewell tour.
We're going to see how these twenty two shows go.
We're gonna stick our toe back in the water, and
if the fans seem to love it and we feel
like there's a demand there, who knows what will happen.
Right now, the focus is on February and March and
next year.

Speaker 1 (53:32):
Have you Jodana, you rehearse at all? All three of
you guys? Have you done anything musically?

Speaker 4 (53:36):
Yeah? You know what.

Speaker 8 (53:37):
We did some auditions for some new band mates actually
last Tuesday and it went great, the three new guys and.

Speaker 2 (53:47):
Of your Body guy that's taking my places.

Speaker 8 (53:50):
I was hoping we could just AI this stuff like holograms,
but no. But the rehearsals went great, and it was
nice to be back with Jay and our drummer Jim Riley,
who's been with us for twenty five years the whole
time he was there, and just to play through the
music again. I mean, it's you know, it's a lot
of music and blessed to have some songs that I
think were.

Speaker 1 (54:10):
Impactful, rushed people where you rusted. Oh yeah, but I
mean you guys have played I know Gary been doing shows.
You haven't seen you do shows, but.

Speaker 2 (54:19):
It's been playing keys most of the time.

Speaker 3 (54:21):
Then getting getting my fingers back on the bass again
and get into that music was it was surreal and frightening.

Speaker 1 (54:28):
Did you practice before you guys, did your your deal
together or do you just show up and be like,
we'll figure it out as we go. We've done this
lot many times.

Speaker 3 (54:35):
The night before I kind of listened back through the
music and kind of played around for this is the
first time the three of us have been together in
the same room in five years.

Speaker 1 (54:42):
Wait together at the same time.

Speaker 8 (54:45):
No, Gary, wasn't there actually classic kicking things all right?

Speaker 1 (54:48):
Perfectly classic Gary.

Speaker 8 (54:50):
Yeah, yeah, he couldn't make it. But working through musically,
is there what we need to do? And hire those
new band guys And it worked out great. But uh
it like Jay was saying, yeah, I I've got a
lot of cobwebs in these hands. You know, it's been
a while. I've kind of gotten away from music for
you know, a lot of different reasons. And but I'm
back and I'm definitely trying to practice as much as

(55:11):
I can at the house. And my son Jagger is sixteen.
He's eating alive with music and he's actually gotten me
back into, you know, jamming with him, which has been fabulous.

Speaker 1 (55:21):
Gary, do you practice singing at all?

Speaker 4 (55:23):
Are you good?

Speaker 1 (55:24):
You know i'd sing all the time?

Speaker 5 (55:27):
Good?

Speaker 4 (55:27):
I do? I really? I do?

Speaker 7 (55:28):
Know?

Speaker 1 (55:28):
You literally do? I realize, Like Gary's been at my
house and he's like singing, and I'm like, wow, he
really does what I would do if I could sing
like that. It's all the time. Does your wife ever
really say, hey, yo, bro, we're good?

Speaker 5 (55:41):
Yeah, yeah all the time? Yeah, like we got it,
we got it, We're good.

Speaker 4 (55:45):
You love it?

Speaker 1 (55:45):
You still love you love it?

Speaker 5 (55:46):
I do, man, I do.

Speaker 4 (55:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (55:48):
I feel like that's what God's called me to do.
So I just you know, I'm not going to stop
him from doing what he's what He's given us. And
you know, we're so excited to see all the fans
and all the demand has been crazy, so it's been, Uh,
it's gonna be a blast.

Speaker 1 (56:04):
What's this like for you three guys sitting here? I
didn't realize was the first time in five years because
I think I'd be a little nervous if we hadn't
done this and we're like, let's say me, Amiy and
Lunchbox that have been together, we've been together twenty something years.

Speaker 7 (56:15):
Well, yeah, after they said that, I thought, I can't
imagine not seeing y'all or being in the same room
for five years and then suddenly at an interview or
coming on the show, this being the first time y'all
are sitting together and us doing that. Like, I'm trying
to think how I would feel, well, nervous driving up here.

Speaker 8 (56:28):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, I'll be very honest about that.

Speaker 1 (56:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (56:33):
I missed being around These guys are two of the
funniest people I've ever been around in my life, and
just so many memories, so many wonderful memories. And it
hasn't all been rosy. I'm not gonna, you know, sugarcoat it,
but it's it's so good to be back in the
same room together and see Gary and hug him and
be together again. It's really special.

Speaker 1 (56:54):
Like, like, what songs do you even like to play?
You have so many? Like what's so because I think
I like the ballads? Yeah, yeah, because I like the
feel ballads?

Speaker 2 (57:04):
Yeah I do too.

Speaker 4 (57:05):
Well, we've got plenty.

Speaker 1 (57:06):
You do have a lot.

Speaker 3 (57:08):
We had to force ourselves to put up tempo singles
out so everybody wouldn't fall asleep, and they came to
a show.

Speaker 5 (57:13):
A medley of mids and a medle.

Speaker 1 (57:15):
Ballance, so good night. Let me ask this extremely cliche question, then,
what's the one song you're looking forward to playing live?
I want a different answer from all three of you.
Let's go to you first, Jay.

Speaker 3 (57:24):
Uh Bless the Broken Road. It's always been one of
my favorites. I think it showcases are blend in our
harm and he's just about as well as any song
we've ever done.

Speaker 1 (57:32):
That's a good one. It's going to be a hit.

Speaker 4 (57:33):
Gary's the Highway.

Speaker 1 (57:35):
Oh she took my answer that song, and it's been discussed,
but I think for younger listeners or fans of your
music to hear that song and they go, that song's awesome.
It's from cars. It's a big hit. It was never
actually a radio.

Speaker 5 (57:48):
Song, huh, It's true.

Speaker 1 (57:50):
It just it pops so hard that then people just
started playing it randomly and is now maybe your most
streamed song ever.

Speaker 3 (57:58):
I think it started popping off on TikTok and then
it just started going from there.

Speaker 2 (58:02):
You know.

Speaker 1 (58:02):
It's interesting how you talk about TikTok. Yeah, I saw
you use that accent. Were you just singing with the highway?

Speaker 5 (58:09):
Yeah yeah, and uh, Tom Cochran just got inducted into
the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, and so they called
me and asked me that if I'd go out there,
and thought I did, and he killed it.

Speaker 2 (58:20):
He named his farm flats farm that he bought.

Speaker 1 (58:23):
Oh yeah, yeah, because he made so much money all
you guys, Yeah, I wonder I just we.

Speaker 4 (58:29):
Just kept saying you're welcome all night. Just you're welcome.

Speaker 5 (58:31):
Tom.

Speaker 1 (58:32):
You think he made more money off you guys doing
it than him doing it?

Speaker 5 (58:34):
Absolutely absolutely helped.

Speaker 1 (58:37):
Yeah, yeah, dang, that's pretty cool. Yeah, do you guys
mechanical do you guys make mechanical world off that a
little bit? But mostly goes to him.

Speaker 3 (58:45):
Mostly goes to him. Time we get the sound exchange money, but.

Speaker 5 (58:51):
It's in Canadians, it's loonies and tunies and that's what
the what the conversion.

Speaker 7 (58:55):
Is one on that shall know what year that was
and like what was it cars two.

Speaker 2 (59:02):
Thousand and six?

Speaker 3 (59:03):
I think, yeah, good for you.

Speaker 4 (59:07):
You know, you know what year he wrote it? Eighty
eighty six, ninety one. That late. Yeah, I didn't realize.

Speaker 1 (59:15):
I thought it was like much younger than that. Okay,
I have more questions about this because I like the
dynamic here. We're back together, a bunch of friends. You
got like all the Grammys, you have all the number
one songs. What else is there to do? Or is
what else to do? Just to celebrate what you've done?

Speaker 2 (59:33):
Oh man?

Speaker 3 (59:34):
You know what what I think eluded us that we
never were able to take home was Entertainer of the Year.
All those years that we sold, you know, wonderful amounts
of tickets on all those tours, we never really took
that trophy home at the ACMs or the CMA's.

Speaker 1 (59:48):
Sore spot, I mean from it's hard. It's hard you
guys were you guys are the biggest thing in pop,
not only in pop but country at the same time.

Speaker 3 (59:56):
Will it's it's I wouldn't say sore spot because we've
been so blessed, but it's the one thing that I
wish we would have been able to have achieved in
our career.

Speaker 1 (01:00:04):
Do you think it's because there was jealousy because you
guys had transcended where your rightful place was, and you
didn't try to You didn't try to be this massive
pop sensation. Do you think there was jealousy? And so
I bet you were held back from that.

Speaker 3 (01:00:17):
There was a lot of hair envy. Let's be honest.
Our hair was on point back then, wasn't Gray, you know, magnificent?

Speaker 5 (01:00:27):
The politics of the business, you know, who knows all
we can do is we're in charge of trying to
make and write and record great music and after that,
who knows?

Speaker 4 (01:00:34):
You know?

Speaker 5 (01:00:34):
And for me, I think like Album of the Year two,
you know, in two thousand and six, and we outsold
everybody that put out a record in any genre in
the entire world.

Speaker 3 (01:00:44):
That's one of my favorite memories. Sitting beside Gary at
the Grammys in Los Angeles during a commercial break, he
leaned over to me. It was just a moment that
he and I shared together, and he whispered. He said, look,
there's jay Z, there's Beyonce, there's Lady Gaga. And I
was like, yeah, this is pretty incredible. He said, Now
I think about this. This year, We've sold more records
than all of these people in this building. And it

(01:01:05):
gave me chills and it was just he and I
sharing that moment together because you know, two boys growing
up in Columbus, Ohio, who would have ever dreamed that
moment would come.

Speaker 1 (01:01:14):
And you still didn't win Album of the Year.

Speaker 5 (01:01:16):
No, no, you can get a performance, but Paisley played ticks.
I'd like to kick you for true story. We're like,
what's the most We couldn't even get a performance.

Speaker 4 (01:01:24):
That's funny.

Speaker 1 (01:01:24):
Yeah, I was in therapys was representing Country Let's go yesterday.
I was in therapy talking about how I am. I
have a very sore spot. I understand I've been blessed
and all the same stuff you guys just said blah
blah blah. But I am like so irritated that I
haven't hosted the ACMs or CMAS yet. And I've been
very close, like three times and on ACMs now I'm
like second Banana, Reba doesn't. I'm there with her the

(01:01:46):
whole time, but I'm not the host. But I think
both can exist. Well, I'm really irritated and yeah, and
and I think it's human nature.

Speaker 5 (01:01:53):
It's well and you would kill it.

Speaker 4 (01:01:54):
So I think it's it's time.

Speaker 1 (01:01:56):
But I mean it's it's weird that I could that
you would think, wow, Rascal fights say they have done
it all, all the hits. Yet still, when I asked
the question, I kind of wanted to see where the
human part of you went, like what is there to do?
And it was, Oh, we didn't have Entertainer of the Year. Yeah,
and I don't think anybody would have ever even known
you didn't.

Speaker 7 (01:02:11):
Yeah I thought you did.

Speaker 1 (01:02:12):
Yeah, me too.

Speaker 5 (01:02:12):
Yeah, just roll with it.

Speaker 8 (01:02:13):
It's pretty funny.

Speaker 5 (01:02:14):
Yeah, yeah we did.

Speaker 2 (01:02:15):
Yeah, teach was awesome.

Speaker 3 (01:02:18):
When the Mandela effect we won. We want we did,
we want it several times.

Speaker 1 (01:02:23):
Okay, I'm gonna ask this question in a sensitive way
because I said some stuff and I said, I hope
you guys tour. I've been saying it forever, but I said,
when you do do this tour, don't put out any
new music for a bit. What are you guys doing
you do a new music? I just gotta be honest.
I said that I want to come forth, and I
was like, we want you to tour. You have to
get back together like we demand it, but don't put
out new music. When you do it, let's celebrate you.

(01:02:44):
Then after that tour can put out new music.

Speaker 3 (01:02:45):
Well, as you well know, it gets harder and harder
the longer you're together and the longer you were touring,
because you compete against yourself. There's so many great songs
in the catalog to play on radio that putting another
new one out just to put a new one out
is seems a little an exercise and futility.

Speaker 1 (01:03:03):
So you said you're not putting a new stuf.

Speaker 2 (01:03:05):
We're not.

Speaker 1 (01:03:06):
We're own to perfect.

Speaker 6 (01:03:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:03:08):
The only way I would say that, I think you
need to after this tour. But I think this tour
is about the celebration and you guys get back together.

Speaker 5 (01:03:13):
Yeah, and you know it's really to celebrate the fans
forgiving us absolute career.

Speaker 4 (01:03:17):
I mean, this is the.

Speaker 5 (01:03:18):
Silver you believe. And we're not just talking about our
hair color. I'm talking about twenty five years.

Speaker 1 (01:03:25):
What's like the moment you look back at jodn have
you guys' career and it could be at your height,
or it could be when you first started to pop
or when you first played your first show together that
you look back and you're like, man, if there was
like one moment they show, like show me a Rascal
Flats moment they showed this moment, what would it be?

Speaker 8 (01:03:42):
Well, I mean it's like got a top ten list
for that, you know. But in all honesty, I truly
mean this. Our work with the Vanderbilt Children's Hospital through
the years, it's been extraordinary. I mean, that's that's our legacy,
and just being able to have a platform, to be
able to raise the kind of money we're able to

(01:04:02):
raise for the hospital and to meet so many amazing families,
so many amazing children. There's some sad situations obviously, but
a lot of positive ones too.

Speaker 1 (01:04:14):
For me, that's like the ultimate you know, do you
guys ever do Letterman?

Speaker 8 (01:04:19):
Yeah, the coldest stage and in any theater in the.

Speaker 3 (01:04:26):
He picked the most random song off of our record
because he didn't like any of our singles. He picked
this I think Still Feels Good is the one that
he wanted and.

Speaker 1 (01:04:35):
Played an album cut on the It was the title
the album to.

Speaker 5 (01:04:44):
The ship there but.

Speaker 1 (01:04:45):
On the show what about Leno? Do you ever do Leno?

Speaker 7 (01:04:47):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (01:04:48):
Yeah, right after Joe Don showed his rear end.

Speaker 1 (01:04:51):
Yeah, tell me that I got us on Leno? Where
was your d got it? Got it?

Speaker 4 (01:04:58):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (01:04:58):
We did all of them. Conan, I mean, I don't
there wasn't any that we didn't do.

Speaker 3 (01:05:02):
Yeah, I've still got the plaque from Leno that says, hey,
Rascal flats more butts, more showers.

Speaker 1 (01:05:08):
They give you a placticea to that.

Speaker 3 (01:05:10):
Yeah, that's that's better than the year you just want
to hanging right in my living room the butt.

Speaker 1 (01:05:15):
Okay, well, I'll just use an example like FGL. Eventually
they'll get back together. Eventually. They don't like each other
right now, yeah, but they'll get back together at some
point because they miss it or they miss like I
don't know, do you recommend that they like somehow try
to keep some sort of relationship because eventually it's gonna
happen regardless. You know.

Speaker 3 (01:05:34):
It's interesting. I've had a chance to sit down with
the Restless Road guys and several different duos over the years,
and especially the past four years, and my advice is
always to nurture your relationship and take care of it first,
because a lot of crap from the outside can get
in and convolute it. And if you don't stay tight,
and you don't stay honest with each other and care

(01:05:56):
about each other, you run the danger of letting the
business tear you apart and it's the truth of it.

Speaker 2 (01:06:01):
So with Gary and I it's a little different. We're families.

Speaker 3 (01:06:04):
We're families, so we've always found a way to stay
connected and always found a way to care about each other.
And I think we found a jode on somebody that
feels as close as family. So you know, it's not
all a Betta Roses. When you're in a band for
twenty plus years and you've got three distinct personalities and
different opinions, you're gonna have disagreements. But I feel like

(01:06:24):
we did a very good job for the most of
the amount of time we were together of trying to
put our personal pursuits to the side and serving Rascal
Flats as a whole. And I think that's why we
were able to have that longevity. Now, we never had
somebody that cared enough about us to say, why don't
you guys take a year off, recharge yourselves, go and

(01:06:44):
do some things that you guys want to do personally,
get those out of the way, and then come back
together in a more healthy environment. We got on the
machine and the machine did not stop. So I've been
grateful for the past few years because it's made me
appreciate what we were able to do together and what
kind of ride we were actually on together. And now
I can come back to this and go, this is

(01:07:05):
really really special and it's a big part of my
life that I've missed extremely.

Speaker 2 (01:07:12):
Over the last few years.

Speaker 3 (01:07:14):
But I'm glad we had this time because Gary got
to do what he should have been doing, his own music,
his own shows. Joe don concentrated on his personal health
and his well being, and I'm so proud of him.
I have to say that what this man has come
through on the other side of it is remarkable, and
he's a completely different person, and I really really am
proud of what he's been able to do. And then

(01:07:35):
I got to do some things that I've always wanted
to do. I always felt like I would be good
on the other side of the business, and I've been
able to try that with Red Street. So I think
all of us are stronger now and we have a
greater appreciation for it, maybe than we did in twenty twenty.

Speaker 1 (01:07:49):
Joe, No, I think I saw a tweet from you.
It's like, hey, Sobriety, I liked it, whatever it was,
Oh thank you, Yeah, I remember liking it. Pushing a
little heart so what is your situation now? How long
you've been so.

Speaker 8 (01:08:00):
Three years and it's kind of crazy. For my birthday,
September thirteenth is my actual sober date as well, So
we got three years and it's it's different, I'll tell
you that. Grateful to be sober today and present and
like and I never dreamed that was possible, and I

(01:08:21):
wouldn't have been able to do that without this time off.
I mean, this past five years, I've just you know,
I've needed it for a long time and it was
just finally time and some really great friends in Nashville
got me the help I needed and I'm forever grateful.

Speaker 1 (01:08:37):
Once Gary was in my house and he spit in
a mountain dew can. First he cut the top off,
like the hillbilly he is, yeah, with the pocket knife,
and then he was there for a bit and he
just spitting in the can, Spend in the can, spend
the can, just left it And like a day later,
my wife's like, why is there a mountain dew can
with a bunch of like dip spit in it?

Speaker 5 (01:08:58):
Yeah, told her you should have told her you have
an issue that you haven't been telling her.

Speaker 1 (01:09:03):
Oh that's the greatest memorabilia in Rascal Flat's history, like.

Speaker 2 (01:09:06):
I have on your man you carry spit tune.

Speaker 1 (01:09:11):
I think people don't understand how a country you guys
are at times, because again you mentioned the hair earlier,
like you guys were pretty.

Speaker 3 (01:09:20):
Yeah, And I think there were a lot of years
you mentioned it where people didn't know what to make
of us. We were a little on the pop side
and scared some folks. But when we'd get into a
conference room on the radio tour, people would I remember this,
people would drill us and they'd go like, you guys
don't really know country, and then we'd start singing Merle Haggers.

Speaker 1 (01:09:39):
Oh you're as hillbilly as as anybody around here. It's
just all the hair. Was like, Wow, you guys are
so pretty.

Speaker 5 (01:09:46):
I feel pretty with our hair.

Speaker 1 (01:09:48):
Look at that.

Speaker 2 (01:09:48):
That's pretty right there.

Speaker 1 (01:09:49):
Yeah that's me. That's a that's a cutout. I like
to look at myself and go okay. So here's all
I want to say. Rascal Flats back on tour. Starting
off in February, When do you start practicing together? When
do you start doing the rehearsal?

Speaker 2 (01:10:02):
Boy in January?

Speaker 1 (01:10:03):
Any Pyro, Yeah, we've.

Speaker 3 (01:10:06):
Taken all of kisses stuff away from them now that's
they're retired.

Speaker 5 (01:10:10):
All the bills and whistles?

Speaker 1 (01:10:11):
Have you done any of that? You gotta play all
the hits, right? Can you get all the hits in?

Speaker 2 (01:10:16):
We figured we'd do a whole bunch of new material.

Speaker 1 (01:10:18):
And Letterman show. Can you play all the hits in
one concert? All the number ones?

Speaker 3 (01:10:24):
I started kind of scratching out set list the other day,
and it was fun because we've been away from it
from a minute for a minute, so some new things
occurred to me that I never really saw before, and
they were sitting right in front of me. So I'm
excited for us to get back in and start hammering
away at it. And I hope Gary doesn't get mad
at me for putting too many songs in a row

(01:10:44):
that he has to scream.

Speaker 1 (01:10:46):
What's the hardest song to sing for you? Gary?

Speaker 5 (01:10:48):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (01:10:50):
Every night you have to sing it. It's but either
it gets difficult because you're doing it night after night,
or it's just hard to do it once.

Speaker 5 (01:10:59):
I'm out be one.

Speaker 4 (01:11:00):
Yeah, probably, that's always for sure.

Speaker 8 (01:11:03):
That's one of the highest ones.

Speaker 5 (01:11:04):
That's why we don't do it live.

Speaker 8 (01:11:06):
But they're all demanding.

Speaker 2 (01:11:07):
I mean you mean we haven't we are doing that.

Speaker 1 (01:11:12):
You can do that Rolling Stones and they get people
on the back to play the stuff. Yeah yeah, and
just like do that. You ever heard somebody impersonate you
or start to sing like you and they sound just
like you?

Speaker 4 (01:11:24):
Yeah, yeah, that's true. Shame d J does.

Speaker 1 (01:11:28):
But like you know the guy from Journey, Oh yeah,
he sounds the guy. This things now sounds just like Yeah,
ever heard anybody online?

Speaker 3 (01:11:35):
This thing is just like hey, you know what the
drummer Dean Castronovo is even better than our now is
and singing in the Journey Oh yeah you know him?

Speaker 1 (01:11:43):
Yeah yeah, yeah, as a major like I wouldn't have
known that.

Speaker 3 (01:11:47):
Well we he was. He's been in Journey for a
long time. We did a Crossroads with him, and also
the supergroup that I put together back in twenty twenty.
He played drums on that record and it was remarkable
to hear him sing that Journey stuff. I mean, they
offered him the gig before Rnell and he was like, no,
it's too hard on a singer.

Speaker 1 (01:12:06):
I want to tell everybody, tickets go on sell tomorrow,
get them, and so yeah, get the life. As a
Highway Tour. Go to Rascal Flats dot com. Laura Lane
and Chris Lane coming out with you guys. Go watch
them because if you go and they sell out every show,
they'll do more shows. You heard it here for Thank
you guys. I love to see you guys back together.
I'm super happy for it and I'm really looking forward

(01:12:28):
to seeing you guys back on the stage. So they
are Rascal Flats. Love you, Bobby, Thank you, and there
you have it. Thanks for listening to the special episode
all about Rascal Flats. Go watch them if they come
to town. It's such a fun, energetic show with so
many songs that you know and also songs that you
knew but you're like, oh yeah, I forgot they sang

(01:12:49):
that one. It's awesome. All right, Thank you. Be sure
to subscribe to the Bobbycast wherever you're listening, and also,
if you do not mind and you have a few seconds,
go rate this five stars.

Speaker 6 (01:12:56):
All right, Thanks guys, thanks for listening to Bobby Cast
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#477 - Rascal Flatts Special Episode (They're Back Together!)

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Bobby Bones

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}#477 - Rascal Flatts Special Episode (They're Back Together!)