Gary LeVox and Jay DeMarcus of Rascal Flatts knew something was wrong with longtime bandmate Joe Don Rooney – they just didn’t know what or how bad it was.
LeVox remembers checking in with Rooney around 2020, and Rooney reassured the singer that he was “good to go.” LeVox knew that he wasn’t.
Twenty years of the nonstop music industry grind and the band’s personal frustration led them to announce a farewell tour and plans to disband. Then Covid hit, and the pandemic forced the band to cancel the tour. Country music fans worried they had heard the last from Rascal Flatts. But this year, the men resurrected the farewell tour, which morphed into a 25-year celebration of the group. Rascal Flatts spent the spring headlining sold-out arenas, and on June 6, the group will release LIFE IS A HIGHWAY: REFUELED DUETS. The collaboration project features nine reimagined Rascal Flatts hits with artists including Blake Shelton, Kelly Clarkson, Brandon Lake, Jason Aldean, Carly Pearce, and Jordan Davis. Super producer Dann Huff stepped in to guide the production, including one new track, “I Dare You,” with the Jonas Brothers.
“We’re always going to be family,” DeMarcus said. “We’re always going to be tied to one another. We had gotten to the point where we’d become such a slave to the machine, and we were touring to do another album, only to do another album, to do another tour. And you never know what somebody’s dealing with in their own house with their own family.”
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Rascal Flatts: “We’re Always Going to Be Family”
Unbeknownst to DeMarcus and LeVox, Rooney’s personal life was in shambles, and because he didn’t talk about it, his trio partners didn’t know.
“I’m not speaking out of turn because his journey’s been really public, but we didn’t know to the extent of what he was dealing with,” DeMarcus said. “We were frustrated, and he was frustrated, and we were kind of all fed up with each other at a certain point.”
In 2021, the police arrested Rooney for drunk driving after he steered his car into a tree near Nashville. He pleaded guilty to DUI charges one year later and received a one-year jail sentence. He served two days, and Rooney also lost his driver’s license.
“I was drunk, and I was so far gone with my life – I was completely out of control and finished with trying to fight the fears, depression, and anxieties that had spun me out in a way I’ve never experienced before,” Rooney wrote on social media in January of 2024.” My drinking had been an issue for many years … I am living proof that the progressive nature of drinking can really ratchet up, and as I grew older as an adult, my drinking grew worse.”
Rooney said if it hadn’t been for the car accident, he likely would never have taken responsibility for his mistakes and changed his life. Rooney shared that he spent four months in treatment for his alcoholism in Utah. He learned he could live his life without drinking and reestablished healthy boundaries.
DUI Changed Joe Don Rooney’s Life – for the Better
DeMarcus and LeVox said they’re “just really proud” of the journey Rooney has been on and that he’s a “completely different person now.”
“It could very well have gone the other way,” DeMarcus explained. “All of us needed a little time away.”
The pandemic-forced cancellation of their farewell tour was a blessing for Rascal Flatts because it gave the men time to refocus, recalibrate, work on their personal lives, and remember what they loved about playing music.
“I had this hole in my soul,” DeMarcus said. “I’ve been playing music my entire life and wasn’t able to be out in front of anybody and do what we all have all loved to do for so long together. I look at it a whole different way now and appreciate it so much more. I think all of us kind of feel a sense of renewed energy for what we have.”
LIFE IS A HIGHWAY: REFUELED DUETS came next, and the men have enjoyed hearing the spin other artists put on the trio’s biggest hits. The men agree that Shelton‘s version of “Mayberry” is one of their favorites. LeVox loves Clarkson’s version of “I’m Movin’ On,” and DeMarcus is fascinated with Brandon Lake’s take on “Stand.”
“He came in there and had his own thoughts about how he wanted the track to be, and it was his idea to start out going after the ’80s thing a little bit,” DeMarcus said. “If you hear that track, it’s got that big synth intro and everything. It’s really reminiscent of White Snake’s ‘Here I Go Again.”
Producer Dann Huff, a renowned guitarist, played most of the guitars on the album and decided to “go all the way,” DeMarcus said, with “Stand.”
Rascal Flatts Refueled
“It was just one of those things where it was like the stars aligned,” DeMarcus explained. “Brandon’s so great, and he and Gary together are just amazing.”
When DeMarcus heard Clarkson’s “I’m Movin’ On,” he cried. She sent it late to him one night, and he took it down to his studio and listened to it repeatedly.
“I think I may have sent an email with a link in it, and I was like, ‘You guys are going to just crap yourselves when you hear this,’” DeMarcus said. “It’s amazing.”
As much as they love the album, what means the most to the men is the opportunity to be together on stage again. When they announced their Spring 2025 arena tour, Rascal Flatts wasn’t sure if anyone still cared about them. They sold it out – immediately.
“It really was an eye-opener on how much we really mean to people and what our music has meant to ’em because they just showed up in droves,” LeVox said. “We didn’t know what would happen, but 25 years is worth celebrating. If we had done it in 20, it would’ve been as big. A little time away did make the heart grow fonder.”
(Photo by David Abbott)
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