Rascal Flatts are thrilled to be touring together again, but that doesn’t mean new music is on the way. Ahead of their performance on New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash, American Songwriter spoke to bandmates Jay DeMarcus, Gary LeVox, and Joe Don Rooney about why their return to the stage doesn’t mean a return to the studio—at least not right now.
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Until 2025, the group hadn’t sung together in years. In 2020, they’d planned a farewell tour to mark their 20th anniversary as a band, but that didn’t wind up happening due to the pandemic. Flash forward several years, and the time felt right to return to the stage with the Life Is a Highway Tour.
“At first, there was a little bit of trepidation, because it’d been so long since we’ve been together, but it was kind of like riding a bike,” LeVox said. “We got back out there, and everything fell into place. The more we did it, the more we realized how much we missed it and how much we loved it, and how much it means to us.”
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Seeing the impact their music continues to have on fans was perhaps the most meaningful aspect of the tour.
“Our music has this uncanny ability to be more than we are and bigger than we are. It’s the kind of songs that hit people where they live in different seasons of their lives, and you can feel that every time we’re out there doing those songs,” LeVox said. “Hearing the passion that those people sing those lyrics back with is an incredible experience.”
Rooney agreed, calling his experience on tour “a blessing.”
“I didn’t realize how much I’d miss these guys. When I first met them back in 1999, I just had felt like I know them my whole life. It just was so special,” he said. “To get back at it again this past years, it’s been been amazing. I just really feel super blessed to get to do it again on the level we’re getting to do it again. It feels kind of like the 2000s all over again.”
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The tour has gone so well that it’s been extended into 2026.
“I feel like there’s this feeling right now of nostalgia in music. People are wanting to go see things that make them feel good, that they are comfortable with, that brings back a time in their lives that was more simple or less convoluted than the world we live in today,” LeVox said. “I think that’s a big part of what we’re experiencing out there. We’ve been gone for so long and we were familiar to so many people, and they’re looking for that kind of familiarity again.”
That familiarity is something fans can experience by attending a Rascal Flatts show or by listening to their past albums, but new music isn’t in the pipeline at present. (That is, of course, save Life Is a Highway: Refueled Duets, the band’s collaboration project that they released in June.)
“There’s no new music right now that we’re working on,” LeVox admitted. “… Right now, it’s not the focus. The tour is the focus, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Rooney agreed, noting, “It’s a nice pocket to be in, to be honest. We’re not stressed to have to make new music… What we love to do is hit the road, so it’s a really, really good spot to be in.”
Never say never about a new LP, though.
“We always keep our eyes and ears open for songs that are great songs,” LeVox said. “I’m sure that something’s going to come along at some point, someday, that we’ll go, ‘We’ve got to cut that song. It’s undeniable.’ We always leave the possibility open.”
Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images
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