Rascal Flatts: "We're working on a new album like you've never heard us before"
Rascal Flatts has been crisscrossing the country on a massive summer tour, and in between all of their regularly-scheduled stops, the hit country trio opened up for the Rolling Stones and performed the national anthem before Game 3 of the NBA finals.
The group, which features Gary LeVox, Jay DeMarcus, and Joe Don Rooney, is on the road behind its ninth studio album, "Rewind," released last fall.
"On this album, it was the first record that we weren't under the gun with a timetable," LeVox recently told CBS News. "We could take our time. We could do what we wanted. We produced the entire thing. We did it at Jay's house....It's all the pieces of Rascal Flatts. It's the most that anybody's ever heard of our hearts -- the three of us. We lived it, we breathed it, and spent so much time, blood, sweat, and tears and put our heart and soul into that project."
Although he loves the singles "Riot," "Rewind" and "Payback," LeVox says his favorite song on the new set is probably the last track, "The Mechanic."
"The lyrics are 'When I'm broke down, you're the mechanic.' It talks about how much you love that person. But it says it in a different way. And as a songwriter that's what you want to do. It's hard not to talk about love and all that kind of stuff but it's about doing it in a different way. And I think 'The Mechanic' does that," he says.
The new material has been going over well in concert, says LeVox, who's often joined on the road with family: his wife Tara and their two daughters -- Brittany, 15, and Brooklyn, 11.
"They'd rather be out here...my girls come out all the time," he says.
And it's no surprise LeVox's daughters are musically-included themselves. "Brittany is a really fantastic singer and so is Brooklyn. They both have a great ear for music, great pitch. I don't know what the Lord has in store for them, but it's looking like something with music," LeVox says.
While on tour, LeVox and the guys also try to maintain a healthy diet and exercise despite the long days and nights.
"We try to stay in shape. The two hours we're onstage is workout. We play golf," he says.
With the hours they keep on the road, though, it's not uncommon to see the guys eating late -- something that would affect LeVox's health in the past, sometimes resulting in heartburn. He's been taking heartburn medication for years, and recently partnered with Nexium 24HR as a spokesperson.
"Our voice doctor in Nashville back in 1999 said, 'Just take Nexium and you never have to worry about acid reflux with vocal cords.' He actually prescribed that for us. Then when our partnership came it was just a no-brainer [to switch to Nexium 24HR]. It makes life so much easier," says LeVox.
Meanwhile, in between tour stops Rascal Flatts has already been working on music for its next studio album.
"We're writing for the new record now. And we'll probably go in and cut some stuff this fall. It's exciting. The music machine just keeps pumping them out," LeVox said laughing.
As for the new material, LeVox teased, "It's going to be everything that you love about Rascal Flatts but it's going to be such a new creative and fun way to listen to us, in a way that you never heard us before."
And don't be surprised to see a collaboration or two down the line. Rascal Flatts is no stranger to musical collaborations, having recently sang with Christina Aguilera at the ACM Awards in April. Looking ahead, LeVox says he'd love to do something with Pink, Adele or Maroon 5.
Now 15 years into a successful career that has included plenty of awards and No. 1 singles and albums, LeVox says the members of Rascal Flatts are still pinching themselves.
"You just can't dream that big. At first, all you want to do is get a record deal. Then you just want to have a hit single. You want to be able to hear it on the radio. And then after that you want a sell a record. So to have all of that and all of the wonderful things we've been blessed with -- a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, members of the Grand Ole Opry, selling out the Garden five different times -- that kind of stuff for two cousins from Ohio and one from Oklahoma far exceeds every dream we've ever had."
And this country trio has no plans to slow down any time soon.
"We really feel like we're just getting started," says LeVox.
