Rascal Flatts: It’s All About The Song

As songwriters in Nashville are fond of saying, "It all begins with a song." It's a concept not lost on Rascal Flatts, who have built up a pretty spectacular portfolio of them over the years.

The award-winning trio has delivered 10 albums since their debut, and the songs on those albums – some of them the genre's most celebrated – are admittedly at the heart of their success.

"We've always just tried to cut music we've been passionate about," Jay DeMarcus says in an interview released by their record label. "It's not calculated to any degree. We certainly want to be better with each album. You know we try to push ourselves. But at the end of the day everything begins and ends with a song. And we've been fortunate enough to get our hands on some songs that have been timeless. They've hit people where they live. They've hit people emotionally where they are at certain points of their life. And I think that's what matters the most."

"Bless The Broken Road"

Feedback from fans is where it hits home. "We've had people come through our meet and greet line and I think the biggest compliment any artist can have is, 'You've been the soundtrack to my life. I got married to 'Broken Road.' We take road trips as a family to 'Life is a Highway.' We graduated to 'My Wish.' We've been able to get our hands on some songs that not only move us but have resonated with the fans as well. And I think that's what we continue to push ourselves to do. We are the first to say when a song comes in if it beats one that we've written, we're the first to say we've got to cut that song. It's better than what we have. And I think that’s been a key to the success that we’ve had over the years."

"Yours If You Want It:

That success comes in part from their ability to ignoring the critics, Jay says. "We don’t really worry about what the critics have to say when we make our music we make our music for the fans and I think that's kept us where we need to be to because we make the music for them and I think that they can see that and they feel that," he explains.

Rascal Flatts in will be performing some of those big songs in Nevada, Arkansas, Delaware and Ohio in the next few weeks. Look for them in your neck of the woods here.

Teddy McDonald is a fun-lovin' country music fan man living in Nashville, Tennessee.