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Kim Poulsen

Music 1040
Presentation paper
Rascal Flatts
I chose to a presentation on Rascal Flatts for my country band. The reason why I chose
them is because I grew up in high school listening to them with my friends. I had never listened
to country music before in my life until my best friend in high school introduced me to Rascal
Flatts music and I have been hooked ever since.
The band Rascal Flatts consists of three guys. Their names are Gary LeVox, Jay
DeMarcus, and friend Joe Don Rooney. Gary LeVoxs birth name is Gary Wayne Vernon Jr..
Gary was born on July 10, 1970 in Columbus, Ohio. Gary worked for an organization called
Ohio Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities in downtown Columbus. LeVoxs first
musical performance was at the age of eight, in a play at his church. He graduated from
Olentangy High School and is also alumnus of The Ohio State University. LeVox moved to
Nashville, Tennessee, in 1997. LeVox and his second cousin, Jay DeMarcus, started out together
in Chely Wright's band. (About.com) One evening the regular guitarist was not available to play,
Joe Don Rooney stepped in to play the guitar that night. LeVoxs knew that Joe Don Rooney was
the piece to create the band the Rascal Flatts (Wikipedia.com).
Jay DeMarcus was born April 26, 1971, in Columbus, Ohio. Jay graduated from The
Tree of Life Christian School in Columbus while living with his mom and sister. He later
attended Lee College in Cleveland, Tennessee, from 1990 to 1992. At the time Jay traveled and
performed as the keyboard player in the Christian music group New Harvest, Led by Dan

Murray. DeMarcus co-founded the contemporary Christian music group East To West and
moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1993. In 1997 after East To West disbanded, Jay called his
second cousin, Gary LeVox, and convinced him to move to Nashville with him. He wanted Gary
to help him with some harmonies on Michael Englishs album Gospel, for which he was
producing at the time. They engineered the album together, and became English's back-up band.
The album was nominated for the Dove Award for Inspirational Song of the Year. On May 15,
2004, DeMarcus married Allison Anderson a former beauty queen. DeMarcus met her on the set
while filming the video for Rascal Flatts song These Days. Their first child Madeline Leigh,
was born in December of 2010. In July 2012, Jay and Allison welcomed son Dylan Jay
(Wikipedia.com).
Joe Don Rooney was born on September 13, 1975 in Baxter Springs, Kansas. He was
raised in Pitcher, Oklahoma. Joe Don Rooneys first band formed in 1992 under the name of
Unclethumbtack. Joe played lead guitar and singing backup harmony, this band included
Gregory Fitzgibbon, Erin Fitzgibbon, Colin Frayser, and Jason Winnie. Joe married former
beauty queen Tiffany Fallon on April 23, 2006. The couple have three children, son Jagger
Donovan Rooney born May 31, 2008 and daughters Raquel Blue Rooney September 7, 2010 and
Devon Olivia Rooney Sept 29, 2014 (Wikipedia.com).
In 1997, DeMarcus convinced his cousin to join him in Nashville, Tennessee. When
DeMarcus was not on the road, he, LeVox, and the guitarist performed together regularly at the
Nashville country music club called the Fiddle and Steel Guitar Bar. One night, when the regular
guitarist could not play, DeMarcus invited Joe Don Rooney, his bandmate in Wrights touring
group to sit in. The three men quickly learned their voices formed natural three-part harmonies.
Gary is a great singer, Joe Don naturally sings the high part over Gary, and Jay sings the fifth

below, which is naturally where his voice is. The trio sent a well-produced, market-ready threesong demo to Lyric Street Records, which signed them in the summer of 1999. The band and the
producers were good at delivering catchy songs, and the label was afraid of that. By early in
2000, Rascal Flatts was visiting country radio stations, singing and trying to get airplay for their
first album. The self-titled album spawned four singles to find their way to the radio. They were
Praying for Daylight and This Everyday Love which were both on the original demo,
While You Loved Me, and Im Moving On. Rascal Flatts were very criticized when they
first started out. There were many record companies, country radio stations, and country fans that
called the band a boy band. It stuck for a while. The group finally convinced CMT to play a live
show on CMT. After that show CMT loved them as a group and what Rascal Flatts could do
(Notablebiographies.com).
Melt, Rascal Flatts second album, was released in 2002. The band promoted it by
headlining a tour on CMT. One single from the album, These Days, hit No. 1 on the country
chart. Another successful strategy the band pursued was touring as an opening act for country
stars such as Brooks and Dunn in 2002, Toby Keith in 2003, and Kenny Chesney in 2004, even
after they proved capable of headlining tours on their own. In the fall of 2002, their CMT tour
sold out in several cities. The 2004 album Feels Like Today generated several hit songs. The song
Skin (Sarabeth) told a story about a high-school student that is fighting cancer. She is scared to
go to the prom since her treatments left her bald, until her date arrives with his head shaved.
Several country stations played this song to raise donations for St. Jude Hospital. (Notable)
Around this time, the bands huge popularity was increased by the hit pop-singer-audition show
American Idol. Two of its country influenced stars, Carrie Underwood and Josh Gracin, sang
Rascal Flatts songs on the show (About.com).

I ended up picking the Rascal Flatts song I Like The Sound Of That because I felt that
it shows how well the trio can sing together with their singing harmonies. It also shows how Joe
and Jay can play their guitars and other instruments they play as well. I like it because it has
catchy lyrics and an upbeat tempo. It was very hard to pick a specific song because they have so
many great songs. Skin is one of my favorites because of the meaning of the song like I
mentioned earlier in my paper. I am very impressed with how Jay, Gary, and Joe have made an
impact in the country world with their meaningful songs (Rascalflatts.com.)

Work Cited
Fabian, Shelly Rascal Flatts Biography about.com. About, Inc. Web. 2 October 2016.
Gary Levox Wikipedia.com. Wikimedia Foundation, 30 September 2016. Web. 8 December
2016.
Jay Demarcus Wikipedia.com. Wikimedia Foundation, 12 October 2016. Web. 8 December
2016.
Joe Don Rooney Wikipedia.com. Wikimedia Foundation, 30 October 2016. Web. 8 December
2016.
Rascal Flatts Biography notablebiographies.com. Advameg, Inc. Web. 8 December 2016.
Rascal Flatts rascalflatts.com. Sparkart Group Inc. Web. 8 December 2016.

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