Описание
Five studio albums into their incredible career, the members of Rascal Flatts find themselves firmly atop the music world. Gary LeVox, Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney have scaled unbelievable heights in the eight years since their debut, and yet with the release of Still Feels Good, they find their fortunes still rising. For proof, they need to look no further than the CD's first #1 single, "Take Me There," their fastest-rising ever.
Song by song, concert by concert, they continue to add to their stature. They were, for starters, the top-selling artist of 2006--in all genres of music. They scanned five million units, meaning that 1 of every 14 country CDs sold last year was a Rascal Flatts record. Their last CD, Me And My Gang, sold more than 721,000 copies in its first week, leading the band to become the top-selling artist in all of music, the first time in 15 years a country artist achieved that milestone. Their 2006 tour played to over 1 million fans in 74 cities, with 61 of those appearances sellouts, including those in L.A.'s Staples Center, New York's Madison Square Garden, and Nashville's Sommet Center. They broke venue attendance records throughout the tour. Rascal Flatts has also become one of the most consistently awarded acts in history, with their 2007 ACM Vocal Group of the Year award, their fifth, tying them with all-time super-group Alabama for most consecutive wins in that category.
The trio has long been accustomed to working with the best songwriters in the genre, and Still Feels Good is no exception. Jeffrey Steele, Neil Thrasher, Wendell Mobley, Hillary Lindsey and Tony Martin all contributed songs, and "Take Me There" boasts the ultimate in superstar writers--Kenny Chesney, who co-wrote the out-of-the-box smash with Thrasher and Mobley.
"That's a very special song," says Joe Don. "We knew it when we heard the demo, which we got at the 11th hour. It's just a great sentiment that speaks to the women big time. It shows the power of a great song."
Beyond the opening single, the album contains yet another measure of the talent and versatility Gary, Jay and Joe Don bring to their art. Still Feels Good reflects their biggest contribution as songwriters to any of their CDs. Jay teamed with Thrasher and Mobley for "No Reins," an exhilarating look at a woman embracing her freedom, and Gary worked with the same duo to write the title cut, a celebration of lasting love, and with Thrasher and Michael Dulaney for "Bob That Head," a bit of power country about the joys of riding around town in a tricked-out truck with a great sound system. All three teamed up on "Winner At A Losing Game," which brings lustrous harmonies on loss and heartache, and "She Goes All The Way," a bit of aural sensuality written with Monty Powell and featuring the first-ever Rascal Flatts duet, with Gary trading lead vocals with his longtime friend Jamie Foxx.
"It was an easy song to write once we had the first few lines," says Jay, "and it's a really wonderful thing to have Jamie join us on the record. We run into him at awards shows and he always tells us how much he enjoys the music and how proud he is of Gary. We sent the song to him early this year and he said he'd love to do it."
"He said he'd do it if we sing on one of his records," adds Gary with a laugh, "so it's a pretty good swap! He's an incredible talent and he came to Nashville just after finishing his comedy tour to work with us on it."
Throughout the project, the harmonies are rich and scintillating, and critics say Gary continues to bolster the case for himself as one of popular music's most technically proficient and emotionally moving vocalists.
"I think lyrically this is the strongest album we've ever done," says Gary. "It's genuinely taken us to the next level. I think that in working with [producer] Dann Huff, the four of us h
