Anna Wilson's album, Countrypolitan Duets. Photo courtesy of Jim Havey PR.

Anna Wilson & Friends
Countrypolitan Duets

Drawing inspiration from “That Nashville Sound” of the late 1950s and 60s when country music began incorporating the sounds of mainstream pop, Nashville-based singer/songwriter Anna Wilson’s latest project blends classic country and jazz through duets with stars from both genres.

Ms. Wilson herself is uniquely positioned to take on such a genre-bending job. Though known from her own albums as a sultry jazz singer with a classic voice, she has written several hit contemporary country songs such as Chuck Wicks’ 2009 “All I Ever Wanted” and Lady Antebellum’s “If I Knew Then” from the trio’s 2010 album Need You Now. Countrypolitan, produced by Anna’s husband and current SESAC Songwriter of the Year, Monty Powell, features duets with some of country’s most recognizable names, including Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum, Ray Price and Kenny Rogers.

Set over mostly standard jazz arrangements and featuring clean electric guitars, smooth bass lines, horns, keyboards and percussion, Countrypolitan reinterprets classics like the album’s first single “You Don’t Know Me,” with American Idol finalist Matt Giraud. Anna also offers “Night Life” with jazz guitarist Larry Carlton and “For The Good Times” with Kenny Rogers. Anna’s voice is best on slow-burning songs, such as “Good Time Charlie’s Got The Blues” with Keith Urban. Here, her sad vocal melody truly conveys the blues as she sings “I’ve got my pills to ease the pain/ Can’t find a thing to ease the rain” before sweetly harmonizing with Keith to sing “Some gotta win/ Some gotta lose.” Continue Reading

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Rascal Flatts photo courtesy of Big Machine Records.

April marks the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, and Rascal Flatts is one of several country acts that will remember that moment in American history by appearing in a mini-series.

“To Appomattox” is named after the site where the South eventually surrendered, and the project will employ the guys in a couple of ways. They’ve been enlisted to produce the soundtrack, according to a website devoted to the production. And they’ll also have roles as soldiers. That’s a little bit different than their last attempt at acting, when they appeared as themselves on the CBS drama “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.”

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Jay DeMarcus holds his very own copy of Rascal Flatts' new CD, Nothing Like This. Photo courtesy of twitter.com/JayDeMarcus.

With the impending birth of a baby girl in January, bass player Jay DeMarcus will become the final member of Rascal Flatts to join the ranks of fatherhood.

Every member of the band is a bit of a clown — Jay jokes as much as any of the guys — but he’s quite serious about being a dad to Madeline Leigh DeMarcus. Jay and his wife, Allison, have been working on the nursery, and he’s been preparing to become the best father he can be.

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Rascal Flatts photo courtesy of Big Machine Records. Photo credit Chapman Baehler.

With 10 years in the country music business under their belts, Rascal Flatts is ready to kick off decade number two in a big way!   Their latest album, Nothing Like This hits stores today featuring 11 brand new tracks including their current hit single “Why Wait.” The album caps off a crazy year that saw the band making a move to Big Machine Records after their longtime label, Lyric Street Records, shut down. They didn’t miss a beat.  Gary, Jay and Joe Don hooked up with producer Dan Huff and headed out of town to record Nothing Like This in Santa Barbara, CA.  But you don’t want to hear me talk about their new music, much better to hear it straight from the band.  Watch the clip below as the guys give you a fun track by track tour through Nothing Like This then listen to all the songs for yourself.

TRACK 1: “Why Wait” -  written by Tom Shapiro, Neil Thrasher and Jimmy Yeary

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TRACK 2: “Easy” (f/ Natasha Bedingfiled) - written by Katrina Elam, Mike Mobley 

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Rascal Flatts at a press conference on July 29, 2010, announcing their signing to Big Machine Records.

It’s a monumental day for Rascal Flatts as the band releases a new album, its first after a 10-year history with Disney’s Lyric Street Records fell by the wayside.

The trio — Gary LeVox, Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney — debuted with “Prayin’ For Daylight” in 2000 and quickly became one of country music’s biggest acts, winning the Country Music Association’s Vocal Group of the Year honor six times in succession. Lyric Street folded this spring, and Rascal Flatts found itself recording an album without knowing who would put it out for them.

The guys had started the album in Santa Barbara, of all places, and it originally appeared that the project would get shifted to another Disney-owned label. Instead, Flatts was scooped up by Big Machine Records, an aggressive Nashville label that already had Taylor Swift, Reba McEntire and The Band Perry in its fold — and just last week announced the signing of Martina McBride.

The album Flatts was working on, Nothing Like This, is finally out today.

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Rascal Flatts photo courtesy of Big Machine Records.

The members of Rascal Flatts got the biggest cheers from the thousand or so people on hand, but they did not get the only applause during a Music City Walk of Fame installation event Sunday in downtown Nashville that knitted together several generations of performers.

Gary LeVox, Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney were joined by Kris Kristofferson, Mel Tillis, Little Jimmy Dickens and late singers Bobby Hebb and Eddy Arnold in receiving their sidewalk plaques, extending a row of markers that included Michael McDonald, Elvis Presley and Trace Adkins.

Emceed by GAC’s Bill Cody, the class of performers represented a swatch of Nashville music history. Beyond the contemporary Flatts crew, Kris and Mel hit their strides in the 1970s as artists, songwriters and actors. Bobby accrued a landmark 1960s pop hit with the effervescent “Sunny,” and Eddy and Little Jimmy were among the first artists to have hits with songs recorded in Nashville during the 1940s, when the town hadn’t yet earned its Music City moniker.

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Rascal Flatts photo courtesy of Big Machine Records.

Gary LeVox, Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney are, to put it simply, one of the biggest groups in country music history.

The trio won six straight Vocal Group of the Year awards from the Country Music Association despite barbs from critics, and GAC goes behind the scenes with the band in Backstory: Rascal Flatts.

Lots of people arrive in Nashville every day hoping to become country stars, but few actually make it through the system. Jay and Gary were playing regularly at a club in Printer’s Alley, and when they needed a guitar player one night, Joe Don filled in temporarily. But their three-part harmony was so great, temporary became permanent.

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Rascal Flatts took a trip to Las Vegas in their new video for "Why Wait."

Rascal Flatts has just released their brand new video for “Why Wait,” the first single from their upcoming album Nothing Like This, set for release on Nov. 16.  This hilarious new video is clearly inspired by the film “The Hangover” and features some great cameo appearances by a collection of Las Vegas entertainment icons.  Keep your eye out and see if you can spot Penn & Teller, Wayne Newton, Ron White, and Carrot Top in the clip.   Rascal Flatts also enlisted the help of movie actor David Arquette to play the lead roll in the video.

To see Gary, Jay and Joe Don on their wild Las Vegas adventure, click here and watch “Why Wait” now »

Leave me a comment and let me know if I missed any other cameos in the clip and I’d love to hear what you think about video…

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Rascal Flatts photo courtesy of Big Machine Records.

A lot of mystery surrounded the upcoming album by Rascal Flatts. The band’s record label closed up shop and left the guys as free agents, and that forced them to wait while negotiations went on to find a new home.

That new label has since been determined, of course. It’s Big Machine, which already represents Taylor Swift. But one thing that was never a mystery during the whole process was “Why Wait.” The band discovered the song while weeding through compilations of demos submitted by songwriters, and its bright melody and chugging tempo stood out.

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Rascal Flatts' Jay DeMarcus & wife Allison. Photo by Keith Hinkle, courtesy of Schmidt Relations.

Congrats to Rascal Flatts bassist and vocalist Jay DeMarcus and his wife, former Miss Tennessee and TV Personality, Allison, who are anticipating the birth of their first child in January of 2011. 

“Allison and I are thrilled about becoming parents,” says Jay. “I am confident Ali will be a wonderful mother because she has done an incredible job raising me over the past six years,” he jokes.

“Jay and I are thrilled to let everyone know we are going to be parents!” adds Allison. “We can’t wait and are ecstatic to share our news.” Continue Reading

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