Little Big Town photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville.

To purposely misquote a Paul McCartney classic, bands are on the run in country music — straight to the top of the charts.

Little Big Town’s new album The Reason Why, bolts out of the chute to No. 1 on this week’s Billboard Country Albums chart, and it’s followed by the Randy Rogers Band’s Burning The Day, checking in at No. 2. In fact, groups occupy four of the Top 5 slots on the chart. Lady Antebellum’s Need You Now checks in at No. 4, and the the Zac Brown Band hanging in at No. 5 with the double-platinum project The Foundation. The only thing blocking bands from a Top 5 sweep is the Trace Adkins album Cowboy’s Back In Town.

Most fans probably don’t think much about it, but being in a band is completely different from working as a solo artist. There are more expenses, more opinions and more egos involved, so decisions require more communication and more time. As a reward for all that extra work, there’s less potential income — the band members have to split up the proceeds in the end.

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

Rascal Flatts picked Taylor Swift to open for them in 2008 — now they’ve picked her label, Big Machine Records, as their new musical home.

“We are extremely excited about our new partnership with Big Machine Records!” says Jay DeMarcus, bassist and background vocalist for Rascal Flatts. “We believe that Scott Borchetta and all of the folks over there are a perfect fit for what Rascal Flatts is trying to accomplish over the next few years. The last 10 years have been amazing but we are even more excited about the next phase of our career; Scott understands us, he knows what we’re about and it’s always a wonderful thing to have someone who believes in you and your music that much in your corner.”

“Rascal Flatts are the biggest band in country music and we’re honored and thrilled to have them join the Big Machine Records family,” says Big Machine Label Group President/CEO Scott Borchetta. Continue Reading

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