Rascal Flatts preps new album for April 3 release

[January 19, 2012]  NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- The last time Rascal Flatts recorded an album, the trio ditched dreary Music City in the winter for sunny California. This time around they stayed closer to home when recording new album "Changed." Well, bassist Jay DeMarcus' home.

"We actually cut the whole thing at Jay's house, in Jay's studio," singer Gary LeVox said. "We mixed it up and did something a little different."

"Changed" is out April 3 and follows "Nothing Like This," their sixth straight platinum-selling album and the first with the Big Machine Label Group. Only three other country acts have matched the band's streak of million-selling albums.

LeVox says the band, which also includes guitarist Joe Don Rooney, believes "Changed" could be Rascal Flatts' strongest album yet. They hope the Dan Huff-produced record will build on the success of "Nothing Like This," which spawned their 12th and 13th No. 1 singles and a top five hit. "Banjo," the first single from "Changed," has been released to radio.

"It's really exciting some of the songs we've got set to go," LeVox said. "It's probably the most really good, up-tempo stuff that maybe we've ever had pitched to us. And we wrote some really good stuff. ... I think it's musically at even another level."

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Online:

http://www.rascalflatts.com/

[Associated Press]

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