Jay DeMarcus isn’t quite giving up hope on a Rascal Flatts reunion. The trio, which also included Gary LeVox and Joe Don Rooney, announced in 2020 that they were going to embark on their farewell Life Is A Highway Tour — a tour that never happened because of the pandemic — and then pursue their own interests instead of continuing to make music as a group.

Since then, DeMarcus has released his own music, while expanding his Red Street Records, and performing with Generation Radio, a group made up of DeMarcus, Chicago’s former lead singer, Jason Scheff, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ drummer, Steve Ferrone, and Chris Rodriguez and Tom Yankton. LeVox has also released his own solo music as well, including his 2021 One on One EP. Although busy with their own endeavors, DeMarcus isn’t willing to completely shut the doors on more Rascal Flatts music in the future.

“Everybody’s wanting to know, again, we know you’re making records and playing with Generation Radio, but would you ever come back and do a Rascal Flatts tour if one were to happen?” DeMarcus said on a recent Instagram Live (via Country Now), “The answer is, in a perfect world, they both exist together. I’ve never picked one over the other.

“I love doing both. Rascal Flatts is my baby with Joe Don and Gary,” he adds. “We’ve built that from the ground up. It’ll always be a part of who I am and I live it. I breathe it.”

Whether or not there is ever a Rascal Flatts resurgence, the 51-year-old is grateful for the two decades he spent with LeVox and Rooney, and the massive success they had in country music.

“Every time I hear a Rascal Flatts song on the radio, I remember exactly where I was when we recorded it,” DeMarcus shares. “I remember exactly where I was when it went No. 1. So many of my life’s monumental moments have wrapped around our career and moments that we’ve shared together. And being at the Grammys, and having the career we’ve had has been the greatest thing I could ever have hoped for in a professional sense.”

Rascal Flatts had no idea that their last show would be in March of 2020, ahead of their Life Is A Highway Tour, which was scheduled to begin the following June.

“I would love to hope and think that when we left Falls View Casino in Canada in March of 2020, that that will not be the last time the three of us will be on stage together somewhere,” DeMarcus says.

The Ohio native insists there is “no bad blood” between the three men, although they do not stay in touch very much. Still, he remains both Levox’s and Rooney’s biggest cheerleaders and champions, for whatever path they choose to pursue on their own.

“We’re just on different pages right now and Gary is concentrating very much on his solo career,” DeMarcus says. “Joe Don is in a really good place, but Joe Don is on his own journey right now too. And I’ve been on my own journey with Generation Radio and all that I’ve had to pour into Red Street Records. But the bottom line is that I love my brothers in Rascal Flatts and I want nothing but the best for them … Everybody does need a little time away. And I think that if the good Lord willing, we should get back together someday, we’ll have a greater appreciation for it, maybe more than we ever did. So, that would be my hope and my prayer.”