Rascal Flatts‘ Joe Don Rooney wasn’t meant to be a teacher. The 44-year-old has been off the road instead of on the trio’s farewell Life Is a Highway Tour, where he has been spending time with his three children: 12-year-old Jagger, 9-year-old Raquel and 5-year-old Devon — and gaining an entirely new appreciation for the teachers who typically spend time in the classroom with them each day.
“The down time’s been pretty good, to be honest,” Joe Don told BMLG. “Reconnect with the family and reintroduce myself to my kids. But homeschooling was crazy, I will say that. I have a whole new respect for teachers and instructors out there. I don’t know how they do it. It was challenging but we got through it and I was really proud of my kids.
“It’s a different deal for them,” he added. “They miss their friends so bad. It’s really neat though, to have dinner at our dinner table and actually talk, like no devices and actually talk about life and just what they’re going through and their day, and that’s been kind of nice to connect in a really different way with the kids.”
Gary LeVox is also enjoying his time off the road, where is working on a Christian album, and hints a country album might also be in the works.
“It’s been awesome to have time off,” Gary acknowledged. “I’ve done all kinds of work around the house, I’ve written songs. I mean, you really run out of stuff to do. It certainly put life back in perspective, for sure. But it’s not where I want to stay. I can’t wait to start going back to work, singing some music, doing something other than what I’ve been doing. But you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do and stay home and stay safe, and that’s the most important thing.”
The Flatts’ Jay DeMarcus has also enjoyed time at home with his family, where is soaking up every minute with his family.
“It’s been wonderful for me,” Jay admitted. “I’ve loved being able to be home with my kids and really connect on a deeper level than I’ve been able to, to be honest. And so, to spend that much concentrated time with them has been really, really awesome for me. I loved being able to wake up and make them breakfast.”
“I was a short-order cook, for sure,” he continued. “Everybody would come into the kitchen and let me know what they wanted for lunch. I had my notepad there, I’d write it all down. It was really, really great, and it really forced me to take a look at everything and really know what’s important to me. There were so many things I realized that I used to worry about so much that just don’t really matter that much, that I just don’t care about anymore. So I’m grateful for that time.”
Rascal Flatts just dropped “Quick, Fast, In a Hurry,” with Rachel Wammack. The song is from their upcoming How They Remember You EP, which will be released on July 31. Pre-order the project via Amazon