When Rascal Flatts embarks on their long-awaited Life Is A Highway Tour in 2025, it will be a much different experience for Joe Don Rooney than any of the group’s previous tours. Rooney, who just celebrated three years of sobriety, will no longer be drinking on the road, and for that, he is very, very thankful.
“It’ll be the H2O Tour for me,” Rooney jokes to Taste of Country Nights. “Life in general is different. I’ve got my connection with God and I’m so grateful for that.”
Rooney and his fellow bandmates, Gary LeVox and Jay DeMarcus, have spent their time since the world shut down in 2020, and their original tour was canceled, focusing on other projects. Although he didn’t know it at the time, it was a much-needed break for Rooney, who is now ready to head back on tour, this time sober.
“I’m excited about it,” Rooney says. “I’m out of practice. I haven’t been playing much music at all. I needed to get away from all of it. I’m a big golfer and I haven’t played much golf at all. I just needed time to really get to the center of myself and really work on myself.
“All that said, I just hooked my amp up the other day and I’ve been cranking it up and doing some Flatts stuff again, and it feels really good to play again,” he adds.
Rooney joins a long list of artists who are now sober, including Keith Urban, Brantley Gilbert, Tim McGraw and many others. It’s a community that has been nothing but supportive of Rooney as he conquers his addiction.
“I’m not gonna say their names, but several,” Rooney says when asked if anyone reached out to him. “It’s a great community of recovery people in Nashville.”
One person who has been an inspiration to Roony is Lady A‘s Charles Kelley, who announced he was sober in 2022.
“He’s doing great,” Rooney says. “I’m so proud of him. It’s a unique road for sure, but it’s one that I’m just grateful for.”
Rooney’s decision to get sober came after he was in a car accident in 2021, which resulted in him being charged with driving under the influence, after he crashed into a tree. Rooney was sentenced to a year in jail, with all but two days of his sentence suspended, although he knows now that the consequences could have been much more dire.
“Fortunately, (and I truly believe this,) God led me into that tree safely enough to not kill me – and luckily nobody else was involved and I didn’t injure or kill anyone,” Rooney said at the time. “I could literally be in a Federal Prison for life right now. That is the reality of what my life had become. That event led me to treatment for my alcoholism for four months in the beautiful mountains of Utah.”
“With the help of my family and so many other professional clinical advisors and now numerous new sober forever friends, I’ve been able to get the train back on the tracks and live without the burden of alcohol,” he added. “Now, I need to protect my family and protect my sobriety. I have new healthy boundaries for the first time in my life. Only positive, loving, caring and understanding people may enter.”
See a list of dates for the Life Is A Highway Tour below. Tickets are on sale now. Find more information at RascalFlatts.com.
Life Is A Highway Tour Dates:
2/13 Evansville, IN- Ford Center
2/14 Charleston, WV- Charleston Coliseum
2/15 Grand Rapids, MI- Van Andel Arena
2/22 Durant, OK- Choctaw Grand Theater
2/27 Sioux Falls, SD- Denny Sanford Premier Center
2/28 Green Bay, WI- Resch Center
3/1 Moline, IL- Vibrant Arena
3/6 Columbus, OH- Nationwide Arena
3/7 Toledo, OH- Huntington Center
3/8 Youngstown, OH- Covelli Centre
3/13 Manchester, NH- SNHU Arena
3/14 Uncasville, CT- Mohegan Sun Arena
3/15 Allentown, PA- PPL Center
3/20 Huntsville, AL- Von Braun Center Propst Arena
3/22 Savannah, GA- Enmarket Arena
3/27 Ft. Worth, TX- Dickies Arena
3/28 Lafayette, LA- CAJUNDOME
3/29 Little Rock, AR- Simmons Bank Arena
4/3 Estero, FL- Hertz Arena
4/4 Orlando, FL- Kia Center
4/5 Jacksonville, FL- Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena