Rascal Flatts Look Back On Their Return To The Road, Reveal How Jay DeMarcus’ Wife Sparked the Reunion

One year ago this month, Rascal Flatts announced that they were set to reunite on their Life Is A Highway Tour in 2025, celebrating 25 years as one of the most influential groups in country. Now, they’re taking a look back and sharing what sparked them to return to the road and the studio together.

While speaking with their label, Big Machine, the trio revealed that Jay DeMarcus’ wife had a hand in giving them the push they needed to reunite. It all spawned from a conversation between Jay and Gary LeVox, which found them swapping memories and laughing about old times.

“Gary and I started textin’ and just kinda checkin’ in with each other, and we had a couple laughs about some memories and reminisced about how we missed playing shows in front of our fans. And that’s kind of what got the discussion started a little bit,” Jay recalled.

He then added that it wasn’t until his wife stepped in that things really started to be put into motion. She jokingly informed the group that she was desperate for her husband to get out of the house and give her some time to herself.

“…my wife picked up the phone and called him and said, ‘Gary, you’ve got to get Jay out of the house. He’s driving me berserk,’” Jay noted.

Remembering the conversation with Jay’s wife, Gary shared, “She said, ‘Please take him to Put-in-Bay (in their home state of Ohio), anywhere. Just get him out of here.’”

Jay jumped in to add, “And drop him in the bay.” 

 “Yeah. ‘Take him. I don’t know, if you want to bring him back, that’s up to you. But he’s got to get up out of here,” Gary said, continuing the playful banter.

While Jay’s other half may have been joking, her approach proved to be successful. That playful push set the wheels in motion for Rascal Flatts to find their way back to the road, eventually launch the first leg of their Life Is A Highway Tour.

On top of their trek, they also kicked off their reunion with an exciting collaboration with the Jonas Brothers called, “I Dare You.” This high-energy tune marked the first look into Rascal Flatts’ duets project.

According to Gary, this collaboration served as the perfect opportunity to reconnect and create something fresh together as a band.

“Yeah, with ‘I Dare You,’ you know, since we were going back through our catalog, and originally it was gonna be like 10 of our number ones or something like that,” he revealed. “But then when this song came about, you know, it gave us a chance to be back in the studio together and cuttin’ some new music.”

Jay stepped in to remind fans that this was the first time they had been in the studio together since the release of 2020’s How They Remember You project.

Gary also gushed that getting to kick things off with a fellow trio made it that much more memorable, “Yeah, and then to have a collab with Jo Bros, it was fun and …”

“And that song, I just think it’s really special,” Joe Don Rooney added.

The first leg of Rascal Flatts’ highly anticipated Life Is A Highway Tour launched in February 2025 and ran through the spring. The tour was such a hit that neither the fans nor the band were ready for it to end. So, they announced that they would be extending the tour into 2026.

The new dates kick off on January 15 in Raleigh, North Carolina, and continues with stops in Nashville, Chicago, Tampa, and more before wrapping up on February 28 in Buffalo, New York. 

2026 LIFE IS A HIGHWAY TOUR Official Dates:

1/15 – Raleigh, NC – Lenovo Center
1/16 – Knoxville, TN – Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center
1/17 – St. Louis, MO – Enterprise Center
1/22 – Milwaukee, WI – Fiserv Forum
1/23 – St. Paul, MN – Xcel Energy Center
1/24  – Omaha, NE – CHI Health Center
1/29 – Elmont, NY – UBS Arena
1/30 – Newark, NJ – Prudential Center
1/31 – Albany, NY – MVP Arena
2/5 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena
2/6 – Chicago, IL – United Center
2/7 – Indianapolis, IN – Gainbridge Fieldhouse
2/12 – Duluth, GA – Gas South Arena ~
2/13 – Tampa, FL – Amalie Arena
2/14 – Hollywood, FL – Hard Rock Live
2/19 – Biloxi, MS – Mississippi Coast Coliseum
2/20 – Bossier City, LA – Brookshire Grocery Arena
2/21 – Oklahoma City, OK – Paycom Center
2/26 – Lexington, KY – Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
2/27 – Pittsburgh, PA – PPG Paints Arena

2/28 – Buffalo, NY – KeyBank Center

~ Support by Chris Lane and TBD