Rascal Flatts: 'Unstoppable' force of country

Country acts have thrived on such themes since before Hank Williams first got the long-gone lonesome blues, but this multi-platinum country trio — vocalist Gary LeVox, guitarist Joe Don Rooney and bassist Jay DeMarcus — doesn't dwell in the genre's musical past. The emotions of these songs ride the swell of the string sections, Rooney's soaring rock-guitar solos, and the rise and fall of LeVox's vocal runs more often than they do sounds of fiddles and steel guitars. Traditionally, country instruments are part of the massive sound Flatts creates with co-producer Dann Huff, but they're just a part. Only rarely, as on Things That Matter — one of Unstoppable's finer, simpler songs — are they dominant features.

Nor do heartbreak and farewell make up the only subjects on the record. The title track celebrates the empowering nature of love. Summer Nights, with its singalong chorus, recalls the group's cover of Tom Cochrane's Life Is a Highway for the movie Cars. She'd Be California describes a woman in language that makes her sound like the Beach Boys' California Girls wish fulfilled on the Midwestern plains.

Rascal Flatts has long been a favorite country act of American Idol. Carrie Underwood, Josh Gracin and, most recently, Danny Gokey have performed the group's songs on the show. The band returns the favor on Unstoppable. Here Comes Goodbye credits Season 6 finalist Chris Sligh as one of its writers, and new judge Kara DioGuardi penned Once with Nashville songwriter Jeffrey Steele.