Music

Rascal Flatts Would Have Settled for a Second Single

Looking Back on Band's 2000 Debut
by 8/27/2015

When I think back to the country music I loved in 2000, two words say it all: Rascal Flatts.

I’d never heard of them, and then voila, I couldn’t stop hearing about them.

Their debut single “Prayin’ for Daylight” seemed to come out of nowhere. It was so cool to watch a brand new band become kind of an overnight sensation.

And it sounds like the band was just as pleased with the success of those first spins on country radio. The trio’s Jay DeMarcus told The Plain Dealer newspaper in Cleveland that their only goal 15 years ago was “just to have a second single.”

“We were just hoping ’Prayin’ for Daylight’ wasn’t a complete flop,” he said. “Selling a million records wasn’t even in our wildest thoughts.”

But it wasn’t until about a year and a-half — and three singles later — that DeMarcus felt really confident in the group’s future.

“I remember when ’I’m Moving On’ came out and we got the response we did, I thought, ’Man, this could be for real,’” DeMarcus said. “That was the first time it dawned on me what we had.”