“What Hurts the Most” also was released three times before Rascal Flatts took it on in 2006. Now we’ll chase a hopeful song with a sad one. There is a fuller sound, and the occasional guitar solo does build to particular emphasis on lines like “and now I’m just a-rollin’ home.” The Rascal Flatts magic just helped the song reach the right audience at a poignant time. The piano opening remains a banjo still plays an important role. What made this version strike a chord with so many more people? It isn’t because of any dramatic changes to the song. Their version went on to win a Grammy for Best Country Song. Then came Rascal Flatts and their Feels Like Today album, released in 2004. These are supported by subtle mandolin and a harmonica, heard faintly at first, and then swelling to a solo flourish. Her 1998 version had the additional honor of being featured on an episode of Dawson’s Creek. The original is piano forward, and the approach is very fitting for an album titled Acoustic. The song is simple one voice and one classical piano, both earnest. Marcus Hummon, along with Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s Jeff Hanna and Bobby Boyd, was one of the original songwriters of “Bless the Broken Road.” The song first appeared on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s Acoustic album in 1994. What else is featured on the album that the original “Bless the Broken Road” calls home? A song called “Sarah In the Summer.” I can’t make this up it’s fate!Ī year after Nitty Gritty Dirt Band first released the song, Hummon covered the song himself on his debut album, this time with Hanna as one of the backup vocalists. There were actually many more covers to come, no fewer than six according to Wikipedia, including one by Melodie Crittenden. How could I not know that every time “Bless the Broken Road” was played at a wedding, I was hearing a reimagining of the song, and that every time I belted out “What Hurts the Most” in times of angst that those were not the original words of Jay, Joe, and Gary? Out, not with an encore, but with silence – the complete opposite of the feeling you might have felt listening to Rascal Flatts team up with Journey to sing “Don’t Stop Believing”.Įven with all of my experience fan-girling over Rascal Flatts (and being someone pretty invested in the world of cover songs), I did not know that two of the band’s mega-hits were covers in a long line of covers before them. The times of cellphones in the air and the crowds out there no worries of germs in sight. I was jealous of my brother, who had tickets to the farewell tour, but then felt no relief when the tour was cancelled due to the COVID pandemic. An era when I was the girl in the front row singing (well, not quite front) and when my dad provided the wheels to bring me to the Still Feels Good concert (thanks, Dad!). An era when my car actually had a CD drive, and it was only a question of which Rascal Flatts album was playing during each sunny drive (but let’s be real, it was probably Feels Like Today). An era when I awaited each spring album drop to bring me the next soundtrack to my summer. When Rascal Flatts announced its plan to part ways after a farewell tour, it was the end of an era.
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