Rascal Flatts members Gary LeVox and Jay DeMarcus are second cousins and grew up in Columbus, Ohio. DeMarcus met Joe Don Rooney, the third member of Rascal Flatts, when the two were playing in another band together.
"I like [Rascal Flatts] because they aren't like a normal country band, all twangy and everything," Shawn Graham (sophomore-division of undergraduate studies) said. "And they have their own unique sound."
Jason Aldean and Blake Shelton are two other country artists that are the opening acts for tomorrow night's concert.
"I think the opening acts are exceptional, which makes country music better because the opening acts could be headlining their own shows," Matt Huber (senior-accounting) said.
Jason Aldean said he has been involved with music since an early age. He said he started playing guitar at age 13, and by 14 he wanted to get on stage and play.
"When I was 15, a club in Georgia hired me as their house performer," Aldean said. "I put a band together after high school. It's a thing that's been 14 years in the making."
He also said that he has had two experiences with the National Football League. Aldean performed as part of the pre-game show during last year's Thanksgiving Day game between the Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos.
"[The performance] was crazy," Aldean said. "It was a cool experience, especially me being a sports fan."
His second encounter with professional football was when he went to a Tennessee Titans cheerleader rehearsal and he heard that the team had made a routine to his single "Hicktown".
"I was wanting to go to a game and see them in the stadium, but we were never in town," Aldean said. "It was cool to do that. It's cool to know your song was played at a major sports event."
Out of the 11 songs on his current self-titled album, Aldean wrote three of them. He said he likes to include some material by professional songwriters because otherwise he misses out on some good songs.
"I write about things I go through or have to deal with, or if I'm writing with somebody else it might be something they went through or [dealt] with," Aldean said. "Or you may hear a line in a TV show and think 'that might make a good title', and wrap your song around that."
Students are looking forward to tomorrow's concert.
"My friends from home went to one of [Rascal Flatts'] concerts before I ever knew who they were and they said their concert was amazing, so I expect nothing less from this performance," Anselmo said.
Graham has seen the band before.
"I went to their concert in Pittsburgh over the summer and they were just unbelievable," he said. "They put on a great show."
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