- Source: Unstoppable (Rascal Flatts album)
Unstoppable is the sixth studio album by American country music group Rascal Flatts, and their final album to be released with Lyric Street Records. It was released on April 7, 2009 and produced four singles on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 in the U.S. with 351,000 copies sold, making it the band's fourth consecutive number-one debut on the chart. It topped the 1 million mark on October 31, 2009. As of June 2010, the album had sold over 1,230,638 copies in the United States. This was the band's final album to top the Billboard 200.
Content
Three tracks were released as digital singles prior to the album's release: "Forever", "Love Who You Love" and "Things That Matter", on March 17, 24, and 31, respectively.
Singles
The first single, "Here Comes Goodbye", was released on January 20, 2009. The song was co-written by American Idol season 6 finalist Chris Sligh. The band toured in support of the album on the Rascal Flatts American Living Unstoppable Tour, presented by department store chain JCPenney. Editions sold at JCPenney included the bonus track "American Living". "Summer Nights" was released as the second single from the album on May 19, 2009. It reached number 2 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. "Why" was released as the third single from the album on September 29, 2009. It became their lowest-peaking career single to date, peaking at number 18 on the aforementioned chart. "'Unstoppable" was released as the album's fourth single on January 4, 2010, and was a Top 10 hit on the Billboard country chart.
Critical reception
The album overall gained mixed reviews. Matt Bjorke of Roughstock gave the album a favorable review. Similar to his later review of the single "Summer Nights,", Bjorke commented that the album would appeal to fans of Rascal Flatts, but would unlikely bring new fans to the group. He specifically cited "Why" as the best track of the album, writing, "This is the kind of song that got me to personally like Rascal Flatts and it's certainly the best track on Unstoppable and "There's gotta be 'Song of the Year' accolades somewhere down the line for this song as it's that powerful."
Track listing
Personnel
Rascal Flatts
Jay DeMarcus – bass guitar, backing vocals
Gary Levox – lead vocals
Joe Don Rooney – electric guitar, backing vocals, acoustic guitar (2, 5, 6, 8, 9), guitar solos (2-11)
Additional Musicians
Tim Akers – keyboards (1)
Charlie Judge – keyboards (1, 3, 7, 11), synthesizers (2, 4-6, 8-10), loops (2, 4-6, 8-10), lap steel guitar (2, 10), cello (2), acoustic piano (4, 10), electric piano (5), percussion (6, 8), strings (6, 9), Hammond B3 organ (8, 10), string arrangements and conductor (11)
Gordon Mote – acoustic piano (2, 6, 7, 11)
Steve Nathan – Hammond B3 organ (5)
Tom Bukovac – electric guitar (1, 2, 4-6, 8, 9, 11), acoustic guitar (2, 5, 6, 8, 9)
Dann Huff – electric guitar (1-5, 7-11), mandolin (1, 3), acoustic guitar (2, 4, 10, 11), banjo (3), dobro (10)
Ilya Toshinsky – acoustic guitar (1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 10), bouzouki (1), electric guitar (2, 6)
Adam Shoenfeld – electric guitar (3, 7, 10)
Paul Franklin – steel guitar (1-4, 6-8, 11), steel guitar solo (11)
Dan Dugmore – steel guitar (5, 9, 10)
Chris McHugh – drums (1-6, 8-11)
Shannon Forrest – drums (7)
Eric Darken – percussion (1, 5, 7, 11)
Jonathan Yudkin – fiddle (1, 6, 8), cello (5), 12-string bass (5), viola (5), violin (5), string arrangements (5), mandolin (7, 11)
David Campbell – string arrangements and conductor (2)
Carl Gorodetzky – string contractor (11)
The London Session Orchestra – strings (2)
The Nashville String Machine –strings (11)
= Production
=Kirk Boyer – A&R
Doug Howard – A&R
Dann Huff – producer
Rascal Flatts – producers
Ben Fowler – recording
Justin Niebank – recording, mixing
Mark Hagen – overdub recording
Drew Bollman – recording assistant, mix assistant
Seth Morton – recording assistant, overdub assistant
John Netti – recording assistant, mix assistant
Taylor Nyquist – overdub assistant
Mark Petaccia – recording assistant, overdub assistant
Lowell Reynolds – recording assistant, overdub assistant
Roy Wallace – overdub assistant
Nathan Yarborough – recording assistant, overdub assistant
Christopher Rowe – digital editing
Adam Ayan – mastering
Darrell Franklin – A&R coordinator
Mike "Frog" Griffith – production coordinator
Sherri Halford – art direction
Ashley Heron – art direction
Glenn Sweitzer – art direction, package design
Chris Kubik – cover design
Fresh Film + Design – package design
Leann Mueller – photography
John Murphy – wardrobe
Melissa Schleicher – hair, makeup
Studios
Recorded at Blackbird Studio (Nashville, TN) and Capitol Studios (Hollywood, CA).
Overdubbed at Blackbird Studio; River City Studios, Ltd. (Grand Rapids, MI); Smart Studios (Madison, WI); Pogo Studios (Champaign, IL).
Mixed at Blackbird Studio
Mastered at Gateway Mastering (Portland , ME).