Roots, Toots n' Hoots Blog

Bad move Rascal Flatts

Jeffrey Remz  |  April 8, 2014

Rascal Flatts may never have sung truer words than they did Sunday night at the Academy of Country Music awards show in Las Vegas. Near the end of the three-hour show, the trio sang, "Rewind,'" its latest single from an upcoming disc.

The final words out of lead singer Gary Levox's mouth were, "this is one night I'm wishing I could rewind."

Truer words may never have been sung because LeVox was not actually singing live. After a lot of questions about the performance, Rascal Flatts fessed up. The band said in a statement, "After having performed several shows earlier in the week Gary lost his voice. 'So, instead of cancelling our commitment to the show we made a last minute decision to lip-sync.' The band did find some humor in their singing snafu, openly admitting they are terrible lip-syncers. 'We've never done it before and obviously not very good at it, we look forward to signing live in the new future."

In recent years, musicians have stretched the lines of live performance with a chunk of them seemingly using recorded tracks to enhance or supplement vocals."

In one respect, I can't blame Flatts for wanting to perform. They have a new song they're trying to push. The marketplace is difficult. They want people to buy the song and give a push to the new disc.

But what ever happened to artistic integrity as well? In effect, they tried to pull one over the public and those on Twitter did not take too kindly to the lip sync. Rascal Flatts should have known better than to try and get away with one. Just ask Ashlee Simpson from her huge screw up on Saturday Night Live.

Bad move Rascal Flatts. Press "Rewind."