Rascal Flatts: Why They're Not Smiling

10/5/2007 Stephen L. Betts They may look serious in their photographs, but the members of Rascal Flatts are smiling on the inside, especially after this week's album debut atop the Billboard 200 chart. Still Feels Good, which sold about 547,000 copies, is the group’s third consecutive album debut at No. 1 on the all-genre charts. “In today's climate in the music business, it 'still feels good' to debut with that kind of a number,” jokes Rascal Jay DeMarcus. “It's very hard to sell records nowadays … living in a download society.” Considering their phenomenal success, why don't Jay, Joe Don Rooney and Gary LeVox smile in their photos? “The photographer tells us not to, honest to God,” says Jay. “He says, ‘It looks contrived if you guys stand there and just have these grins on your faces all the time. Just kind of hang out, be relaxed, and sit around like you normally would, and whatever you do, do not smile.’” We’ll soon find out if they’ll be smiling about having a No. 1 album for a second week, as Brooks & Dunn and Faith Hill’s latest CDs battle it out for the top spot!