Unstoppable [PA] (CD - 2009)

Personnel: Dann Huff (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, banjo, mandolin); Joe Don Rooney, Ilya Toshinsky, Tom Bukovac (acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Adam Shoenfeld (electric guitar); Dan Dugmore, Paul Franklin (steel guitar); Charles Judge (lap steel guitar, cello, strings, piano, organ, keyboards, synthesizer, percussion, loops); Jonathan Yudkin (violin, fiddle, viola, cello, strings); Alyssa Park, John Wittenberg, Connie Ellisor, Joel Derouin, Natalie Leggett, Sara Parkins, Carl Gorodetzky, Pamela Sixfin, Alan Umstead, Josephina Vergara, Michele Richards, Charlie Bisharat, Mario Diaz de Leon (violin); Jim Grosjean, Roland Kato, Kris Wilkinson, Alma Fernandez, Darrin McCann (viola); Suzie Katayama, Larry Corbett, Steve Richards , Carole Rabinowitz-Neuen (cello); Nashville String Machine (strings); Gordon Mote (piano); Tim Akers (keyboards); Chris McHugh (drums); Eric Darken (percussion).

Audio Mixer: Justin Niebank.

Recording information: Blackbird Studios, Nashville, TN; Capitol Recording Studios, Hollywood, CA; Pogo Studio, Chapaign, IL; River City Studios, Grand Rapids, MI; Smart Studios, Madison, WI.

If there's a candidate for the Eagles of the 21st century, it's surely Rascal Flatts, with their seamless blend of country, rock, and pop, and their discography of multi-platinum albums hitting the top of both the country and pop charts. Their sixth album, UNSTOPPABLE, makes the aforementioned blend so smooth that only the most stubborn pigeonholer would still label them a country act. If not for the recurring pedal-steel swells and the occasional vocal twang, there'd be nothing keeping UNSTOPPABLE from being a straight-up mainstream pop album. The preponderance of big, bold power ballads should appeal to fans of, say, Bryan Adams or Sheryl Crow just as easily as country cultists. In that sense, Rascal Flatts have clearly become the ultimate musical centrists of their era. minimize