The Long History of Bless the Broken Road by Rascal Flatts

Rascal Flatts’ “Bless the Broken Road” is a song about finding your true love after a journey through the broken road of disappointment and heartbreak. Before it became known as one of the most iconic Rascal Flatts songs, “Bless the Broken Road” passed through the hands of plenty of other American country artists. 

The song was written in 1994 by Marcus Hummon, Jeff Hanna, and Bobby Boyd. It was then first recorded that year by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Hummon himself in 1995 for his All in Good Time album. 

Plenty of other artists recorded the song after that. However, Rascal Flatts‘ rendition of the song became the highest-charting version. It hit the number one spot on the Billboard country music charts in 2005 and stayed there for five weeks. 

On May 25, 2005, Carrie Underwood performed the song with Rascal Flatts on the American Idol finale. She later got declared as the show’s winner and became the first country singer to win that competition.

Rascall Flatts’ version of “Bless the Broken Road” was recorded for their album “Feels Like Today” and released in 2004. However, the song first got pitched to them in 2002 for their album, Melt. They didn’t go for it then because they felt they already had enough ballads for that album. 

They ended up forgetting about the song. A few years later, Jay DeMarcus found the song’s demo while cleaning his car. He then listens to it and tells his bandmates that they should reconsider recording it this time. They did, and we all know what happened to their version of the song after that. 

Sometimes, a song only needs to fall into the right hands to become a massive hit. Although it took years, “Bless the Broken Road” found Rascal Flatts, and they managed to turn it into an iconic song. For those that haven’t heard this iconic song yet, you can listen to it now by clicking here.