'Working on Sunday' Could've Been a Rascal Flatts Song — but Gary LeVox Had Another Idea: 'This Was the Time'
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Five years before the demise of one of the most influential groups in country music history, Gary LeVox sat down and co-wrote a song that he knew darn well wasn't meant for Rascal Flatts.
Rather, it was meant for him.
"I said to myself, 'I'm not going to pitch it because I love it," LeVox, 51, remembers during a recent interview with PEOPLE about the prayerful track "Working on Sunday" that he wrote alongside Cledus T. Judd, Wendell Mobley and Tony Martin. "Even back then, I knew at some point the song was going to have its place. So I was like, 'Yeah, I'm going to keep it.'"
And yes, now that song has in fact found its place, sitting within the impressive and faith-filled tracklist of LeVox's solo debut collection One on One.
"When the whole Flatts thing ended and I became a solo artist, I just knew that this was the time," remember the Rascal Flatts frontman, who announced alongside bandmates Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney last year that the band was waving goodbye to a career that churned out a multitude of hits, including "Bless the Broken Road," "My Wish" and "What Hurts the Most." "I knew in my heart that this was when 'Working on Sunday' was always supposed to come out."
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Granted, there were many times through the years, as LeVox held the breathtaking song in his back pocket, that he wondered if the song would see the light of day.
"There's a ton that never do, you know?" he explains. "God's timing is always perfect."
Courtesy Big Machine Records Gary LeVox
Indeed, the timing of the song that reminds listeners that the need for a higher power is often a 365 day a year deal, is somewhat ironic since people continue to go through their share of struggles as we collectively try to crawl our way out of the pandemic.
"What's been crazy with this COVID and all is that people have really connected with the song in a way I never even envisioned," explains LeVox. "I've seen pictures of people in hospital beds saying what this song has done, reciting the lyrics 'I know how you feel about working on Sundays, but I need a miracle in a bad way.' And then there's the military and the first responders and just people living everyday life that are connecting with the whole 'I don't think I can wait. I don't think I can make it till Monday.' It just brings it all home to me."
Robby Klein Gary LeVox
His new solo career also gives LeVox the freedom to shoot music videos the way he wants to shoot them, with the videos for both "The Distance" and "Working on Sunday" having all been filmed at his hunting retreat outside of Nashville.
"I'm not a big video guy. I don't like sitting there for two days. It drives me insane!" the Ohio native admits with a laugh. "I would rather walk through glass and be halfway on fire before I sit there for 12 hours shooting a video. It's just miserable. So being able to do them here is cool."
It's these decisions that serve as one of the many benefits of being the guy in charge, especially when it comes to heading out on the road for the first time as a solo artist.
"It's basically just going to be a giant Rascal Flatts show with all the hits and then some hallelujah in the middle," LeVox quips of his One on One Live! Tour that kicks off in 2022. "It's going to be everything that you love about the Flatts and all the hits, and then with my new stuff thrown in. It's going to be awesome."
