Their regular-dude image may suggest otherwise, but Rascal Flatts really isn’t a country band anymore. Save for that rural drawl in their vocals, and the odd steel-guitar accent here and there, the group’s recent albums reside almost exclusively in the terrain of adult-contemporary pop, which probably accounts for their monumental chart success: eight number one singles and four number one albums, including 2006’s Me and My Gang, the second best-selling album of 2006 (behind only the High School Musical soundtrack). America’s appetite for big ol’, tender ballads is rivaled only by its appetite for fast food, and Rascal Flatts has happily met the demand, managing to unite both county- and non-country fans in the process. The dudes headline an 8 p.m. Marcus Amphitheater show tonight with opener Taylor Swift, a teenage country darlin’ with Dolly Parton-like high spirits.
