Briefs: News From Rascal Flatts, Colt Ford, Toby Keith And More

• Rascal Flatts’ Jay DeMarcus will host a weekly radio show, beginning June 28, on the Big Machine Radio channel on digital platform iHeartRadio. “The Jay DeMarcus Show: Live From Flatts Shack” will first air Thursdays at 5 p.m. (ET), and will feature guests as well as DeMarcus’ stories from the road during the 60-minute show.

“I’m very excited for the opportunity to have my own radio show,” DeMarcus (pictured) says in a press release, joking that, “It’s going to be fun to have the forum to discuss whatever I want to, without two other rascals constantly interrupting me!”

In the inaugural show, DeMarcus welcomes guests Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jared Allen and hit songwriter James Slater. DeMarcus’ wife, CMT correspondent Allison DeMarcus, will join the program each week for the show’s entertainment reports. Listen here.

• Colt Ford’s fourth studio album, “Declaration of Independence,” is due out Aug. 7. The 15-track album features collaborations with Jason Aldean, Kix Brooks, Montgomery Gentry, Jake Owen, Darius Rucker and others.  

• Rounder Records has signed the popular Nashville-based country/Western swing band The Time Jumpers, and will release a new album from the 11-piece band on Sept. 11. Formed in 1998 by a group of Nashville’s recording studio elite, the band began just as a jam session for the musicians, and evolved into a weekly, Monday night show, which recently moved to a larger Nashville venue to accommodate more fans.

In 2007, the group recorded a live album titled “Jumpin’ Time” that was nominated for two Grammy awards. The Rounder album will be the group’s studio debut.

The current lineup of 11 singers and musicians includes “Ranger” Doug Green of Riders in the Sky and front man Kenny Sears (one of the group’s three fiddle players) and his wife, vocalist Dawn Sears, as well as highly-regarded Nashville session and touring musicians Paul Franklin, Jeff Taylor, Andy Reiss, Dennis Crouch, Joe Spivey, and newest members Country Music Hall of Famer Vince Gill, Larry Franklin and Billy Thomas.

Check out the band’s performance of “I Ain’t Got Nothin’ but the Blues” (in a cave) here.

• Toby Keith has just opened the ninth restaurant in his nationwide chain, Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill. The new location is in Dallas. Additional restaurants are planned for Chicago and Newport News, Va.

In addition to food and live music, Dallas customers can also see Toby Keith memorabilia including a one-of-a-kind, 96 foot long, guitar shaped bar modeled after Keith’s red, white and blue guitar. Also on site is one half of a real Ford Truck that traveled on Keith's U.S. tours.