Rascal Flatts is one of the hottest acts in country music.

The group was nominated for “Best Vocal Group” at the CMA awards and is currently headlining the CMT Most Wanted Live Tour with fellow country acts Chris Cagle and Brian McComas, which stops at the Convocation Center Sunday. The band’s current single, “I Melt,” is No. 9 on the Radio and Records country chart.

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The Weekender recently spoke with guitarist Joe Don Rooney from Rascal Flatts to see how grand life is for one of the most popular groups in country music.

Weekender: The CMA awards are November 5th. Are you guys looking forward to it?

Rooney: It’s really awesome to be a part of it. To be up for “Group of the Year” is an amazing accomplishment in itself, but to be up against Alabama, Diamond Rio, the Dixie Chicks and artists like that is really fantastic. Alabama, that’s some of our heroes. We were talking yesterday on the bus, we would love for Alabama to win that award. It would be such a great closing to an amazing career.

W: You’ve opened up shows for Brooks and Dunn and others in the past. What is it like now that you are headlining?

R: It’s something that we’ve been looking forward to doing. Since we have been out with them, we’ve learned a lot. We’re really stoked to go out there and do our own thing. The energy is so much different. The people coming to the shows are there to see us, and it’s just absolutely amazing. The loudness of the crowd is just intense so we’re looking forward to the MWL tour… it’s gonna be slammin.’

W: You’ve done live specials for CMT in the past, and you guys seem to love the road. What can we expect at the Rascal Flatts show at the Convo Center?

R: We’re gonna have a good time. We want people to come there and just forget about life for an hour-and-a-half with us; forget about their jobs, their daily routine … just come out and just forget about it … just have some fun and listen to some good music.

W: The new album “Melt” has gone platinum and the controversial video for the latest single “I Melt” has stirred up a ruckus in the country music industry. You guys have been getting national attention about the content of the video, which features partial nudity. Did you think that it would be such a big deal?

-R: We truly didn’t. We knew it would turn some heads. It’s been pretty wild. We just tried to cut the best video we felt like we could cut for the song. It’s such a great song.

W: So when you start working on new material, what do you think it will sound like?

R: I think there is a lot more creativity that we haven’t touched on. We’re all about being different. Not for the sake of just going in and trying to be different, I think it’s what we do, it just happens to be different sometimes. We just reach a niche for some reason that hasn’t been reached. We love the studio. We love to write. We love to sing. So as far as music goes, we’re gonna just try and be even more different than this last record. As far as videos go, we’ll always try and cut a video that supports the song.

W: Who is someone that you have met that you’ve always admired?

R: I’ve gotten to meet Vince Gill a few times now, and he’s really my ultimate hero. I just admire that guy so much. He’s got so much soul and so much passion for music and he plays golf and I love to play golf. We’re excited to come to DeKalb, man. We cannot wait to get there. It’s gonna be a fun time.