Natalie Kelber 24 April 2013 ENGL 3060 Rascal Flatts: A Unique Framing Music Analysis Introduction: Rascal Flatts,

one of the most successful country trios to date, has a series of eight well known albums that successfully frames each level of life experience that we all go through today: heartbreak, addiction, alcoholism, and cancer. This series of Rascal Flatts albums is displayed in an uninterrupted sequence, with each album is telling a specific type of life experience. Rascal Flatts five most recent albums: Me and My Gang, Still Feels Good, Unstoppable, Nothing Like This, and Changed has a unique way in framing and drawing their audience in to be able to relate to every day experiences. The genre of country music has always had a unique way in reaching their audience, these five albums frame of how that rings true. There are many moral and life experiences that are framed as the set up for the albums. That is why Narrative and Generic Criticisms fit best to better display this series of country albums. Framing Criticism and Setting up the Genre: Framing Criticism has three specific components when relating to a series of artifacts that is in an uninterrupted sequence. There is definition of the series, organization of the series, and engagement that is involved in the series. The Rascal Flatts albums are defined as an array of country pop music albums that give a good example of how each specific album frames the genre of country music. The first album, which is titled Me and My Gang, overshadows common songs about heartbreak and words you couldnt get out in the moment. Each one of their albums has that significance of common themes in certain ways. It frames how country music is not done just one way, but can cast over many different thematic elements of life. The titles of the five albums also give a good frame on the tone and style of the album and what the songs will entail. The organization of this series is that how each series of songs discusses a different point in life. Style and Language: The style and language of this series of artifacts is simple. The tone or the style of these musical albums gives the audience an idea on what each of them entails, which is simple songs that clearly state their purpose and experiences, as narrative criticism talks about. The life experiences and values each tell a separate story, along with its true message. One of their big hits, What Hurts the Most, gives a direct message about the experiences about falling in love, then suddenly losing the love of your life is something that hurts the most, from the song, What Hurts the Most. It frames that falling in love can indeed be a hurtful thing, not just all about riding into the sunset with your significant other. The flashbacks that they have in each song in all five albums clearly demonstrates the term of narrative fidelity, in which way do the songs ring true with its experiences being told. Do their songs frame the common way that we all look at our experiences? The narrative portion of this series also is about how the material, which are

the songs, that have different material settings. Overall, it frames how Rascal Flattss songs give a narrative component of different stories of different points of life. Genre of Country Music: The series of Rascal Flattss albums also frames how the genre of country redefines the true meaning of country music. These series of artifacts gives an indication that country music isnt just about riding around in trucks and drinking ice cold beer in the summer time. Rascal Flatts defines the genre of country music by setting out a different pathway that everyone learns from life experiences and not just experiencing them in one way. Sonja K. Foss, a rhetorical critic states that a rhetorical genre is a constellation, fusion or clustering of three different kinds of elements so that a unique kind of artifact is created, (Foss 137). But, the series of the five albums also give many descriptive symbols and elements that are hidden in the lyrics, that make them stand out as a country music trio that sings about typical episodes of heartbreak. It starts out with a simple message of something going wrong, and then the chorus usually addresses the main message. Most country music that exists today is mainly about love and bonfires. Rascal Flatts is described as a pop and rock country trio. Most male artists in country music today always sing about the same old things, but Rascal Flatts doesnt. They vary on the topics that are important. They sing about real life experiences, morals, and values that are relevant in country music today. There is no one in country music today that has the same succession. Overall, the framing of the genre of Rascal Flatts and their albums reach their audience in many ways. Organization of Framing within Country Music: In Framing and Genre Criticism, there is the case of organization in terms of a series of artifacts. In a rhetorical sense, organizing is a characteristic that is used. But, according to Sonja K. Foss, the third element of a rhetorical genre, the organizing principle, is the root term or notion that serves as an umbrella label for the various characteristic features of the rhetoric, (Foss 137). So, this point being made by Foss summarizes that these series of country music albums is organized in a certain manner for a certain reason. They are organized in a random order, in no way that indicates that they are placed in a certain word for a particular reason. This is just a structure of ideas or songs to reflect a summary of life experiences for that particular album, such as Changed , which overshadows different points of view on loss and addiction. The other albums are organized in a matter such as this: Me and My Gang, Still Feels Good, Unstoppable, Nothing Like This and Changed. The last three albums: Unstoppable, Nothing Like This, and Changed overshadow some of the same organizational ideas. They all have grouping, characterization, and engages on loss, such as losing someone in a relationship, to suicide, and how one person can change in a moment of clarity. The characters in these series are mainly about one person in focus and what dramatic change they have to make or a conflict that is in question. Generic Description and Story-Telling: Generic description of this series of albums, describes a genre of country music that indeed has an array of descriptive elements. Foss, a rhetorical critic on Generic Criticism, states that generic description has certain characteristics or criteria in order for it to be analyzed. Sonja K. Foss says the first step of generic description is your observation that similar situations, removed from each other in time and place, seem to generate similar rhetorical responses, (Foss

141). But, the criteria that are used in this series are mainly how their songs reflect on what they want their audience to relate to. They want their audience to relate to their own personal experiences through their lyrics. But, through Narrative Criticism, in order for an artifact to be indeed a narrative, there has to be a plot through life experiences and values. This is where the idea of generic description and plot/summary overlap. Rascal Flatts array of albums and songs displays just that. It displays how the plot and description of a song or many songs describe the overall message of their style of songwriting, or story-telling in this case. Robert Rowland, an author on Narrative Criticism, states that the most basic answer to this question is that narratives are stories and stories function differently than purely descriptive or argumentative rhetoric, (Rowland 118). But, these series of albums help frame the narrative, by their song lyrics, which are how they argue their main message, with the overcasting of life experiences. It frames how their story-telling abilities help define the series of songs, and criteria. There are many similarities in many of their songs. Some songs demonstrate many points of view on addiction, cancer, alcoholism, and suicide. The ways that they display these specific frames of mind is by grouping certain moods for serious topics of addiction or cancer. They are usually setting it up with a sad, slow song for those types of songs. But their last three albums: Unstoppable, Nothing Like This, and Changed demonstrate similiaries by the tracks from Unstoppable and Nothing Like This, called Why and I Wont Let Go have a similarity in tone and topic. These tracks on these albums have similarity in description and tone, alongside helps frame their audience and give them an idea about what exactly the band wanted to succeed in. They have succeeded in writing songs that are so descriptive, easy to listen to, and real. There is always a conflict hidden in the chorus that helps set up the songs. The resolution is usually near the end of the song. The first few lines describe the situation, conflict, and then the resolution in the last few lines. That is the beauty of great story-telling that Rascal Flatts succeeds in. It motivates the listeners and their overall audience. They display good story-telling abilities by inspiring people to not give up and keep on being Unstoppable or its not too late to say Thank God that I have changed (Flatts Changed). That is the whole idea of generic description and story-telling in these series of artifacts. Morals and Life Experiences: Morals and values are demonstrated beautifully in these albums. Their songs always contain good morals and bad morals. It displays how addiction and alcoholism can affect a family in the song Changed and how you can change if you desire to. The sense of self in which generic criticism touch base on also is similar to the idea of morals. In these albums, the songs give a good view on good life experiences, such as having fun while you are still young, the mistakes we make along the way. It gives the songs a good sense of self and values. But, with a generic point of view, morals, and life experiences are a good example of a deductive approach because their songs are designed to target a specific topic. They arent focusing on two topics, like some country artists do, and it distracts the audience of the true message being made. William Benoit, a critic on generic elements in rhetoric states that generic description begins with a generalization and applies it to specific members of the genre, (Benoit 82). This goes on to say that generic description does play a role in story-telling, in terms that members of the specific genre are overlapped into the basics of a narrative. But, in terms of a narrative, Rascal Flatts are so successful because they focus so much on morals, life stories and experiences. People like a good story and that is why experience is so important in this series. These albums are also meant to entertain in terms of the stories. Stories are a key factor in a narrative, whether

they are in a four minute song or in a novel. Context is also important in this series. The context in the albums set up the ideas that are present and told in the story. Grouping of Songs, Albums and Setting: The ideal grouping of this series is that they are specifically grouped as songs that give people sense of hope, especially with their track titled Skin (Sarabeth), which talks about a teenage girl who was diagnosed with cancer, but the song gives the listener a sense of hope from a road of darkness when diagnosed. The main grouping in this case is how you can have hope, no matter what the obstacle is, whether its cancer, overcoming a case of addiction, or a bad mistake that you cant take back. Rascal Flatts as a country trio do a great job in forecasting this specific grouping of topics. Grouping of the albums individually is rather similar. The titles of the five albums: Me and My Gang, Still Feels Good, Unstoppable, Nothing Like This, and Changed have a grouping all in their own. They each are grouped in a way that makes sense. People should be unstoppable in life. People have time to change and correct their past mistakes. The main settings in Rascal Flattss songs are points of life and the hoops that we all have to go through to get to our personal goals. Setting is very important in a story, because you have to be able to transport your audience to a different point in time, which Rascal Flatts does beautifully. Robert Rowland says that setting defines any story; also in fact, there are some scientific fiction and fantasy stories that take place in a universe very different from our own. The point is that narrative can take us anywhere that the story teller can imagine and describe, (Rowland 119). But, the series that is being analyzed have life lessons that are embedded in the array of songs that we all should take into account while listening to this series of albums. Generic Application, Effectiveness and Persuasion: The term of generic application is mainly about how effective this artifact is with the supplied genre. The genre is very effective, in which how Rascal Flatts targets their audience and what they would like to hear. They are very straightforward in the messages they are trying to reach with the fans. They pick appropriate topics, while some other artists talk about some topics that should never be written about because some people can offended, such as sex, racism, etc. They always find a way to get their message across. Their story-telling abilities are so great in which it is very effective and easy to understand the real meaning behind their intent and relevance behind the tracks. There is only specific genre included in this artifact, the genre of country music, which has been discussed earlier in this paper. The application of genre best suits this artifact because the country trio applies in two ways: How can they develop a story that is effective and relevant? What are other topics in which we can reach a huge audience with? How does this frame and set up the whole album and tone? Those are the questions the frame generic application in this series. The idea of effectiveness and persuasion used in generic and narrative criticism overlaps because persuading the audience and being effective is similar. They want their audience to be persuaded that there is more than one way out of a situation. Rowland also goes into great detail that there are indeed narrative forms of persuasion, which proves the point of the songs being effective in the messages. Rowland states In retrospect, it is astonishing that critics had not recognized the importance of narratives as a means of persuasion and a method for understanding the world, (Rowland 123). This explains how persuasion and effectiveness are displayed on their tracks on the five different albums. Each album describes the true intention and message by its titles listed on the tracks. Persuasion is a key in making these songs a success, along with a good chorus or melody. Persuasion is everywhere, but this application of the genre

of country music focuses on one particular goal: country artists have to have the ability to tell a story through emotion and words. Narrative and Genre Structure: These series of songs are indeed a narrative, but also structure is important in the genre and topics being discussed. Narratives always have some type of structure to set up the story. These songs also demonstrate flashbacks, which the song Changed has. The lyrics talk about how peoples mistakes can make a person think about their life and how they can change for the better. The song Why from the album Unstoppable produces a series of flashbacks in which one teenage girl is at her greatest potential, then hide about what is really going on mentally, and why she decides to take her own life. The track Why Wait also is a song about going to Las Vegas and doing crazy things. It describes different events and flashbacks about one drunken night, like a country-version of The Hangover. Overall, narrative structure is important is a music narrative such as this, because it gives the listener the intentions and relevance of the song. Genre Structure in this case also is important because it gives the listener another look on how country music really is. The structure should also talk about the situation, purpose, or kind of rhetor that sets up the genre at hand. The series of albums do state the situation and purpose right away in the chorus, and is present throughout the whole song at hand. If that isnt identified in an array of songs immediately, then the audience will become confused about why this is a song at all. Narrative Probability and Narrative Fidelity: The coherence in these real life stories which happen every day is why this series is uninterrupted. It has many similarities, relevance, and the truth behind each personal experience hidden in each track. Each set of material has its separate meaning and has different interpretations. These series of artifacts has both Narrative Probability and Narrative Fidelity present. The artifacts do have the idea of having the stories ringing true with experiences and values. But, it is also found that the structure, character logical, and material fit in the stories that their songs are trying to portray. It gives a good example of how identifying the experiences, values, and message help the audience. It helps to better understand the reasoning behind the intentions behind such rhetorical narrative messages. But, it also tells a true story, theme, or message that relates to anyone at any age. That is why country music has made such a comeback in todays age. Conclusion: Overall, the most recent five albums of Rascal Flatts frame life experiences and values in a way that makes it successful for its audience. Generic application, structure, effectiveness and persuasion are used quite well in this series in an uninterrupted sequence. The genre of country music plays a big role in this series by framing the genre and discussing its ability of story-telling within the lyrics, it makes sense that narrative and generic criticism fits well in this critique. It displays great narrative content and entertainment for their selected audience. The series of albums displays a great example of a series in an uninterrupted sequence, the frame of the genre of country music, and the meaning of story-telling. This series of five most recent albums of Rascal Flatts is a good example on how it frames into structure, organization, generic description, and morals & life experiences.

Reference List: Benoit, William. Generic Elements in Rhetoric. Rhetorical Criticism: Perspectives in Action. Ed. Jim A. Kuypers. New York: Lexington Books, 2009. 77-95. PDF file. Foss Sonja K. Generic Criticism. Rhetorical Criticism: Exploration and Practice. 4th ed. Long Grove, IL: Waveland P, 2009 137-147. PDF file. Rascal Flatts Changed. N.d. Google.com/images. Rascalflatts.com. Web. 2 April 2013. https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=rascal+flatts+changed&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf. &bvm=bv.44770516,d.aWc&biw=1440&bih=758&um=1&ie=UTF8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=nt9dUY6UO6P6yQGN6YDQBQ#imgrc=_ Rascal Flatts Me and My Gang N.d. google.com/images. Rascalflatts.com. Web. 2 April 2013. https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1440& bih=758&q=rascal+flatts+me+and+my+gang+album+cover&oq=Rascal+flatts+me+and+my+ga ng&gs_l=img.1.2.0l3j0i24l7.1671.9739.0.11484.32.15.1.16.16.0.290.1504.13j1j1.15.0...0.0...1ac .1.8.img.hKlYyiPH1yI Rascal Flatts Still Feels Good. N.d. google.com/images. Rascalflatts.com. Web. 2 April 2013. https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1440& bih=758&q=rascal+flatts+still+feels+good+album+cover&oq=Rascal+flatts+still+&gs_l=img.1. 2.0l3j0i24l7.4576.11859.0.13293.29.17.3.8.8.0.175.1556.13j4.17.0...0.0...1ac.1.8.img.EtvXrdsG 018 Rascal Flatts Nothing Like This. N.d. google.com/images. Countrymusictattletale.com. Web. 2 April 2013. https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1440& bih=758&q=rascal+flatts+nothing+like+this+album+cover&oq=Rascal+flatts+nothing+&gs_l=i mg.1.1.0l3j0i24l7.47967.52807.0.54085.24.15.1.8.8.1.144.1365.11j4.15.0...0.0...1ac.1.8.img.i0Pj 9X1tqrw Rascal Flatts Unstoppable. N.d. google.com/images. Cmt.com. Web. 2 April 2013. https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&biw=1440&bih=758&site=imghp&tbm=isch&q =Unstoppable+rascal+flatts+album+cover&spell=1&sa=X&ei=WOFdUZ-KKvDyAHmmoHgBw&ved=0CFIQvwUoAA Rowland, Robert. The Narrative Perspective. Rhetorical Criticism: Perspectives in Action. Ed. Jim A. Kuypers. New York: Lexington Books, 2009. 117-142. PDF file.