Thomas Rhett: On The Record

Audacy Country

Join us for the latest episode of On The Record, where country superstar Thomas Rhett takes us on a deep dive into his new album, "About a Woman." Discover the stories and inspirations behind each track as he shares personal anecdotes and insights that shaped his music. Whether you're a long-time fan or new to his sound, this is a must-watch for anyone who loves heartfelt songwriting!

Transcript

00:00Hey, I'm Thomas Rhett.

00:04Welcome to On The Record.

00:05I'm taking you track by track through my brand new album about a woman available everywhere

00:09right now.

00:10Tonight, I'm going to share what inspired these songs and these stories behind the music.

00:14So with this album, honestly, I was sitting down with some producers and songwriters about

00:18a year and a half ago, and my producer asked, what did I want from this record?

00:22And I think I immediately just said I wanted to spread joy.

00:26I wrote this record about one woman, which is my wife.

00:31A lot of the songs in this record kind of take you back through the history of our relationship

00:36from high school to now to the future.

00:39It's a really fun album.

00:40That was kind of my main goal was to make it fun and make it something that I felt like

00:44represented my live show as well.

00:46So hope y'all enjoy it.

00:47So this song Fool was actually one of the first songs I wrote for this project.

00:51And I wanted a song that felt like very earwormy, that my kids could like immediately know how

00:57to sing.

00:59And so this song is basically talking about just kind of being young, dumb and in love

01:03and like literally being willing to do just about anything to be able to date the person

01:07that you like.

01:08And so for me, I go back a little bit to my younger years of just being kind of head over

01:12heels for my wife.

01:14And yeah, I think this is a fun song that you're going to love.

01:17Around country, honestly, this concept came from me being at the Nashville airport and

01:21seeing how many different people were coming into Nashville from like not just North America,

01:26but from Canada, Australia, the UK, everywhere.

01:29And they were asking me for recommendations of where they should go in our city.

01:31And I asked them where they were going.

01:33And they immediately said, we're going to Boot Barn, get some boots and we're going

01:36to get a cowboy hat.

01:37And we are going to visit every country music artist bar in Nashville.

01:41And I and obviously I have loved country music for forever, but I feel like country is having

01:45this global moment.

01:47And I feel like when people kind of just get one little dose of the culture and the lifestyle

01:52of being country, they kind of don't really ever want to go back to how they used to live.

01:55And so that's kind of where the inspiration for Gone Country came from.

01:59After all the bars are closed, kind of represents where I feel like me and my wife are at in

02:03our relationship.

02:04These days, our kids are older.

02:06We're starting to go on date nights more.

02:07We're starting to kind of get back to our younger selves.

02:11And basically the song is really just about when the night is over, the night does not

02:14have to be over.

02:15And it kind of takes you through just a just a random evening of bars are closed, but our

02:19night is just now getting going.

02:22The song Church is about exactly what it seems.

02:25I grew up being a massive Eric Church fan, so did my wife.

02:28And I feel like we kind of fell in love to his music, especially those first few records,

02:34These Boots, Carolina and Chief.

02:37And so the song has a lot of different like old Eric Church song titles that kind of describe

02:41the story of this girl taking you to church.

02:44This is probably my wife's favorite song on the project.

02:46I remember when we sat down to write Back to Blue, we were on the bus.

02:49I can't remember where we were, but we were trying to write a song that felt like a little

02:53bit of like a modern day Fishing in the Dark, if you will.

02:57And we were searching for a hook after writing this chorus, and we were just like, what's

03:00the what's the coolest way we can describe?

03:03Let's just stay up until the sunrise.

03:04And we kind of settled on let's just watch the sky go from from black back to blue.

03:08I think this song is a bop.

03:09I think you're going to enjoy it as well.

03:11This inspired the album's title.

03:13The song Something About a Woman was really written from this mindset of wanting to kind

03:18of write a song that felt like it was like a like a Rolling Stones tribute or like a

03:23Steely Dan kind of tribute.

03:24And we were sitting there on the bus playing these chords and my bus driver, whose name

03:29is also ironically Rhett, was sitting there with us.

03:31And it was really late after a show and I was like, Rhett, what should we write, man?

03:34And he was like, Something About a Woman.

03:36We literally just kind of started writing this melody, and this quickly became one of

03:41my favorite tracks on the project because I felt like it was just so sonically different

03:45than everything else. So I think you're going to love this one.

03:47This song Country for California, one of the two songs I didn't write on this record.

03:51My buddy John Morgan wrote this track and he sent this to me and I don't know what it

03:55was about it. It just it took me to a place in time.

03:58It took me to like I don't know, like I was driving up the PCH listening to an old Eagles

04:02album and I just loved the hook of the song.

04:06It's one of the one of the few heartbreak songs on the record, and I don't do heartbreak

04:10very well. So praise God for songwriters who are willing to send me those type of songs.

04:15But I've been really enjoying playing this one acoustic and can't wait for you guys to

04:18hear this one. This is called Country for California.

04:20Don't Want to Dance, the second song on the record that I did not write.

04:23The song was written by a buddy of mine named Ryan Hurd, who I'm sure a lot of y'all know.

04:26And he sent me I was driving down Music Row one day and he sent me this song and he said,

04:30hey, me and drag just wrote this song.

04:32I have no idea if it's going to work for you, but I just wanted you to hear it.

04:35And just the subtle Whitney Houston ode in the chorus made me freaking roll all my windows

04:42down and scream this chorus.

04:44And so I just knew that it had to be on this project for no particular reason except for

04:49that chorus makes me want to jump through a brick wall.

04:51The final track is a song called I Could Spend Forever Loving You.

04:56I feel like if you listen to my music in the past, you know that my records always contain

04:59at least one song that feels like this.

05:02A ballad, a sweet love ballad, a timeless kind of song about my relationship with my

05:07wife. And I just kind of thought, what better way to end this record than with a classic

05:11love song? Thank you for listening to Odyssey Country.

05:13And on the record, I'm Thomas Rhett.

05:15My new album about a woman is available everywhere right now.

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