Thomas Rhett stopped by the Audacy Studios at the Hard Rock in Nashville to talk with Katie Neal!
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00:00It's really good to see you.
00:01Likewise.
00:02Thank you for sitting down with us again.
00:03I always like, my joke about Nashville is that living here, I see Luke Bryan more than
00:08I see my mother, is my joke.
00:10And my mother lives here.
00:11But I was like, I just said to your record label rep, George, I was like, I think I'm
00:13gonna have to swap out Luke with Thomas, right?
00:15Because I've seen you so many times.
00:16100%.
00:17100%.
00:18But it's been great.
00:19That's a good sign.
00:20It is.
00:21At least in my book, it's a good sign.
00:22No, it's a great sign.
00:23So beautiful as you, working its way up the chart right now.
00:25What's it been like right now watching the song get bigger and bigger and bigger and
00:29like resonate with fans?
00:31It's cool.
00:32I feel like a lot of my songs over the course of my career actually didn't feel like hits
00:37until after they went number one.
00:40Does that make sense?
00:42Yeah.
00:43Because this song for me started streaming more than any song I'd really ever put out
00:48since like 2019.
00:50And then it started to, and then I feel like radio started to kind of keep up with the
00:53streaming.
00:54And so throughout this year, I would say every single week that we had played this song live,
00:58you could tell that like another 10% knew not just the chorus, but the verses.
01:02And I, I feel like I always judge the quality of a song on how much people are studying
01:07rapid paced verses.
01:09And so when you can like look at a crowd and see a group of like girls kind of singing
01:13the second verse word for word, you're like, okay, we're, we're catching some, some traction
01:17here.
01:18Like I have these weird ways to tell if I feel like songs are going to be big or not.
01:21Wait, what are the other ways?
01:23That's one of them.
01:24One is like, if you've never heard the song before, what is the movement of the crowd?
01:28Right?
01:29Like if everyone is really stale and kind of has this like confused look on your face,
01:33you kind of go, maybe that song is not going to work.
01:36But then if you play a new one and you can kind of tell that there's just like this weird
01:40little sway, you're kind of like, okay, they don't know it, but they're rocking with it.
01:44They want to know it.
01:45They want to know it.
01:46Yeah, exactly.
01:47And that's happened on a few of the songs on this record, which is really exciting when
01:50you're going in to pick, you know, like next singles and stuff to kind of see what people
01:54have been kind of vibing to, even though these songs are so new.
01:57Yeah.
01:58Well, I said that to you, one of the last times we sat down is like, I feel like you're
02:00going to have a hard time choosing the next single because there's so many songs that
02:03are so fun.
02:04Yeah.
02:05But there's also still so many songs to release.
02:06I know.
02:07I was literally just going to say, this is my thing with you is that you'll put out a
02:10record and I'll be like, oh my God, he's got six singles.
02:12And then like, before you get to the second one, you're like, I've got a new record.
02:15The world is just so, it's just so fast paced today.
02:18Yeah.
02:19You know what I mean?
02:20Like six years ago, or maybe it was like six years ago, um, maybe it was my life changes
02:25record.
02:26I remember we put five singles out from that record.
02:28Wow.
02:29Five singles.
02:30Um, I don't know if that's possible today.
02:32So have you ever done that again?
02:34Uh, and I don't know that I ever will.
02:36I just feel like people are just so on to the next thing so fast now that a record now
02:42can get actually kind of old in like four months.
02:46Does that make sense?
02:47That's so wild.
02:48It's not old, but like we're, we're ready for something else.
02:51Yeah.
02:52It makes sense.
02:53Which is crazy when you think about like normally everyone's on like a two year album cycle,
02:55but like I've been watching people, I'm like, wait, you just put an album out last year.
02:58Like it's moving so much faster.
03:00For sure.
03:01Wild.
03:02I could go into the weeds and all this stuff.
03:03But this is not why you're here.
03:04No.
03:05I did want to ask you though, one of the things that you had said to be that Lauren asked
03:07you for this record is she wanted love songs she could dance to.
03:10Yeah.
03:11Beautiful as you obviously delivers on that.
03:12Does she feel like she got what she asked for?
03:14I do.
03:15Definitely.
03:16You know, it's interesting.
03:18I love Lauren.
03:19I think it's the, it's her favorite song off this project.
03:21And I think she loves when I will try new things, you know what I'm saying?
03:26And this song, when you get to it on the record, I think it's in a good way.
03:30Some people could think it's in a bad way, but it does stick out like a sore thumb on
03:33this project because it does not sound like any of the other tunes on the record.
03:37But those are always my favorite, right?
03:38Like just when I feel like I'm in this like flow of something and all of a sudden, bam,
03:42I get hit over the face with something else that you can do that I like.
03:46That ends up always being my favorite song on the record.
03:48And so I would say most every record I've ever made has got, I call them curve balls.
03:53Like every record of mine has like a curve ball or two.
03:57And that one has been kind of her favorite and also one that has been one that I kind
04:01of have this at the concerts at.
04:04So yeah, you just, you never know, man, I can kind of have to watch the data a little
04:08bit and see what people are actually liking.
04:09But you know, at some point you do have to make some, just like a gut decision of what
04:13do I like?
04:14How in the weeds of the data will you get?
04:17Lately?
04:18Real deep.
04:19Real deep.
04:20Cause I've never, I've never known.
04:21Yeah.
04:22I don't think anybody's really ever known.
04:23You know what I mean?
04:24And now like you can, I don't have like all the things for artists, like every streaming
04:29page.
04:30Like you can actually have the for artists thing and you can actually see how many people
04:35are listening to a song right now.
04:37That's nuts.
04:38I can't have that.
04:39You'd be up all night.
04:40Lauren would roll over and you'd be like, so many people are listening to T-shirt.
04:43My kids would be like, what are you doing?
04:44I'm like, you don't understand.
04:46We just went from 13,000 people to 26,000 people listening to the song right now.
04:50What happened to my kids?
04:51Like, we don't care.
04:52Took us in, say our prayers.
04:54You know what I mean?
04:56So exactly.
04:57Back to something about a woman.
04:58You are collaborating with Teddy Swins now on this.
05:02Talk about how this happened.
05:03Yeah.
05:04I mean, all happened very organic, which I feel like a lot of collabs end up not seeming
05:08super organic.
05:10It can be like, oh, well, you kind of seem like you're popping right now.
05:14You want to hop on this song and do the thing.
05:16But me and Teddy have actually been friends for like five years.
05:19And my producer, Julian, produced the last couple of Teddy records and he produced my
05:25last record.
05:26And so we've known each other before Teddy even had anything.
05:29I found out about Teddy when he was doing like Adele covers.
05:33I was going to say, I remember you guys doing something like a handful of years.
05:36Yeah.
05:37So he put his first record out and he had a song called Broke that I actually jumped
05:41on and made a music video for it.
05:42And then he came to Nashville a couple of years later and we wrote three singles ago
05:48of mine called Angels Don't Always Have Wings.
05:50We wrote that song together and we actually wrote it for him and he ended up not recording
05:54it.
05:55And I was like, well, you're crazy because this song is awesome.
05:56And so I recorded it and then we just remained in touch.
06:01And when I was finishing my record, Julian was in New York with Teddy and he was playing
06:06in my whole record and he said that Teddy really responded to something about a woman
06:09like he loved it.
06:10And I was like, well, if you want to put in a good word that he wants to sing on it.
06:14And so he came and put a vocal on it.
06:15And after all the back and forth of teams doing what teams do, we got to go.
06:22And we started telling the world that it was happening two days ago and people are loving
06:27it.
06:28I'm just really excited.
06:29And we get to sing it on the CMAs together.
06:30Yeah.
06:31It's crazy.
06:32I've never had a song that was not a single, like a radio single, ever be allowed for me
06:39to sing on a show before.
06:41Oh, I didn't even think about that.
06:43And so, yeah, I mean, I'm just grateful, like, you know, so I'm excited to do that.
06:48We're also going to get to sing his massive global smash called Lose Control on it together
06:54too.
06:55So it's going to be, I think it's a really special moment on the show.
06:57That's going to be really fun.
06:58I was, yeah, that's what I was going to say is the CMA Awards announcement just came out
07:01and I was like, so excited to see Teddy on there because I feel like he's always been
07:03like country music adjacent, like since you guys started working together, like you keep
07:07hearing his name, but he's not like doing a lot of country stuff.
07:10So I'm excited for him to be there for that.
07:12Well, he's kind of got like this, he's kind of got Post Malone energy about him.
07:16Like he grew up in Georgia.
07:20Daddy only ever listened to country radio ever.
07:23And so like when we were in LA a couple weeks ago filming all the content for the song,
07:27me and him just sat there and went back and forth on the guitar for like three hours
07:31playing every, from 1995 to 2005 country song in the world.
07:37He knows all the words, you know what I'm saying?
07:39So I think there's a lot of people that actually chose different musical paths like Post and
07:43like Teddy that actually grew up freaking knowing it, you know what I mean?
07:47So I think if Teddy ever wanted to do anything in country, I think people would really embrace
07:51him because he's first of all, he's one of the most talented human beings on the planet.
07:55And second of all, he's just a good dude that grew up listening to it.
07:59Yeah.
08:00Well, speaking of the CMA Awards, you're going to be on hosting with us like the week of
08:03the show.
08:04And I'm curious, like, what are your favorite things about award shows and your least favorite
08:08things?
08:09Because to me, like before I ever went, it was like so glamorous.
08:12And then now I'm like, we get there at 3pm, you sit down for a long time, you don't eat,
08:16you've had a lot to drink.
08:19It's like, it's a lot of hurry up and wait.
08:21Yeah.
08:22I mean, I feel like my answer has really never changed on this.
08:25My favorite thing is actually getting just to see everybody.
08:29I was talking to Lon earlier about how I feel like there's just this lack of community in
08:35our genre right now.
08:37And I don't know if it's because there's just 1000 new artists, and that maybe my generation
08:42hasn't taken the time to reach out or the younger generation and taking the time to
08:46reach up.
08:47But I've made it my mission over the last like year, like I literally just texted Bailey
08:52Zimmerman because I don't know him.
08:54And I'm just like, we should get to know each other.
08:55For sure.
08:56And I'm sure he's like, Thomas, just text me.
08:59And I've tried to do that with him.
09:01You know, that's the only reason I know who know Tucker, it just I mean, I'll just get
09:04their numbers from their managers and just be like, Hey, you don't know me at all.
09:08We should get lunch.
09:10You know what I mean?
09:11Because I feel like the award shows over the last couple years, I would go to them and
09:14I would obviously hang out with like my peers.
09:17Because when I when I was coming up, we had to be friends.
09:22And I don't mean that in a weird way, but like we did radio tour together from January
09:27to December.
09:28So every every songwriter thing that we did, every eight man, 10 man jam, it was always
09:33me, John Party, Dustin Lynch, Cole Swindell, Brett Eldridge.
09:38So we just we kind of had our own little core of like, we're the new artists together.
09:42I think even then it was like there were less or like you guys were the five of that year.
09:48There wasn't.
09:49Yeah.
09:50TikTok didn't exist yet.
09:51So I feel like today there's just so many new artists that come on the scene every six
09:56months that have so much success that I'm sitting there going, I just want to meet you.
10:01Yeah.
10:02You know what I'm saying?
10:03Maybe we'd be friends.
10:04Who knows?
10:05But I think the CMAs for me, that is my favorite part because we genuinely don't get to see
10:10each other unless we are intentional about hanging out off the road.
10:14You know what I'm saying?
10:15It's like right when you get on the red carpet, you kind of never know who you're going before
10:19or after.
10:20And you kind of that's when your management, your PR is just getting mad because everybody's
10:24waiting on you to do interviews, but you haven't seen Ernest in six months and you're like,
10:29you know, and that's my favorite part of the award shows.
10:32I think my least favorite part for me is probably the nerves that I get before going on national
10:39television because it is not like anything else.
10:42No.
10:43Like there's something about playing like an amphitheater show, an arena show.
10:45It's like you're nervous, but you know that you can kind of.
10:50Like if something happened, you could like talk through it with everybody.
10:52You can have some charm and it's like, oh, I completely forgot the chorus, you know,
10:56but like when you're on TV, you don't get a chance to say, I'm sorry, can I try that
11:00one more time?
11:01You know what I'm saying?
11:02And so I think that is probably my least favorite part of doing any kind of television is the
11:07actual doing it, but I'm learning how to enjoy it rather than be nervous about it.
11:11Yeah.
11:12There's a way to like the nerves are fun.
11:13Yeah.
11:14To turn the nerves into excitement is my mission for this year.
11:17So good.
11:18And I think that comes down to like being present and being there and feeling good,
11:21which is always great.
11:23You posted something the other day, um, about how I think it's now 12 years ago that something
11:27to do with my hands came out and I started thinking about the like really early days
11:32of your career cause I, I wasn't quite in country music at that point.
11:36And I, I know that all your fans know that red Aiken's famous country singer songwriter
11:41is your dad.
11:42But like at that point when you were getting started, like what was his take on like you
11:47going into music?
11:48Like, was he for it?
11:49Was he like, uh, nervous or?
11:52I think he kinda, I think if he's being really honest, I think he probably back then wishes
11:58that I had chosen anything else that makes any sense.
12:01Like I think there was a part of him that was super excited that maybe like, Oh, maybe
12:05my son and I, maybe I can teach him how to do this.
12:08Does it make sense?
12:09But I think there was also this other part of him knowing how crazy and complicated this
12:13business is.
12:14And he was like, man, if you would just go sell real estate, you know what I'm saying?
12:20Like maybe you might have a less stressful life.
12:23But now, but I think once I started writing songs with him and I think he saw how like
12:28dedicated and like into it, I was, he was, I think he looked at me, I was like, there's,
12:31there's nothing else that you can do to make sense.
12:35And I'm so glad that I did because my dad and I have always been close, but I think
12:39music is always the thing that we will have together.
12:43It's really special.
12:45Because even when we get together, like if we like on Thanksgiving or whatever, if me
12:49and if I disappear, my wife goes, I know that TR and Rhett are talking about a song right
12:55now.
12:56We'll just disappear to the front yard and like, Oh, we're talking about grass.
12:59You know, we have written a song in the front yard and that's just kind of how we are because
13:04we don't really know how to turn off music.
13:07And that's just, I think that DNA has been passed down to me and I'm kind of even starting
13:10to watch that DNA be passed down to my kids too.
13:13I was going to say, which ones of the girls do you feel like?
13:16So Ada James and Willa Gray have started this new thing where they love coming up with songs
13:20like on the way to school.
13:21And so I've just gotten into the habit of turning my voice recorder on and I'll hand
13:27it to them and I'll be like, okay, those things, that thing you just said, now make it a song.
13:30And so I've got like 50 in here of like Ada James in the backseat the other day going
13:35like he's calm and he's cute.
13:39That's kind of what they have been doing.
13:41And it's been cool because they look at when they hear me say, Hey, that's a great melody.
13:46You can see their little bodies like go like, yeah, I've got it.
13:51I've got the sauce and it's been really, it's been really fun to watch.
13:56I feel like you've got the unique perspective of, you know, I watch like all artists who
14:00are becoming parents, like try to navigate that and I mean, it's a good different thing
14:04than most people.
14:05Like we're a regular parent because the schedule is different.
14:07The lifestyle is so different.
14:08But from like you growing up in the industry, like did you, were you were like, I know to
14:12keep this the same or I would want to do this differently.
14:15I think that's a conversation me and Lauren have every week.
14:18And I've heard Luke Combs talk a lot on how to, how he's normalizing his kids' lives because
14:24Luke Combs' life is the opposite of normal.
14:26You know what I'm saying?
14:28Like from a, from a world perspective of like when you go to Cracker Barrel, everyone in
14:32Cracker Barrel knows who you are.
14:34And that's just not normal.
14:35You know what I'm saying?
14:37Like we went to, Willow Gray's birthday was last week.
14:41We went to Dollywood.
14:42I've never been to Dollywood and my wife and I were so jacked to go.
14:48And even just like walking through Dollywood, I think my kids now know innately that me
14:55and Lauren are going to get stopped to like take a picture, you know what I mean?
14:59And I think they're used to it now, but I don't know that that can ever really get normalized.
15:03Like I don't know how to, unless we just don't ever go anywhere in public.
15:07And I feel like I'm one of those people that I think people know me, but I've never been
15:10the dude where paparazzi is like waiting outside of a hotel, if they are, I actually walk up
15:17to them.
15:18I'm like, yo.
15:19Who told you I was going to be here?
15:20Yeah.
15:21I'm like, we should have a, what do you want?
15:22What do you want to know?
15:24And I think that like me and Lauren have just made it a point to like, not, I don't know.
15:30Cause our lives really are not bougie, you know what I'm saying?
15:35There are things that from the outside looking in, you could say that is bougie, but they
15:38are a little bit part of my job.
15:40Like riding on a tour bus is just a part of my job, you know what I'm saying?
15:46And we do our best to make our kids lives feel like as normal as they possibly can while
15:51saying like, Hey, because I sing these songs and because people have resonated with them,
15:56they know what me and your mom look like.
15:58And when they see us in public, they relate a song to a memory and they really want to
16:03just mark the memory with a, a selfie, you know what I'm saying?
16:07Like, Oh, I get it now.
16:08You know what I mean?
16:09So I don't know that there really is a way to like a hundred percent make it a very normal
16:13thing, but we, we do, we are actively every day being like, how do we do this correctly?
16:18So you've told me a lot of stories before, like Reba McIntyre putting you in timeout
16:22and stuff like that.
16:23Like what's been the moment with the girls recently where like, you guys have no idea
16:26what just happened to you.
16:28I'm trying to think.
16:29When I played a show in Charleston, South Carolina last year, um, the entire, uh, cast
16:35from Outer Banks came to the show.
16:38And um, while I'm on stage, I kept looking backstage and my kids were on a new Outer
16:45Banks character shoulders, like during, during the whole thing.
16:49And like, I know that that's not like a country singer or whatever, but I was like, man, this
16:52is the, at the time it was the most popular show on the globe.
16:55Yeah.
16:56And like still is right now.
16:57They just dropped a new season.
16:58And we were just, we were just like, yo, this is, this is Chase.
16:59Can you hold me up so I can see my dad?
17:00Yeah, exactly.
17:01Um, but yeah, I mean, uh, from all of my buddies that they've met, you know what I mean?
17:08That have been to my house that I think like, I remember Teddy came over one time and my
17:12daughter was like, why do you have so many tattoos on your face?
17:15You know what I mean?
17:16And like, so it's just like, those would be really funny stories to tell them when they
17:19get older.
17:20Yeah, for sure.
17:21That's so fun.
17:22Um, you mentioned a little bit earlier, you guys went on a trip to Africa.
17:26Yeah.
17:27Um, you've been posting pictures like the gorilla I've seen.
17:29Is this all one trip?
17:30Was this like many trips?
17:31I've been twice this year.
17:32Twice this year.
17:33Oh my God.
17:34Been twice this year.
17:35We went once in June.
17:36We were there for almost three weeks.
17:38Um, and I've got to bring all my kids.
17:41That was all my kids.
17:42First time, uh, to Uganda, which was really, really special.
17:45Uh, and that was Willa Gray's first time back to Uganda since we adopted her in 2016.
17:49Um, I could go into how amazing that was.
17:52Was that like the most, just, I have chills almost for you.
17:56No, it was, it was insane because my, my wife works for an organization over there that
18:00had just finally finished this project they've been working on forever.
18:04And it was this, this really big center to be able to do a lot of great work over there.
18:08And so my, we went for the grand opening of this and getting to watch Willa Gray see some
18:13faces that actually helped take care of her when she was like six months old for them
18:18to see her as a nine year old and tall and beautiful and smiling.
18:23Like that was that, it didn't break my heart.
18:26My heart was just like exploding with joy, you know, watching this and, um, and also
18:31getting to see Ada James and Lennon and Lily get to watch Willa Gray be there.
18:35They just came home different kids and I don't know how to really describe it, but like,
18:41you know, I think they kind of went over there and they were just like, gosh, we have so
18:44much excess in America and in Uganda, it's the excesses doesn't exist really.
18:51And to see the joy, um, that the Ugandans have with so little, I think made my kids
18:57be like, huh, do I need all this stuff and do I really want all this stuff for Christmas
19:02and you know, all these kinds of things.
19:03And so it was a, it was a life altering trip, not just for our kids, but for me and Lauren
19:06as well.
19:07That's incredible.
19:08Well, you talk about like trying to help them know what's like normal and a thing like that.
19:13That's like what changes.
19:14I think it's really good for your, for your kids to, um, have perspective on how much
19:18of the world lives and operates, you know what I'm saying?
19:21Because there's a lot more places than just North America.
19:23Um, but I think as a seven year old, you kind of don't know what else there is out there.
19:27So it's been really fun to kind of get to travel with our kids to different countries
19:30and let them experience, you know, different cultures and different food and, and how people
19:35live lives at 3000 miles away from where you do.
19:38Um, and we got to go to Kenya on the, on the back half of that and we got to do safari
19:42with them.
19:43And then, uh, my wife and I have been wanting to go, uh, to Rwanda for years and years.
19:48And so we decided to do it on our 10 year anniversary two years ago, but we couldn't
19:51get it done.
19:52And so we celebrated our 10 year on our 12 year in Rwanda doing guerrilla trekking, which
19:58has been like one of my like dreams for forever.
20:00That had to have been insane.
20:02The picture doesn't do it justice.
20:04You're literally standing between me and you from a fricking silverback and like all these
20:11like other gorillas and you're just hanging out with them.
20:14They're just eating bamboo.
20:15And one of them literally pushed Lauren off the trail.
20:19Like we're just standing on the trail and this female gorilla just takes her leg and
20:22just kind of pushes her this way, like get out of my trail.
20:25And that made Lauren's life like, Oh, I'm sure she would hug a tiger if, if it would
20:30let her, I'm over there like heart beating a million miles an hour, you know, the whole
20:35thing.
20:36But, um, yeah, we just, we love, we love Africa so much.
20:38There's just a, there's a different energy and a different kind of, there's a simplicity
20:42about it.
20:43If that makes any sense that we just feel really at peace when we're there and, and
20:46love to love to travel over there.
20:47So totally.
20:48Yeah.
20:49Well, that's incredible.
20:50Thank you for sharing that with me.
20:51We will get out of here.
20:52It was really good to see you.
20:53Congratulations on beautiful as you.