- Country singer, guitarist and songwriter born Thomas Rhett Akins in 1990 in Valdosta Georgia.
- Rhett’s father is country artist Rhett Akins. This gave Thomas access to many country music stars from the 90s and 00s. In high school, he was part of a band called The High Heeled Flip Flops, but he did not seriously consider a career in music until his senior year of high school. He went to college in Nashville for two years before dropping out to pitch songs that he had written. In 2010, Jason Aldean recorded a song that Rhett had co-written, and this opened the door for a publishing company to sign Rhett in 2011.
- Aldean’s style of country music with a rock and roll feel was successful, so Rhett decided to record and release songs in a similar style. In 2012, he released two singles – Something To Do With My Hands and Beer With Jesus. Both were part of a self-titled EP that he released that same year. They both charted, and it led to his debut studio album in 2013 – It Goes Like This. It reached #2 on the Country Album chart, #6 on the Billboard 200 chart, and went platinum.
- Three singles from the debut album reached #1 on the Country Airplay chart – Get Me Some of That, Makes Me Wanna and the title track. The success of the album launched Rhett into the status of one of the top country rock artists of the 10s decade. His next two albums – 2015’s Tangled Up and 2017 Life Changes – were certified platinum, and nine singles from the albums topped the Country Airplay chart. His most popular song was Die a Happy Man, followed by Marry Me, Crash and Burn (my favorite), T-Shirt and Unforgettable. These songs were country love songs with enough rock pop to them to appeal to millions of fans, both women and men.
- In 2019, Rhett released his fourth studio album, Center Point Road. It topped both the country and Billboard 200 album charts, and he continued his string of #1 hits – all three singles from the album topped the chart, making it nine in a row, and 15 out of 16 between 2013 and 2020. The string was broken with his single Be A Light, with guest vocalists Reba McEntire, Hillary Scott, Chris Tomlin and Keith Urban, peaked at #2 on the chart. This song was a charity single, with proceeds going to the MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund.
- Rhett released the Country Again: Side A album in April 2021. Side B will be released later in 2021. Written during the COVID-19 pandemic, Side A was more of a traditional country album compared to the country rock of his earlier work. The lead single from the album, What’s Your Country Song, was his first song to reach #1 on both the Country Songs and Country Airplay charts, and it broke into the top 30 of the Hot 100 chart.
- He won Male Artist of the Year at the 2021 Academy of Country Music Awards, the third time that he has won that award. Die A Happy Man won four awards for Rhett, and it was nominated for a Grammy Award – one of four nominations he has received. Here’s the video for my personal fave, Crash and Burn.