Country star Thomas Rhett has sold millions of records and picked up multiple awards - including Entertainer of the Year in 2020.
Yet Rhett is still searching for one elusive prize: an Album of the Year Award. "I’ve got to win some really cool awards - Entertainer, Vocalist, Song, Single - but there’s something about Album as a whole," muses Rhett. "I’ve been nominated for it several times and never managed to take the trophy home but I hope to write a record one day that is just everybody’s bread and butter."
We have full faith that Rhett will achieve his ambition and when he does, it will be just reward for one of the nicest guys in music. This is a man who still gets mushy at The Notebook.
"I still tear up in the end," says Rhett of the 2004 classic romance. "Probably one of my all time favourite movies and it gets me everytime."
You and us both, Thomas. Now stick it on and pass the tissues.
Life
What upcoming project are you most excited about?
We released a record in May this year and we’re about to go back into the studio to work on the next one. I’m very excited for the next project. I’ve gotten to write so many songs this year that I’ve never been more excited about.
I do believe that this next project that we’re going to come out with is the best one that I’ve gotten to release in my career which is very exciting, at least in my brain, I hope in other brains as well, but I would say getting to work on this next project is my favourite project that we’ve got to work on.
What would you say is your proudest professional accomplishment?
Gosh, there’s been a lot but one that sticks out to me would be winning Entertainer of the Year in 2020. That’s always something I’ve put a lot of stock and weight into.
Me and the band rehearsed for way too long before tour started, but I do believe that’s what kind of earned us that award in 2020.
Because 2019 was such an epic year, so to be recognised by the ACM’s for that accomplishment is the coolest thing I’ve gotten to be a part of and hopefully we get to do that again one day.
If you could change one thing about your career, what would it be?
I think five years ago, I would have told you I would have changed everything but now that I’m ten years in, there’s not a thing I would change. I do think that the successes do make you, but also the failures make you even more the successes do.
I know that’s cliche to say, but as a 32 year old man who has lived a lot of life and has a lot of kids and has released a lot of music, I think my failures have allowed me to grow in such a way that I think if I could go back and change those failures, I don’t think I’d be sitting where I am today.
What do you hope to achieve that you haven’t yet?
I’d love to win an Album of the Year award, period. I feel like songwriting is my first love and I’ve got to win some really cool awards - Entertainer, Vocalist, Song, Single - but there’s something about Album as a whole.
I’ve been nominated for it several times and never managed to take the trophy home but I hope to write a record one day that is just everybody’s bread and butter. That’s kind of undeniable, but it’s the one thing I have not achieved that I would like to in my career.
Outside of your family, who was/is your biggest inspiration?
Dang, it’s a tough question. I would say any artist that I’ve ever compared myself to. That can go into a very unhealthy lane for sure, but at the end of the day, if it weren’t for healthy competition with other artists, I don’t think I’d have the drive to want to be better.
When you hear a smash hit come out or an entire collection of songs that you just think ‘God, this is incredible’, it doesn’t make you second guess everything that you’ve done, but you go ‘ok, if they can do that, maybe we can do that, maybe we can keep expanding on what they did and make it better’.
So I’d say my biggest inspiration is healthy competition with other artists because I do think it gives me a bit of a drive to continue and want to be the best that I can possibly be.
Tell us something nobody knows about you…
To this day when I watch The Notebook, I still tear up in the end. Probably one of my all time favourite movies and it gets me everytime. Maybe that’s something a lot of people know but people reading this article won’t know that.
Style
What is your favourite item of clothing and what does it mean to you?
Man, your favourite pair of boots are something that everyone cannot do without, at least for me. I own a lot of boots but I only end up wearing two pairs of them. They’ve got to be perfectly broken in, comfortable enough, do they have enough stick on the bottom so that I don’t bust my butt on stage.
I would say my boots are my favourite article of clothing. Every three years, I either get them resoled or I have to go find a new pair that I love as much as those.
What kind of boots are they?
The last couple of years, they’ve been Tecovas. They’re a newer brand but I’ve worn them on the road every single night this year and they have 100% become my favourite boots.
What is your favourite accessory?
Probably my wedding ring, if I had to be honest with you. I just got a new one for the first time. I had one for ten years that was gigantic. It was made of tungsten and I don’t think you can cut through tungsten, so I think if I had ever broken my finger, they would have had to cut my finger off.
My wife bought me this gold ring last year and it’s got like trout print around it. I’m a huge fly fisherman and this is probably my favourite thing. I don’t wear much jewellery to be honest with you, but this is probably my favourite accessory for sure.
What items do you take on holiday?
On sunny holidays, I underpack severely and for freezing holidays, I overpack severely, but for a sunny one, a good hat. I’m a hat person.
I’ve got literally a thousand hats and probably the biggest argument between me and my wife is when I buy a new hat. But, a good hat, a great fitting pair of sunglasses and rainbow flip flops, that’s three items I cannot leave on holiday for sure.
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Is there an item you threw away - or lost - that you really miss?
Man, when I lose socks, I get so mad. Like when I get back home and I’m emptying my dirty clothes into the washer and I’ve only got like one of the favourite socks, I don’t want to go buy a new one, I’m just so concerned about where that sock could be.
It’s the most annoying thing and socks are crucial. Socks, underwear, hats, those three things have to be perfect, so when I lose a sock, it’s the most frustrating thing in the world for me.
What’s next on your shopping list?
I don’t need to buy clothes for another 60 years. I’m a pretty phasy person too. I’ll rock the same vibe of outfit for about 6 months and then I’ll find a new brand that I love and wear that for six months. I love fashion.
Recently, in the last couple of years, I like more outdoorsy fashion. I’m really into like technical gear, technical pants, pearl snaps, more simplistic than I’ve ever been in my entire life. I find that getting dressed is a lot easier when you have less in your closet.
What would you buy if money was no object?
I would buy a 1960s Gucci leather jacket, like one that has been worn by a motorcycle rider. Something very old and broken in and costs around $100,000, that would be something I would buy.
But as far as like a thing, a yacht to cruise around in the Mediterranean Ocean. That would look pretty sick if money wasn’t an option.
