CURRENT SINGLE: “Slow Down Summer”
Thomas Rhett will release his new album, Where We Started, this Friday (4/1), and he says, “I feel like this record has a song, literally, for everybody on there. All types of different emotions and very versatile – not only from a lyric standpoint but from a melody standpoint. It’s one of my favorite records I’ve gotten to be a part of.”
Although he had a hand in writing all but one of the 15 songs on the project, Thomas speaks of the collective of writers who contributed to this album when he says, “I think lyrically this record is extremely well written. Maybe I’m biased, but I do feel like we really dug in on the deeper tracks and we wrote from a place of severe honesty.”
Thomas also feels like Where We Started may be one of his most versatile records. Compared to his last album, Country Again: Side A, which was the most cohesive sounding album Thomas has made so far, he says, “I think from a sonic standpoint this record is extremely versatile, and I feel like if you enjoyed my Center Point Road album, I think you’re gonna really enjoy this record as well. A lot of just, great songs that remind you of your past and also a lot of songs that make you wanna party. And those two coming back to back to back to back, to me, make for a really unique listening experience.”
One reason the project is so versatile is because of when it was written and how the idea for the Where We Started album was conceived. After writing and releasing his more introspective, reflective and solemn Country Again: Side A album when he was off the road for a year and a half because of the pandemic, Thomas says, “I got to be on stage for the first time down in Texas, I played five or six of the new tunes from Country Again: Side A – songs that I loved and I would play regardless – but I looked out in the crowd and when we started playing ‘Crash and Burn,’ when we started playing ‘T-shirt,’ when we started playin’ ‘Look What God Gave Her,’ people are jumping and people are drinking and people are doin’ all this stuff. I was like, okay, we might’ve forgotten a lot of things, but people did not forget how to party.”
Up until that point, Thomas’ plan was to release aa second album full of songs he had written during his time off the road called Country Again: Side B. But after that first night back on stage, he says, “I remember walkin’ off stage and immediately calling a few of my songwriter buddies and I was like, ‘Hey, I know that we were writing for this thing, and we still are, but I miss the party too. And so, I think when you listen down to this record, you are getting bits and pieces of Country Again: Side A, but you’re also getting bits and pieces of Life Changes and you’re getting bits and pieces of Center Point Road. And it was just kind of fun to dive back into that brain after I got to get back on stage again after not being on stage for a year and a half.”
Once Thomas started writing and recording some of the party songs that he knew his fans craved, he also realized that those songs didn’t fit the vision for what he thought his next album was going to be. “It kinda started becoming not Country Again: Side B – what I wanted it to be,” explains Thomas. “And as we started talkin’, you know, with the label and our team … kind of like in the way that movies work. It’s like, Batman comes out and then Superman comes out and then Batman 2 comes out. It just kind of felt off kilter and those are the kinda things that I love to do, and this album seemed to be such a great middle ground between the two.”
Thomas still has plans to release Country Again: Side B later this year, but for now he hopes fans love the versatility and the energy of some of the songs on Where We Started, and he predicts, “When you listen to this record down, I don’t think you’re gonna get bored, and that’s always my biggest goal is to make sure my kids don’t get bored with my records because that’s very easy for a five-year-old to do.”
Whether you’re five or 85, Thomas hopes fans love Where We Started, because he says, “This record is so special in a lot of different ways from the lyrics for the melody to the collaborations that are on here.”
And Thomas can’t wait to play some of these new songs live this summer on his Bring the Bar to You Tour, which kicks off on June 17 and runs through October 15.
Thomas Rhett – WWS versatile :26
“I feel like this record has a song, literally, for everybody on there. All types of different emotions and very versatile – not only from a lyric standpoint but from a melody standpoint. It’s one of my favorite records I’ve gotten to be a part of. I don’t know, I think a lot of people have heard this some of these songs – me playing teasers on social media. And so, I’m excited for people to see the track listing and be like, ‘Oh, I remember when he played that acoustic. I wonder what it’s gonna sound like on the record.’ This record is so special in a lot of different ways from the lyrics for the melody to the collaborations that are on here. It’s just gonna be really fun.”
Thomas Rhett – fans get from WWS album :55
“I think lyrically this record is extremely well written. Maybe I’m biased, but I do feel like we really dug in on the deeper tracks and we wrote from a place of severe honesty. Songs like ‘The Hill,’ ‘Angel,’ ‘Your Mama‘s Front Door,’ these are songs that I felt like were the songs I was writing at the beginning of my career, and now have turned into something that I feel like I can put my stamp on it and be like, we really did a great job writin’ those songs. And I think from a sonic standpoint this record is extremely versatile, and I feel like if you enjoyed my Center Point Road album, I think you’re gonna really enjoy this record as well. A lot of just, great songs that remind you of your past and also a lot of songs that make you wanna party. And those two coming back to back to back to back, to me, make for a really unique listening experience. And so I think when you listen to this record down, I don’t think you’re gonna get bored, and that’s always my biggest goal is to make sure my kids don’t get bored with my records because that’s very easy for a five-year-old to do.”
Thomas Rhett – change in album plans 1:02
“If you’ve kind of looked at my social media over the last couple years, I’ve been writing so much with so many different people and getting to travel to New York and LA and bring some of those people into Nashville. And over the last couple of years I’ve written like 150–200 songs, and every time we get in the studio we’re like, what are we gonna do with these all the songs because so many of them hold such a special place in my heart. And after Country Again: Side A was complete, obviously the normal thing to do would be like, okay, well, Country Again: Side B is gonna come out next. And as we started working on that record, I wrote this one song called ‘Where We Started,’ and this song for some reason spurred a lot of other songs that kind of followed suit with it. And when we got in the studio and recorded this song, it kinda started becoming a different project. It kinda started becoming not Country Again: Side B, what I wanted it to be. And as we started talkin’, you know, with the label and our team … kind of like in the way that movies work. It’s like, Batman comes out and then Superman comes out and then Batman 2 comes out. It just kind of fell off kilter and those are the kinda things that I love to do, and this album seemed to be such a great middle ground between the two.”
Thomas Rhett – what inspired WWS album 1:08
“I mean, if you know me then you know that I never really stop writing. And when I was on the road in 2019, the world was normal, it was just tour as usual, you know. And we wrote a bunch of songs that summer. And then when 2020 hit everyone shifted and my brain shifted, and a little more introspective and a little more solemn and a little more just kinda understanding who I was as a 30 year old. And a lot of those songs from Country Again: Side A came from that. And then when I got to be on stage for the first time down in Texas, I played five or six of the new tunes from Country Again: Side A – songs that I loved and I would play regardless – but I looked out in the crowd and when we started playing ‘Crash and Burn,’ when we started playing ‘T-shirt,’ when we started playin’ ‘Look What God Gave Her,’ people are jumping and people are drinking and people are doin’ all this stuff. I was like, okay, we might’ve forgotten a lot of things, but people did not forget how to party. And I remember walkin’ off stage and immediately calling a few of my songwriter buddies and I was like, ‘Hey, I know that we were writing for this thing, and we still are, but I miss the party too. And so, I think when you listen down to this record, you are getting bits and pieces of Country Again: Side A, but you’re also getting bits and pieces of Life Changes and you’re getting bits and pieces of Center Point Road. And it was just kind of fun to dive back into that brain after I got to get back on stage again after not being on stage for a year and a half.”