NASHVILLE, Tennessee- One of the conundrums that singer/songwriters face is “Do you write songs for the radio or songs that are personal and meaningful?” It is often tricky to do both simultaneously, but Thomas Rhett Akins can do it, and he is one of the best in the business. He relies on anecdotes from his personal life and family to provide heart-pumping, danceable tunes that make him a favorite on country radio.
His main muse in songwriting is naturally his beautiful wife, Lauren, along with their four precious daughters. Songs like the massive number one “Die A Happy Man,” “Star of the Show,” “Unforgettable,” and “Look What God Gave Her” are just a fraction of the hits he has written about his wife.
Because of this success (and his wife’s love), he wanted to create an entire album as a tribute to her; thus, he came up with the title About A Woman. But there was a caveat to the record: Lauren didn’t want slow, heartfelt country ballads; she wanted fun songs you could move to that she and their daughters would enjoy.
Because Rhett is such a prolific songwriter, he could have easily put out a double or triple album on this topic, but he wanted to keep it more focused, so he settled on 14 tracks.
He stated, “For me, there’s so much music that comes out every day, and especially every Friday, that like when I see records that have 20 or more songs on them, I’m like, ‘Man, like I don’t know that I have time to listen to that in one sitting.’ And so, I kind of wanted it to be a very digestible record that if you were dropping your kids off at school or coming home or whatever, you could pop it on and it could fill up like a 30-minute time gap in your life.”
Rhett advised in an interview that he was just as excited about releasing this record as any he had put out. About A Woman was produced by one of Nashville’s (and the world’s) foremost producers, Dann Huff. He also had help from Thomas Rhett’s long-time friend and co-writer, Julian Bunetta, who was a key songwriter for many of One Direction’s hits and has also worked with Teddy Swims and Nail Horan, to name a few.
Rhett said, “Having both of them in a room together should have been a documentary. It was fascinating to watch. It was a big blessing to have them both on this project.”
While it is tempting to try to “one up” yourself when releasing new music, Rhett sees each new record as a new season in his life. For the first time in nine years, all of his children are in school at least three days a week, and he and Lauren have been able to hang out more and enjoy themselves, and that is reflected in the new music.
As is the trend, Rhett released a few singles off the new record before it officially came out, with the first single, “Beautiful As You,” already having multi-millions of streams. Lauren stated, “You did it! You wrote a love song and made me want to dance at the same time.”
“Gone Country” also does quite well as he playfully chronicles his wife’s transformation into a country girl.
He goes down memory lane with the song “Overdrive” and remembers staying out all night with “After All The Bars Have Closed.” As we learned in the song “Life Changes” Rhett has known Lauren since the 2nd grade and has been friends with her his entire life. He got married at age 22, so every memory of a girl is about her.
The record kicks off with a signature TR song, “Fool,” a lighthearted, crushing banger accompanied by the engaging energy that he is known for. It’s going to be a huge hit and sure-fire fan favorite.
Rhett’s favorite song on the record is “What Could Go Right.” He explained, “I tried to write that song a million different ways. The song is literally about the night that I went over to Lauren’s parent’s house and told her that I’d been in love with her since I was 16. And I fully understood if that ruined our friendship, but I kind of had to tell her. So, the entire night, she just kept saying, ‘Well, what if we don’t become friends anymore,’ etc. And I remember thinking, ‘But what if it all worked out?’” It turns out that “What Could Go Right.” Is Lauren’s favorite song too.
In tribute to one of his heroes, Rhett included the song “Church” as in “She took me to (Eric) Church.” Eric Church was a big part of the soundtrack of his and Lauren’s teenage years.
Rhett admitted that this record was a challenge to him vocally at times. “There’s notes that I hit on this record that I’ve never dreamed that I could hit, which was terrifying and awesome.”
With an intro by a pedal steel guitar, Rhett sang “Can’t Love You Anymore” in half voice and then channeled his inner Elvis/Dwight Yoakam on the swinging song “Boots.”
“It was challenging, but also brought a new joy and a new light to a lot of these tracks,” he reported.
They turn Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” on its head by including one of the few heartbreak songs on the records, “Don’t Wanna Dance.”
He explained, “My buddy Ryan Hurd wrote the song and when I heard it, I was like, ‘Holy Crap.’ I swore that I was never going to do an interpolation after Cole Swindell’s ‘Heads Carolina’ came out because I feel like everybody and their mom started doing interpolation songs. But when I heard this, I was like, ‘I can’t not try it.’ I think that one’s going to be so epic to play live.”
Rhett admits that he is not great at writing heartbreak songs, but as many know in country music, heartbreak songs resonate with fans. So, when he was looking for a heartbreak song to include, he was looking for something that the 1975 Eagles might play. His buddy, John Morgan pitched him the song “Country For California” and because he listened to it on repeat, he knew his fans would also love it.
“When I’m listening for heartbreak songs, I’m trying to find something that’s also got melody and also kind of makes me feel happy in a way,” he confessed.
The only ballad on the record is the last one, “I Could Spend Forever Loving You.” While the song is one of my favorites, singing ballads at concerts is normally not what the fans want to hear. The song simply states, “I don’t know how to say this to you, but I want to spend my entire life with you.”
Now that his children are getting older and prefer certain types of music, he makes sure to write and/or record songs that they like and won’t embarrass them.
“I want them to walk into school with their friends and be really proud that their dad is a wholesome human being.” Rhett shared.
For the record, “Fool” is Willa Gray’s favorite song, “Gone Country” is AJ’s favorite song, “Back to Blue” is Lennon’s favorite song, and Lily just likes them all because she’s two, and TR is her dad.
If Thomas Rhett’s new songs can pass muster for these five women in his life, you know they will thrill his fans even more. If you want a collection of love songs that you can move to, About A Women is the record for you.
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Bethany Bowman is a freelance entertainment writer. You can follow her blog, Facebook, Instagram, and X.
