This Week’s Backstage Country Host: Thomas Rhett
Backstage Country’s Elaina Smith just scored a brand-new co-host this week, and it’s a big one. We’re talking four Grammy nominations, five ACM Awards, two CMAs, and 23 number-one hits….
Backstage Country’s Elaina Smith just scored a brand-new co-host this week, and it’s a big one. We’re talking four Grammy nominations, five ACM Awards, two CMAs, and 23 number-one hits. Yes, it’s none other than Thomas Rhett, ready to pull back the curtain on the stories behind his songs, including “After All the Bars Are Closed,” and so much more.
Thomas Rhett Looking Back on Getting His First Number One Hit
Rhett recalled getting back his first hit. “I remember looking back at those days, getting our first number one and our second. I was like, ‘All right, we get to put one number one at the top and one number at the back. Now we just need a whole bunch more to fill in the middle space.’ Now we're in this really unique phase of we can't play them all. It's a really good, good problem to have.”
He added, “’Bars’ is one of those songs, like the record is called About a Woman, and so every song in particular is about some portion of my life with the woman that I love, which is my wife Lauren. I remember when we wrote this song, it sounded so different and unique for me because the song and the track are just so sparse. I remembered this is one of the first ones that we added into our set before it really even ever came out.”
On How He Knew When A New Song Is Good
Rhett told Smith how he judges whether the audience liked a new song. “When I play something new, if there's just like this or lean in the crowd, or you can see their face, they're mouthing something, even though it's not the right words, they wanna know it so bad. That's like always such a telltale sign for me that a song is gonna be a big one for us.”
He added, “Even this year on the road, it's the first time we've ever ended with two ballads in our set. Like we end with ‘Bars’ and ‘Die a Happy Man.’ It scared me to death to do it. But I just thought it was kind of a unique way to end our show, because we've always ended on fireworks, and bangers, and confetti, and when you've done that six or seven years in a row, you just got to switch it up a little bit. The response to ‘Bars’ being at the end of the show has been really cool.”
Thomas Rhett is making this week on Backstage Country one you won’t want to miss. From behind-the-scenes stories to a glimpse into his songwriting, he’s serving up plenty of reasons to tune in. Also, don’t forget to give his track, “After All the Bars Are Closed,” a listen!
