Thomas Rhett stopped by The Bobby Bones Show to talk about his new album, About a Woman, the different ways he challenged himself on this record and more.
Rhett approached his seventh studio album, About a Woman, like no other album he’s ever done before. He feels like all his projects are new versions of himself because he writes about whichever season of life he’s in at that time. For this record, he’s in a fun season of life because all his kids are in school. When he makes a new album, he always tries to be progressive while remaining authentic to who he is. One thing he can always promise is that the songs on it reflect wherever he is in life at that moment.
“Overdrive” is an accurate story based on the first truck he drove during his High School days. He had sold it but has since bought it back. When he hears that song, he is taken back to riding around in that truck listening to 90s and 2000s Alternative Rock and he can smell his old Abercrombie Fierce cologne. Many songs on the album are inspired by his wife, Lauren. The two first dated when they were in High School but broke up and dated other people. For a long time, Rhett blocked out his feelings for her and they remained friends and would even go on double dates with their new partners. The two even almost ended up marrying other people, but realized they still had feelings and got back together. They got married when they were 21 and now share four children together. When they first got married, it was important they spent their first year together, so she came on the road and lived on a tour bus with him for over 200 shows.
On About a Woman, Rhett worked with a new producer, Julian Bunetta, with whom he credits helping to cultivate a new mindset in the writing room and the studio. He shared he challenged him in a different way than ever before like having him sing differently to keep the record interesting. Since he had a light touring year, he had more time and energy to focus on tweaking the songs until he felt like they were perfect. It was his first project he felt like he didn’t need to rush on and like he really found his voice on. “Something About a Woman” is the song he likes the most on the album. He wrote it at 2 in the morning and channeled his inner Mick Jagger on it. During the pandemic, Rhett learned how to record vocals at his house, so he did a lot of takes from his home studio where he felt like he could be more himself and try harder without anyone hearing. Another new thing he did for this record was a lot of subtracting. He would take the bones of what needed to be there and keep it, but really strip it down. There is a lot of space on this album, which scares him because he feels like he needs to get in and out of songs as fast as possible, but he’s learning to embrace the space.
Rhett also has a lot of positives going on in his personal life. He and his family took a three-week vacation in Africa. It was their daughter, Willa Gray’s, first time back to Uganda since they adopted her from there 8 years ago, which he called one of the most special moments he’s ever experienced as a dad. They were also there for the grand opening of the Love One International Office that his wife is on the board for. His family went over to London before him to try and adapt to the changes of times. He flew from Denver, Colorado, to London, to Dubai before he landed in Uganda, which was about a 36-hour travel day. On the way back they flew from Dubai to Washington D.C., which was about a 16-hour flight that they did with four kids.
To make his album rollout even more special, he and his wife Lauren made a competition out of it. She went to the University of Tennessee and Rhett is a Georgia Bulldogs fan, so available on his website are two different colored vinyl’s you can purchase. One in Orange for Tennessee and the other is red for Georgia, and whichever copy sells more is the winner!
