WEBVTT - #109 - Rhett Akins 0:00:00.600 --> 0:00:04.440 All right here with Red Atkins. It's good. Can you 0:00:04.559 --> 0:00:07.720 hear anything? That's the trick of the podcast. We don't 0:00:07.760 --> 0:00:11.640 let you hear what's happening. We're making you good. Yea, 0:00:11.880 --> 0:00:17.759 what do you do today? I wrote today? Any good man? 0:00:17.840 --> 0:00:23.040 That's a that's a question I can't answer anymore. I 0:00:23.079 --> 0:00:25.640 don't know. I have my own I have my own 0:00:25.760 --> 0:00:27.640 version of what I think is good and bad, you know, 0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:30.440 from the from my all of my years of listening 0:00:30.480 --> 0:00:32.800 to music. But when it comes to my own it's 0:00:32.840 --> 0:00:35.479 hard to tell because there's so many sons. I've probably 0:00:35.479 --> 0:00:39.000 written close to two thousand songs in the last ten years. 0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:43.720 And when I started, I really thought I knew. And 0:00:43.760 --> 0:00:45.720 then the ones that you think this is a Grammy. 0:00:45.800 --> 0:00:47.840 I mean, this is the best song of all time. 0:00:48.200 --> 0:00:50.839 It's still sitting on the shelf at my publican company. 0:00:51.040 --> 0:00:52.640 And the one that you walk out of there going, 0:00:52.760 --> 0:00:55.360 it's all right. You know, nobody'll ever cut it. Whatever, 0:00:55.520 --> 0:00:57.960 boys around here, nobody in the world will ever cut that. 0:00:59.120 --> 0:01:03.280 You know, I've got it, you just I just don't know. 0:01:03.360 --> 0:01:08.679 I can't tell anymore. So you couple boys right here 0:01:08.680 --> 0:01:10.520 and you go at him. Now, this is another song 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:12.880 of the day. I don't, yeah, and it was the 0:01:12.920 --> 0:01:15.600 demo was so whacked out. What you guys doing the 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:20.200 demo that was different. Craig Wiseman built the track the 0:01:20.240 --> 0:01:24.680 red red red Red, Redneck came from. Uh. Craig Wiseman 0:01:24.720 --> 0:01:27.760 asked Alice Davidson, one of the writers on the song, 0:01:28.200 --> 0:01:30.160 what he had done that weekend, and Dallas said, oh, 0:01:30.319 --> 0:01:32.360 just me and my red neck buddies fishing or something 0:01:32.360 --> 0:01:35.800 like that. But Craig had the microphone rolling and and 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:38.360 you know, Craig, we didn't know it, don't even know this, 0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:40.960 but Craig's over there messing with the computer and we 0:01:41.000 --> 0:01:42.520 don't know what he's doing. Next thing, you know, you 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:45.760 hear red red, red, red, red, red red Nick. He 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:48.720 had just taken Dallas's word from Redneck and turned it 0:01:48.760 --> 0:01:56.200 into that. And uh, the the bridge Riggers, Let's ride. 0:01:57.320 --> 0:02:00.200 That was that happened because we had been there so 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:03.040 long that I just leaned back in my chair and 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:10.079 I went yawn. And Craig thought that I was singing 0:02:10.080 --> 0:02:13.040 at melody and he was like, oh, that's good, right, 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:15.680 there was what you got right there. I was like, 0:02:15.720 --> 0:02:17.160 what do you mean? I was like, I yawned, and 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:19.000 he guys, yeah, it was good. It's in tune. It's 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:22.840 in tuning, and so oh, let's right, came from me yawning. 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:26.840 Actually um. And then Dallas had to leave, and so 0:02:26.960 --> 0:02:29.080 me and Craig finished the bridge and the rest of 0:02:29.120 --> 0:02:31.360 the song out. So the first half of the song 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:34.160 is Dallas singing. The back half of the song is 0:02:34.200 --> 0:02:37.640 me singing. It's got the red red red Neck, and 0:02:37.680 --> 0:02:40.720 it's got all these little ad libs, like, you know, 0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:45.919 all this stupid stuff, and and so, uh, Craig, we're 0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:49.320 packing up, and I said, no way on earth does 0:02:49.360 --> 0:02:53.320 this song get pitched until the Redneck is out, all 0:02:53.360 --> 0:02:56.040 the little ad libs. And Dallas has got to come 0:02:56.040 --> 0:02:57.600 back and sing the rest of the song, because who 0:02:57.600 --> 0:02:59.280 wants to hear a song with half of its me 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:01.959 and half of its him, you know? And he uh, 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:04.639 he text me that night and I'm doing a Craig 0:03:04.680 --> 0:03:07.320 wise an invitation, but or he called me and he say, 0:03:07.400 --> 0:03:10.120 I ain't God Daddy, he said, uh too late on 0:03:10.200 --> 0:03:12.919 that redoing the demo. And I said, what do you mean? 0:03:12.919 --> 0:03:15.000 He said, Lawrene, I said, Blake And he loves it. 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:17.840 That was it. You know, that's a song that I 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:20.600 was like, who who could cut this? You know? And 0:03:20.639 --> 0:03:24.160 I guess Blake can. Well, Blake's you know, He's y'all 0:03:24.200 --> 0:03:27.440 are the raging idiots, and he's the biggest of all. 0:03:27.639 --> 0:03:30.560 He's the raging ist, raging idiot they ever walked, so 0:03:31.600 --> 0:03:34.680 of the super country, even the pop. Yeah, he can say. 0:03:34.720 --> 0:03:36.880 Blake has created that lane where you can say anything 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:40.040 Blake and with black Black just I mean, I've known 0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:42.640 Blake since probably two thousand. This is fun, this is true. 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:46.760 I was back when I was on the road and stuff. 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:49.040 I was booked by Buddy Lee Attractions, and so me 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:51.080 and Joey Lee, he was had a Buddy Lee were 0:03:51.160 --> 0:03:54.360 in the parking lot and Giant Records was right across 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:57.360 the rut across the road, and this guy pulls up 0:03:57.360 --> 0:04:00.520 in a truck, it's old truck and he gets out 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:04.160 and his hair is literally to his butt. He's got 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:07.720 a cowboy hat on, curly reddish brown hair down to 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:10.880 his butt. And I asked Joey Lee, I said, who 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:14.320 in the world is that? And he said, uh, as 0:04:14.400 --> 0:04:17.920 this new artist I think named Blake Shelton. And I said, 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:20.680 I don't know if he can sing. I don't know 0:04:20.720 --> 0:04:22.880 anything about the dude, but he will never make it 0:04:24.960 --> 0:04:27.640 like he was just like worse than I mean, worse 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:31.280 than Billy Ray never had hair like Blake had back then, 0:04:31.320 --> 0:04:34.719 and who who would have guessed? You know, eighteen years later, 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:37.279 if you ask a random person on the street, do 0:04:37.279 --> 0:04:40.800 you listen to country music? And they go, no, you know, 0:04:40.880 --> 0:04:44.200 any country artist, Blake would probably be the first. Taylor 0:04:44.240 --> 0:04:47.320 Swifter or Blake would be the two artists they would 0:04:47.320 --> 0:04:50.240 probably pick, you know, because he's just the voice and 0:04:50.279 --> 0:04:52.920 everything he's done is just awesome. See you leave the 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:55.000 studio now and you got do you not even think 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:57.520 about what you did? Because it's so like for me, 0:04:57.560 --> 0:04:59.760 I'll go to a radio show and I can't tell 0:04:59.839 --> 0:05:01.840 it's good night anymore because I do it every day 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:03.960 like I do what I do, and I try to 0:05:04.000 --> 0:05:06.159 do what I do to the best I can do it, 0:05:06.200 --> 0:05:09.720 but I don't know if it's good anymore. I don't either. 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:13.800 I wrote with Ashley Gorley and h Jesse Frasier today too, 0:05:13.839 --> 0:05:16.880 fantastic writers. They're written every hit in the world, and 0:05:16.880 --> 0:05:18.520 we're just sitting there looking at each other, and I 0:05:18.560 --> 0:05:21.760 was just like, dude, how can we how can we 0:05:21.839 --> 0:05:25.880 cook this potato any differently? That's like we have baked it, 0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:29.640 We've mashed it, we cut it up, made French fries, 0:05:30.520 --> 0:05:32.800 we've bowled it, We've held it over a fire with 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:34.640 a stick. I don't know how to I don't know 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:37.279 how to cook this thing anymore. It just to me, 0:05:37.360 --> 0:05:39.360 it starts to be I just trust the process. Yeah, 0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:43.240 that's for me. My whole My whole success is showing 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:45.600 up and doing it. You know. I have to just 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:48.279 show up and and just right because you never know 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:52.560 what day in the world that God's just gonna drop 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:54.359 that one in that one in your lap, you know, 0:05:54.520 --> 0:05:57.479 And so I I do it all the time. What's 0:05:57.520 --> 0:05:59.400 the one to you? If I say, hey, what's that one? 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:02.400 That's what the one that you put out that goes man, 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:04.760 that's the one I'm I'm proud of it him. I 0:06:04.800 --> 0:06:11.120 think the best, the only one song, the best combination 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:15.839 of melody and unique lyric. I think it was Honeybee. 0:06:24.800 --> 0:06:27.520 It's a love song that's that's written completely different than 0:06:27.520 --> 0:06:29.840 any other love song I've heard. We didn't even mean 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:32.360 to write this song. Neither neither Ben Hay Silett nor 0:06:32.400 --> 0:06:35.880 myself even had this title, this has an Arkansas connection 0:06:35.920 --> 0:06:38.920 for you. Um, We're sitting there like we always do, 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:42.640 talking about Georgia football and hunting or something, and you know, 0:06:42.720 --> 0:06:44.440 we do for the first hour and what do you 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:47.960 got nothing? What do you got nothing? And so I'm 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:50.520 just thumbing through like a music Row magazine or something, 0:06:51.160 --> 0:06:54.320 and I flipped to this page and the Governor of Arkansas, 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:58.440 Mike Huckabee was was in Music Row magazine that I 0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:01.760 guess he plays bass and he had come to Nashville 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:05.400 and played on somebody's record and it said Huckabee comes 0:07:05.440 --> 0:07:08.159 to town or something like that, and I misread it 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:10.920 and I thought it said I thought it said Huckleberry, 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:14.320 and uh, I said, how about this title? How about Huckleberry? 0:07:14.400 --> 0:07:15.800 And you know, he was like, what's that? And I 0:07:15.800 --> 0:07:17.800 was like, I have no idea. All I know is 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:20.720 that I heard it in the movie Tombstone that dr 0:07:21.080 --> 0:07:25.160 always said Huckleberry, And so we tried to We fiddled 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:26.200 with that for a minute and I was like, I 0:07:26.240 --> 0:07:27.800 don't get it. I don't know what this is. And 0:07:27.840 --> 0:07:31.960 then uh, the I'm your Huckleberry turned into I'm your honeysucker. 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:34.720 I saw what about honeysuckle? And He's like, Okay, what's that? 0:07:34.800 --> 0:07:36.600 And I was like, well, if I'm well, if I'm 0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:39.000 a honeysuckle or you're a honeysuckle, then what could be 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:42.200 the opposite? And that's how honey Bee came about in 0:07:42.240 --> 0:07:44.800 the in the title and the idea was so different 0:07:45.600 --> 0:07:47.680 that we knew we had to write it kind of 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:51.120 funny because what romantic song are you gonna hear with 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:53.600 a guy and a girl sitting there? And he goes, hey, 0:07:55.760 --> 0:07:58.240 you'd be my Mississippi and I'll be in Louisiana, you know. 0:07:58.600 --> 0:08:00.600 And so we kind of had ache in mind, I 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:02.360 will say for that when we we sort of had 0:08:02.360 --> 0:08:05.120 black in mind, because again, like boys around here, who 0:08:05.160 --> 0:08:08.880 else can we can be wetty wetty and and pull 0:08:09.000 --> 0:08:11.760 this off? You know? And then uh. I remember playing 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:13.920 the work tape for Thomas Rhett because I thought I 0:08:13.920 --> 0:08:16.040 didn't think it was that good, and I was like, 0:08:16.120 --> 0:08:17.960 you think we should demo this thing? And he said 0:08:18.000 --> 0:08:20.360 d He's like, if you don't demo this thing, I'm 0:08:20.360 --> 0:08:22.920 gonna I'm gonna do something with it. Um. And so 0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:24.800 we demoed it and sent it to Blake and he 0:08:25.400 --> 0:08:27.560 just flipped over it. And so that one, I think 0:08:27.640 --> 0:08:31.600 is the best combination of of lyric, a cool idea, 0:08:31.920 --> 0:08:33.280 and a melody. I mean, I've had a lot of 0:08:33.320 --> 0:08:35.320 songs that the melody were great and the lyrics, like 0:08:36.679 --> 0:08:39.719 you know, lyrics are great, melodies stock or whatever, it's 0:08:39.720 --> 0:08:41.560 not anything special, but that would just seem like that 0:08:41.600 --> 0:08:44.120 one just was everything in one When you came to town. 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:48.040 What was the goal for you to be artist? Um? Yeah, 0:08:48.120 --> 0:08:50.000 but I mean a songwriter also. I mean I guess 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:51.959 always in the back of my mind, I was a 0:08:52.000 --> 0:08:54.880 songwriter first, but I did want to be an artist. 0:08:54.920 --> 0:08:57.600 I mean from the time I was six years old, 0:08:57.600 --> 0:09:02.679 old enough to know anything about music. Um, I just 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:06.079 you know, there wasn't the Internet or anything back then, 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:10.480 so I just religiously studied album covers and had kiss 0:09:10.520 --> 0:09:14.000 posters all over my wall, and I was just very 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:17.600 I stayed up late at night watching Friday night videos 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:19.400 and night tracks and you know what there was we 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:21.920 didn't We couldn't even get MTV, and when we did, 0:09:21.960 --> 0:09:23.880 that's all I watched. So I just I kind of 0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:27.880 idolized singers from a young age and football players. I'm 0:09:27.880 --> 0:09:31.400 a huge sports not too but football players and musicians 0:09:31.440 --> 0:09:34.600 were like from Mars and and that's where I wanted 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:38.040 to go, So you moved to town. You know. When 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:42.040 I was growing up, this is massive and I listened 0:09:42.080 --> 0:09:44.360 to U S nine seven Kissing ninety six Franks later 0:09:44.480 --> 0:09:46.920 rock stations. I mean, I can vividly remember this song 0:09:47.320 --> 0:09:49.760 and radio. It's part of my childhood. Yes, weird how 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:51.640 that one has hung around. I mean, you never know. 0:09:53.800 --> 0:09:55.400 I still play the song today on my show. I 0:09:55.440 --> 0:09:59.320 know I heard I heard um, you know obviously once 0:09:59.360 --> 0:10:01.240 every two weeks or something like that. But I'll have 0:10:01.320 --> 0:10:03.080 people lot of time ago. Man, I heard that. Ain't 0:10:03.120 --> 0:10:05.280 my truck this morning on the way in. I have 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:10.080 absolutely no reason why. I mean, there's you know, there's 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:12.040 a lot of great songs from the nineties, I mean, 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:15.360 super giant hits from Garth, Allen Jackson, everybody, and for 0:10:15.400 --> 0:10:19.160 some reason, that one has has hung around. Thank goodness, 0:10:19.760 --> 0:10:22.000 you still have the itch to go and play these 0:10:22.000 --> 0:10:25.559 big shows. Ah SOMEO. I mean the Luckily for me, 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:27.760 I still kind of get to do it. So it's 0:10:27.760 --> 0:10:30.440 not like I'm a songwriter only because I go on 0:10:30.480 --> 0:10:33.000 the road all the time and write. Anytime I'm out 0:10:33.040 --> 0:10:36.120 with Thomas Rhett. He always brings me on stage and 0:10:36.120 --> 0:10:38.800 and I sing that and maybe a song or two 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:40.880 that he and I wrote or something else that I've written. 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:43.640 And uh, I go on tour with Luke Brian every 0:10:43.880 --> 0:10:46.760 uh fall for the farm tour. Uh the peach pickers 0:10:46.760 --> 0:10:50.679 to me been hey slipping Dallas Davidson. And our primary 0:10:50.720 --> 0:10:52.760 goal is out there to write. We're right with Luke 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:55.640 or whoever is opening the show, but we do uh, 0:10:55.760 --> 0:10:58.000 we have we bring a full band, and so we've 0:10:58.040 --> 0:11:01.600 been opening for Luke since Too was in eleven. And 0:11:01.679 --> 0:11:06.599 it's freaking it's it's really weird because you know, most songwriters, 0:11:08.280 --> 0:11:10.720 they don't I don't. I don't think they. We get 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:13.040 stuck in Nashville and we're stuck on these two or 0:11:13.080 --> 0:11:15.000 three streets on music Crow, but we don't ever go 0:11:15.080 --> 0:11:18.480 out and see what's really happening in mid Iowa or somewhere. 0:11:19.520 --> 0:11:21.079 When you're out there on a farm tour in a 0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:24.520 field on a dirt road, we're literally half the people 0:11:24.600 --> 0:11:28.200 miss half the show because they're stuck, you know, But 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:30.800 to sing for twenty thou people the songs that that 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:33.760 we wrote, and they just we don't. We honestly don't 0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:36.760 have to sing. I mean they literally scream every word back. 0:11:36.800 --> 0:11:40.040 And uh, that's pretty awesome to be able to still 0:11:40.080 --> 0:11:42.240 get to do it every now and then. But I 0:11:42.320 --> 0:11:47.920 definitely don't want to be on the tour bus. I 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:50.080 did it fifteen straight years. I mean I was on 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:55.079 the road from so about two thousand and ten or eleven, 0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:57.560 and UM, yeah, I don't have the desire to be 0:11:57.640 --> 0:11:59.480 on the bus every weekend, but I do like doing it, 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:03.320 you know, once every six you know, four to six months. 0:12:03.320 --> 0:12:05.520 I just went on the road with Midland, like a 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:07.320 couple of weeks ago. I went from I went to 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:12.320 California for five days with John Party and flew to Ohio. Midland. 0:12:12.360 --> 0:12:15.400 You talk about two two bands that will warry out. 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:19.320 I'm good friend to John. Yeah, like I love that dude. 0:12:19.440 --> 0:12:25.280 He's he's awesome. And you wrote this one. That's it. 0:12:25.400 --> 0:12:28.000 That's a a jam. It is, But that's another one 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:29.920 that I walked out of there never. I didn't even 0:12:29.960 --> 0:12:32.360 think about it. And you know when I left, Um, 0:12:32.400 --> 0:12:34.360 the boots that I'm wearing now, the boots that I 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:36.400 wrote this song. I've been wearing these boots since two 0:12:36.440 --> 0:12:43.000 thousand and ten. Um, and uh, we wrote this song 0:12:43.040 --> 0:12:44.959 like at eight o'clock in the morning before we went 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:48.920 to our real rights, and um, well, I mean I 0:12:48.960 --> 0:12:52.320 was about half asleep and and uh we only had 0:12:52.360 --> 0:12:54.120 like two hours, couldn't think of anything to write. And 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:55.800 I'm just looking down at the ground on my boots 0:12:55.840 --> 0:12:58.520 and I'm just like, same boots. I'm like, what about 0:12:58.559 --> 0:13:01.480 dirt on my boots? You know, stupid whatever, But we 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:05.040 don't have anything else. And Jesse's track was so but 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:07.880 you should hear the demo. Man, it's like banging. If 0:13:07.960 --> 0:13:11.360 you think this is banging, Jesse's demo was banging, and 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:13.320 and we wrote it and you know, it's not a 0:13:13.320 --> 0:13:17.600 fantastic title or anything. Um and uh so I just 0:13:17.640 --> 0:13:19.920 walked out of there and going, who knows, man, it's 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:23.040 so hip hop and and pop and it's called Dirt 0:13:23.040 --> 0:13:24.920 on my Boots. I mean, I don't know if he 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:26.920 mal dig this. I really didn't think about it again, 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:30.480 and I don't know a few months later they said 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:33.280 John Party was gonna cut it. And I've been writing 0:13:33.280 --> 0:13:35.640 with John since like two thousand nine, like I and 0:13:35.679 --> 0:13:39.439 he's just now, you know, really hitting it. And um, 0:13:39.559 --> 0:13:41.439 I was really excited that he loved it. And then 0:13:41.720 --> 0:13:43.560 right after I was excited that he loved it. I 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:47.040 got really unexcited real quick because I said, wait, wait, wait, wait, 0:13:47.120 --> 0:13:49.480 John can't have the song, and they're like, why not? 0:13:49.600 --> 0:13:51.679 And I said, what his biggest hit he's ever had 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:55.280 is called head over Boots. That was the big deal. Yeah, 0:13:55.360 --> 0:13:57.920 I'm like, he said, he's not gonna cut. He's not 0:13:57.960 --> 0:14:00.000 gonna I said, even if he cuts it, he won't 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:02.080 put it out. There's no way they will put out 0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:06.320 two Boots songs on a record. And uh, Mike Dungan 0:14:06.400 --> 0:14:09.800 was just like, I don't care if you say Boots 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:12.560 five times. He's like, you want two back to bat hits. 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:15.240 We're putting out dirt on my boots. And thank goodness 0:14:15.240 --> 0:14:17.360 for Mike Dungan that he just didn't care. He's like, 0:14:17.360 --> 0:14:19.040 I don't care what they say. It's a smash. I 0:14:19.040 --> 0:14:21.600 remember John said he we have two Boots songs, like 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:23.120 our next song is about to be booted And I 0:14:23.160 --> 0:14:27.760 was like really, and so now nobody even thinks about it. Yeah, 0:14:27.800 --> 0:14:29.960 he's got a song on his album called Cowboy Hat 0:14:30.040 --> 0:14:32.160 and I think you just cut a song called Pearl 0:14:32.200 --> 0:14:34.960 Snap And I was like, we're just going what do 0:14:34.960 --> 0:14:38.440 you want belt buckle want he wants spurs. What what 0:14:38.520 --> 0:14:41.320 else can we do? You played ball in high school? Did? Yeah? 0:14:41.560 --> 0:14:42.720 I have a big sports guy too. I had a 0:14:42.800 --> 0:14:44.800 national sports to talk show for a long time. Played 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:47.840 ball of course in high school. But um, that's my 0:14:48.040 --> 0:14:51.720 passion music and sports. I think every singer wants to 0:14:51.720 --> 0:14:53.680 be an athlete, and every athlete wants to be a singer. 0:14:53.720 --> 0:14:56.600 I like to be out the one. Well, I went 0:14:56.640 --> 0:14:58.320 to the University of Georgia and I played in my 0:14:58.360 --> 0:15:01.760 freshman year, and well, I would say played, I practiced. 0:15:02.600 --> 0:15:05.720 I did my granddad who played at Georgia in the forties. 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:08.840 We had season tickets my whole life. You know. I 0:15:08.880 --> 0:15:12.320 met herschel Walker when I was ten. Um for me, 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:15.280 I grew up in Valdosta, Georgia, which is the winningest 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:19.640 high school football team of all time. You can get state. 0:15:19.760 --> 0:15:22.200 So I grew up in a town where our high 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:26.080 school quarterbacks were more famous than me than Terry Bradshaw 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:28.640 or Roger stall Back. I could go see then. I 0:15:28.680 --> 0:15:31.680 remember I shook buck Baloo's hand when I was like eight, 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:34.800 and he was the voudoustar quarterback, and then he won 0:15:34.880 --> 0:15:38.560 the national championship at Georgia, And to this day, that's 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:41.920 one of the biggest handshakes I've ever had. Was Buckaloe. 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:44.640 When I was eight, they were gods where I was from. 0:15:44.720 --> 0:15:47.240 And then he goes to Georgia and then Herschel as 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:50.000 a freshman, and then you're ten years old and all 0:15:50.080 --> 0:15:52.480 this is happening is from your hometown and it's your 0:15:52.680 --> 0:15:56.560 college team. I was. I was like, you know, I 0:15:56.680 --> 0:15:59.440 was just as much as an aspiring athlete as I 0:15:59.520 --> 0:16:02.480 was a musician. But but a musician is something that 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:05.440 couldn't happen, And that was just there's no way I 0:16:05.440 --> 0:16:07.680 could be a singer, but I can play football, So 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:09.000 you thought you had a better shot to make a 0:16:09.000 --> 0:16:11.120 CREDI an athlete. Well, who could be a singer? I 0:16:11.120 --> 0:16:14.480 mean there was no American idol or YouTube or or 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:16.800 any way to even make it. I mean, I don't 0:16:16.840 --> 0:16:19.080 know anybody. No, but I don't know anybody that can sing. 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:22.160 There's nobody from around here that's ever gone to do it. 0:16:22.240 --> 0:16:24.400 So that's out. I mean, I'll just be sitting on 0:16:24.440 --> 0:16:26.800 my bed playing my guitar. So when did you make 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:28.480 that turn though, where you go, Okay, I'm gonna try 0:16:28.520 --> 0:16:30.000 this because at one some point you have to go. 0:16:30.600 --> 0:16:32.520 I'm gonna take the shot. I always played like I 0:16:32.840 --> 0:16:36.160 took my guitar to football camp every year, and I 0:16:36.240 --> 0:16:38.840 was always very good. Well I wouldn't say I was good, No, 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:41.720 just nobody else could play, so they thought I was awesome. 0:16:43.640 --> 0:16:45.760 I'm very I was always good at listening. I can't 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:47.840 read music. I was very good at listening to music 0:16:47.880 --> 0:16:49.920 and just moving the needle back and forth. And you know, 0:16:50.200 --> 0:16:52.560 after a little while, I could fake anything. I could 0:16:52.560 --> 0:16:57.080 play any skinnered song or George Straight or whatever. So 0:16:57.120 --> 0:16:59.600 I always played, you know, at football camp and parties. 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:03.080 Everybody like get your guitar and and um. It was 0:17:03.120 --> 0:17:05.199 after I came home from Georgia and I moved back 0:17:05.240 --> 0:17:07.280 to aut Austin and I was working for my daddy, 0:17:07.760 --> 0:17:11.600 and uh um, I ran into an old high school 0:17:11.600 --> 0:17:13.879 buddy and we said we should get together like we 0:17:13.880 --> 0:17:15.879 did in high school and just start playing somewhere. So 0:17:15.920 --> 0:17:18.600 we played at a little restaurant and at the Holiday 0:17:18.600 --> 0:17:21.760 Inn for like a happy hour and stuff. And um 0:17:22.640 --> 0:17:24.359 we did that for about two years and it just 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:27.399 kept growing and everybody, I mean it kind of became 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:31.399 a thing like rhet and Hall are playing at the 0:17:31.400 --> 0:17:33.720 holiday and on Thursday night, and I mean it, it 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:36.640 was like getting packed in there and I would throw 0:17:36.720 --> 0:17:40.240 in one of my own every now and then. Um 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:41.960 and everybody, you know, of course, when you're in a 0:17:42.000 --> 0:17:44.400 small town, everybody's like, man, you're better in Garth. Man. 0:17:44.560 --> 0:17:47.399 You you know you're as good as Alan Jackson. You 0:17:47.440 --> 0:17:51.280 want to you want to move to Nashville? And um, 0:17:51.320 --> 0:17:55.760 so about when Thomas Rhett was right about two, we moved. 0:17:55.800 --> 0:17:58.800 We moved to Nashville and just said, you know, thank goodness, 0:17:58.840 --> 0:18:02.760 my parents and everybody where cool with it. And uh, 0:18:03.000 --> 0:18:04.760 I just said, I'd rather go try it and fail 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:06.919 than be ninety and wish I wish I did it. 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:09.560 You know, never would have dreamed you know I'd still 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:11.720 be here doing it. You always call him Thomas Rrett. 0:18:11.760 --> 0:18:13.800 Do you call him Thomas when you're not talking about him? Thomashrett. 0:18:13.880 --> 0:18:16.080 That's that's been his name since he was born, So 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:18.680 it's he's always Thomas Raett. That's not a thing you're 0:18:18.720 --> 0:18:20.800 just saying because we're talking about his name is Thomas Rtt. 0:18:21.040 --> 0:18:23.360 Most people think his last name is Rhett. I don't 0:18:23.359 --> 0:18:25.440 even call my name is Thomas Rhett. I'm Thomas Hredd 0:18:25.440 --> 0:18:29.000 Aikins Senior. He's Thomas Fredd Aikins Jr. And from the 0:18:29.080 --> 0:18:31.720 moment he was born. That's kind of a Southern thing. 0:18:32.000 --> 0:18:34.320 You know, he's been timing. We called him Thomas Rrett 0:18:34.320 --> 0:18:37.600 since day was born, so I call him t R. Yeah, 0:18:37.720 --> 0:18:40.280 I call him TRS too, Yeah, but but that's mostly 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:43.600 Thomas Hrett. Yeah. But most people that that that don't 0:18:43.640 --> 0:18:45.800 know anything about me or whatever, they think that that 0:18:45.960 --> 0:18:48.720 his last name is Rhet And so the funniest thing 0:18:48.800 --> 0:18:52.840 ever on Instagram or Twitter one time, the fans got 0:18:52.880 --> 0:18:56.000 into an argument about his last name and they said. 0:18:56.680 --> 0:19:00.600 One person said, because Lawrence Instagram is like, aren't Aikins 0:19:00.680 --> 0:19:04.000 or whatever, And they were like, I think it's so 0:19:04.040 --> 0:19:08.560 sweet that Thomas Rett took Lauren's last name when they 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:13.119 got married, Like he loves her so much that he 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:17.080 ditched his last name Rhett for Aikins because his Instagram 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:20.120 name is Thomas Red Aikins. But they don't. But they're like, 0:19:20.280 --> 0:19:22.240 what's the Aikins thing. His last name is Rhett, so 0:19:22.280 --> 0:19:26.160 he took his wife's name and made that his name. 0:19:26.680 --> 0:19:29.240 And then the next person said, you're so stupid. They're 0:19:29.280 --> 0:19:33.640 like They're like, his his his name is, his name 0:19:33.720 --> 0:19:37.880 is Thomas Redd Aikins. Duh, his dad is Rett Atkins. 0:19:37.920 --> 0:19:42.080 Like like, I've always been called you know, every nobody 0:19:42.080 --> 0:19:43.960 can get Akins, right, it's been Atkins since I was 0:19:44.000 --> 0:19:46.040 in first grade. But it was like, no, his name 0:19:46.080 --> 0:19:48.320 is Thomas Red Aikins because his dad is Red Atkins. 0:19:48.400 --> 0:19:51.040 I mean, it was the dumbest argument I've ever seen 0:19:51.080 --> 0:19:53.320 on social media. But um, was that a conversation you 0:19:53.400 --> 0:19:57.080 guys had where yeah we did, because yeah, he just 0:19:57.240 --> 0:20:00.760 you know, obviously there was Chat at Hims who started 0:20:00.760 --> 0:20:04.119 the whole thing. Then you had me, Trace Atkins and 0:20:04.200 --> 0:20:07.600