Country star Thomas Rhett has a lot to celebrate -- aside from his two nominations and a highly-anticipated performance at the 2020 CMAs tonight, and his brand new single "What's Your Country Song" just released this week.
Admittedly a super-fan of Christmas, Rhett says the family has already put up the lights outside their home, while the Halloween decorations still linger inside.
"On Halloween day we actually put up our Christmas lights," he tells RADIO.COM's Kelly Ford from backstage in Nashville ahead of the show. "Honestly, we love Thanksgiving but we kind of go straight from Halloween to Christmas. I'm trying to convince my wife to leave the lights up 'til July, but we'll see what happens."
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Thomas is nominated in the Male Vocalist of the Year and Musical Event of the Year categories, the latter for his collaborative project "Be A Light" which was recorded with Reba McEntire, Lady A's Hillary Scott, Chris Tomlin, and Keith Urban all while under coronavirus lockdown. Tonight will be the first time all of the artists will be in the same room to perform the emotional track dedicated to Americas first responders.
Rhett's brand new single "What's Your Country Song" is out now as well, and upon first listen, the '90s Country kid in you will certainly hear some familiar phrases. It all started as a joke, Rhett says, when he included an old lyric of his dad's, Rhett Akins, which then turned into a full-on tribute to the music he grew up with.
"We wrote the chorus first and then started to mess around with what the verse was gonna feel like," he says, remembering the recording process with his father. "I immediately threw that line in about my dad and we all laughed. Then we were like, 'you know what, maybe all the verses need to be old school Country songs that we turn into a story.' I'm just trying to get my dad some props in there."
"I was born in 1990," he explains. "So, from the time I was born until I was about fifteen years old, that was the era of my life and definitely an era of Country music that influenced my life today."
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Ever since Country made its way into his bones, Rhett says he's had the opportunity to meet a few of his favorite artists and considers many as his "Spirit Animal" -- including the one's he'll be performing with tonight.
"Reba is such a legend to me in my mind, not only as a human being but as an artist and definitely as a performer," Thomas says. So I would say Reba, Brooks & Dunn... there's so many. Alan Jackson, Joe Diffie... he was one of my all time favorites."
Don't miss all of your own favorites as they take the 2020 CMAs stage in Nashville tonight at 8PM ET on ABC. For much more from Thomas Rhett, check out the full conversation above.
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