Thomas Rhett Recalls First Time Hearing Himself on the Radio

Thomas Rhett still remembers the first time he heard himself on the radio. The Georgia native was in the beginning stages of his career, launching his first single, “Something to Do With My Hands,” from his 2013 freshman It Goes Like This Record, when Rhett heard himself come over the airwaves.

“The first time I heard my song on the radio, I was driving from L.A. to Vegas,” recalls Rhett. “It was my first single, ‘Something To Do With My Hands.’ [It] feels like ages ago. But me and my radio rep George Briner were driving, and it’s like a four or five hour drive, and one of the stations we were driving through told us they were going to play it because they knew we were in the car and they did. And that video actually still exists somewhere on my ancient computer from high school that I need to go dig up and find it.”

Since then, Rhett has become quite accustomed to hearing himself on the radio. He just logged his tenth No. 1 single, with “Marry Me,” a song he wrote while imagining life without his wife, Lauren Akins.

“We wrote it from a place that could have been my life,” Rhett told PopCulture.com of the song, written by Rhett along with Shane McAnally, Jesse Frasure and Ashley Gorley. “Everybody has turning points in their life where you have these moments where you can either go left or go right, and if you go left then you never know what would have been in that right direction.”

The video for “Marry Me” shows the heartbroken man leaving the ceremony, with the bride finding him at the end, still in her wedding dress. But though the song, and the video, might seem tragic, the 27-year-old says he believes they found their happy ending.

“At the end I wanted to really just rein in that Nicholas Sparks moment, and really give the viewers a positive ending,” explains Rhett. “I think she left the wedding and came and now they’re together wherever they are living in the Virgin Islands somewhere.”

Rhett is nominated for six ACM Awards, including Male Vocalist of the Year, and Video of the Year, for “Marry Me.”

The 2018 ACM Awards will air live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 15, at 8:00 PM ET on CBS.

Photo Credit: Instagram/ThomasRhettAkins