ACM Awards 2020: Thomas Rhett Praises Fans for Earning 5 Nominations

Thomas Rhett earned five ACM Awards nominations, including his first for Entertainer of the Year, the night’s highest honor. Rhett spoke out about the nominations on social media, praising his fans for helping him get so far in his career.

“I just needed to take a quick second and say thank you, thank you, thank you to my amazing fans, the ACMs, for getting five this year at the awards show,” Rhett said in a video on Instagram. “To my amazing band, who puts in countless, countless hours, and puts up with me during rehearsals, to try and make this show as perfect as it can be. To all the fans that came out, everyone in country radio that played my songs.

“To my family, management, everyone –– literally, it takes such a team effort to be put in the category of Entertainer of the Year,” he continued. “I just wanted to say massive thanks to everyone who supports me and listens to my songs and comes to my shows, because without y’all it’s not even possible.”

The father of three just welcomed his third daughter, Lennon Love, into the world. Rhett credits not only his wife, Lauren Akins, but his daughters, Willa Gray and Ada James, for helping him pick the best songs to record.

“I was driving Willa and Ada out to the farm, and it’s about a 45-minute drive, and I keep going through demos,” Rhett told his record label. “I’ve got them on a playlist and my kids are about the best A&R team that I can have –– my kids and my wife, because they for sure are gonna tell you that that song is terrible or that song is good. Like, if Willa Grey wants to listen to a song six times in a row, maybe it should have a shot. Maybe a lot of other 4-year-olds will want to listen to it six times in a row.

“And my wife is the first one to be like, ‘That’s not my favorite,’ or ‘That’s one of my favorite songs you’ve ever written,’” he continued. “There are some of the songs that neither of them like that I love too much to not cut. But for the most part, I do listen to a lot of opinions and then at the end of the day, I take all those opinions and I put them in a pot and try to make a decision for myself. But my kids do have a huge role in picking a lot of songs, which is hilarious.”

Rhett shares the Entertainer of the Year category with Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Luke Combs and Carrie Underwood. Rhett is also nominated, as both artist and producer, for Album of the Year (for Center Point Road), Male Artist of the Year, and Video of the Year (for “Remember You Young”).

The 2020 ACM Awards will air live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 5, at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.

Photo Credit: Getty / Presley Ann