A new Thomas Rhett emerged with his recently-released Country Again: Side A album. The ambitious 12-track record, which returns Rhett to his country music roots that he grew up on, might have never happened, if not for the unexpected struggles of 2020.
“I think the majority of this record, even though a lot of it was written in 2019, I think that it took 2020 and all of the hardship that came with it, to kind of re-discover some stuff about my life, about myself, about being a husband, being a dad,” Rhett shared with Everything Nash and other outlets at a virtual media event. “I feel like when you’re forced to stop doing what you think your identity is, and you’re forced to live with yourself, at the core of you, you start to ask yourself a lot of questions. Who am I without a guitar? Who am I without a stage? And I think that I just kept being reminded that I am a dad, I’m a husband, I’m a friend. And I really started to just embrace more of those moments so much more, obviously being forced to stay at home.”
Rhett struggled greatly with the restrictions caused by the pandemic, at least at first, but in hindsight, he sees the time at home as a gift.
“I think a lot of these songs definitely would not have been written without this year,” Rhett said. “I would say they might’ve been along the same lines, but I think lyrically the content never would’ve even popped into my head had we not been in a pandemic. And so, in many ways, it was super devastating for a lot of people, but also in many ways, I think it taught me a lot of lessons that I will take forward into 2021 and into my head had we not been in a pandemic.”
Country Again is Rhett’s fifth studio album, but marks a decidedly new chapter for the father of three.
“I’ve been reflecting on every album in some capacity, but this one was a little bit different,” Rhett acknowledges. “I feel like I was taking ten years worth of knowledge from the road to getting married, to being a dad to to then hitting the year 2020. It all just kind of sinks in. It’s like, what kind of person have I been in the last ten years? And so I would say that, as much of this this record is looking back, a lot of it is a time stamp of today. I think 2020 taught us all so many lessons, whether it was for better or for worse. For me, I really learned how to to slow down, and and really recognize what was in front of me and what my priorities were.”
Country Again: Side A is available for purchase at ThomasRhett.com.
