Thomas Rhett: KYGO’s Cheyenne Frontier Days artist of the week
Apr 29, 2024, 4:36 PM
Thomas Rhett, a seasoned vet with six studio albums and 21 number-one singles under his belt, will cap off the live music performances on July 27 at Cheyenne Frontier Days, which runs from July 19 through 28.
Rhett was intimately familiar with the industry before he started making music. The “Die a Happy Man” singer was born to country singer-songwriter Rhett Akins, who released six studio albums from 1995 to 2008. He came out with his two biggest singles to date, “That Ain’t My Truck” (1995) and “Don’t Get Me Started” (1996), which peaked at number three and number one, respectively. After he gradually took a step back from making his own music, Akins penned multiple number-one hits, including “Take a Back Road” by Rodney Atkins, “Gimme That Girl” by Joe Nichols and “Dirt on My Boots” by Jon Pardi.
Rhett and Akins performed together at the “Daddy of ’em All” in 2021.
Rhett was born in Valdosta, Ga., and was raised in Hendersonville, Tenn, where he was acquainted with Tim McGraw and Brooks & Dunn growing up. He got his feet wet in the music world in junior high, where he learned to play the drums and would occasionally play alongside his father onstage. He went on to take part in a band, The High-Heeled Flip Flops, in high school, and changed his trajectory when he dropped out of Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tenn., at age 20 to pursue a career in music. He subsequently signed a publishing deal with Big Machine Records.
Following in his dad’s footsteps, he took up songwriting and cowrote songs with the likes of Jason Aldean, Lee Brice and Florida Georgia Line starting in 2010. Two years later, he released his debut single, “Something to Do with My Hands,” which appeared on his first album in 2013, “It Goes Like This.”
Rhett is the winner of the Academy of Country Music’s Male Artist of the Year award in 2019 and 2020 and iHeartRadio Music Awards’ Country Artist of the Year in 2017 and 2018. Of his 21 number-one hits, 20 of them were released within a decade, which he showcased in his 2023 greatest hits album “Twenty Number Ones.”
Music isn’t Rhett’s only undertaking. He teamed up with his cousin Jeff Worn in 2019 to create Dos Primos tequila.
He married “New York Times” best-selling author Lauren Akins in 2012, with whom he has four daughters.
Just a month after his June 22 set at Country Jam in Grand Junction, Colo., the five-time Grammy nominee will perform at Cheyenne Frontier Days July 27 at 8 p.m.
