LISTEN: Thomas Rhett says Irish audiences are a "breath of fresh air"
US country superstar tells Downtown Country that local fans have great knowledge of his music.
Last updated 5th Dec 2017
The singer songwriter spoke exclusively to STUART BANFORD ahead of his recent gig at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast.
Country superstar Thomas Rhett believes the genre is growing outside the US.
And he's been paying particular tribute to local audiences.
"In Belfast and Glasgow and parts of London, Manchester, like everywhere we played on this tour have been significantly bigger than we played last year," he said.
"So it really is cool to know that even the little bit of play that we get over here, I guess it translates."
Rhett (27) said he notices a marked difference with an Irish crowd:
"I think this is way more of a listening audience, it's honestly a breath of fresh air for us in a way," he added.
"We put a show together for American arenas and try to make a 90 minute set, as seamless as possible.
"The biggest difference is that you actually listen to the albums all the way down.
"We do, too - just not to the extent that I've noticed that you guys do and so it's so fun to get there and play a song off a record that you never would've played in Mississippi or something like that and you get to come over here and watch people sing it back to you.
"That is really a special thing to watch."
The 'Die a Happy Man' singer is the son of country singer Rhett Atkins. He said his father played a huge role in his love of music:
"He's written 30 number one country songs," he said.
"The dude is an animal.
"He's had such a huge musical influence on me, just from being a little kid, getting to watch my dad be a singer for a living.
"I got to watch him write songs, I got to watch him make records.
"On the way to school in the mornings he would play me and my sister something different every day, it really wasn't just country music, it was a lot of rock n roll, hip hop, a lot of bluegrass and blues.
"That's how I write songs today it's kind of all over the place but somehow comes back cohesively to making a Thomas Rhett album.
"I think growing up with a dad that played me so many different kinds of stuff made me love and appreciate so many different kinds of music today.
"It really is a blast to have a dad who can be somewhat of a song writing chameleon in a way.
"He can go on any write with anybody and stand his own."
Thomas' very first single was co-written with the legendary Chris Stapleton.
Rhett says Stapleton is in a league of his own:
"We were all such massive fans of Chris, I'd get demos back and be like: 'God Chris you're just such a good singer and he's like yea I play a little music, I'm in the band called the Steeldrivers,' and you know, now here we are and he's one of the most amazing singers on the planet," he said.
Rhett told us there is a mutual respect for Stapleton among fellow country artists:
"The thing is I think all of us artists know in the bottom of our hearts that he needs his own award category," he said.
"At the end of the night when it's like you won this and you won this and now fro the Chris Stapleton award 'come on up coz you basically are the best at everything."
Rhett's latest album 'Life Changes' was inspired by him becoming a dad.
He said it was important for him to do something different at this stage of his career:
"I'd way more to write about on 'Life Changes' than I did on 'Tangled Up' especially when you add two babies to the mix, a lot of things are influenced by those kids," he said.
"I also had two years to write this record so I got to chill and try different writers and try out different producers.
"It was a lot of trial and error on this record which I think allowed me to make something that I'm super proud of."