Thomas Rhett at the 'Windy City Smokeout'

Audacy Country

Thomas Rhett talks with Scotty Kay at the 'Windy City Smokeout' in Chicago.

Transcript

00:00This is your first Windy City Smokeout.

00:02It is, yeah.

00:03You've played everything in Chicago there is to play, and now you get to do Windy City Smokeout.

00:07I know, it feels surreal to be in the parking lot of United Center.

00:10This is literally, like we landed today, and I was just like, I just love this city.

00:14I think if I didn't live in Nashville, this would be like the next choice of big city that I could live in.

00:18Never heard of Nashville.

00:19Me either, actually.

00:20Are there other cities?

00:21There's a couple.

00:22Yeah.

00:23Yeah.

00:24No, but I just, I love it here, man.

00:25I kind of cut my teeth in this town, you know.

00:27I feel like I was playing here early, early on in my career, especially like at Joe's on Weed,

00:32and just, you know, for anybody that would show up.

00:35And to kind of build through the ranks of the places here, it's been a really fun journey.

00:40People showed up.

00:42That's amazing.

00:43You're good.

00:44No, the crowd is incredible.

00:45They're ready for you.

00:46Cool.

00:47And you're ready because you have new music coming out.

00:49Yes.

00:50Dude, your album is getting ready to come out.

00:51Finally.

00:52What, the 23rd, right, of August?

00:5323rd, yeah.

00:54Midnight, tomorrow?

00:55Yeah.

00:56Midnight, whatever it is, we finally get Overdrive, right?

00:58We get Overdrive, yeah.

00:59All right, let's talk about Overdrive, though.

01:00Yeah, for sure.

01:01Because it is, what do we got from Overdrive?

01:02Because we only have the two songs from you off that album so far, which is rude because

01:05we want more.

01:06Yeah, for sure, we put out Beautiful Is You in May and put out Gone Country in June and

01:10just released a song off the Twisters soundtrack.

01:12Like, this is, honestly, this is the most music I've ever released before a record.

01:16I kind of got greedy.

01:17I think I just wanted to just keep pushing stuff out there.

01:20You said this is the most fun music that you've had writing.

01:23I mean, it is, man.

01:24Yeah, I feel like this whole record was sort of made with just a very free mindset of just

01:29like whatever feels good kind of goes.

01:31There was no box, really, on this album, which is how it should be.

01:34This is supposed to be fun.

01:35You know what I'm saying?

01:36There's no rules, yeah.

01:37There's no rules.

01:38And it was a blast.

01:39And so, yeah, I wrote Overdrive on a writing camp in Chattanooga with a couple of buddies

01:43of mine.

01:44And if you know me, I'm a sucker for nostalgia.

01:47And so I think I kind of tapped into my younger high school self.

01:51And basically, this song is just the adrenaline and the feeling of going and picking a girl

01:56up on the first date.

01:57Of just like, no matter what plans you had with your friends, they just get completely

02:01destroyed if a girl calls you.

02:03And it's a banger.

02:05It's up-tempo.

02:06And it just brings me joy.

02:08And I think there's going to be a lot of people out there that can kind of immediately put

02:11themselves back in the driver's seat of whatever they were driving in high school, just hauling

02:16butt to wherever they needed to pick up that person.

02:191995 Green Dodge Neon.

02:21Come on.

02:22I don't know how much overdrive that vehicle had.

02:24Not a lot of any kind of drive, really.

02:27It was more Flintstone-y.

02:28Yeah, yeah, yeah.

02:29I got you.

02:30What was your high school car?

02:32My granddad gave me an old F-150.

02:35He gave it to me at 15.

02:37That's right.

02:38And that was my...

02:39I still have it, actually.

02:40I sold it when I got to college, and then I bought it back from the guy I sold it to

02:44two years ago for more than I sold it to him for previously.

02:48Inflation, man.

02:49Come on.

02:50But it's just cool.

02:51My kids love to sit in it, because I kept all my old CDs and all my black ice air fresheners

02:56on the emergency brake.

02:58Can you still take off the faceplate of the CD player just so nobody steals it?

03:01Oh, 100%.

03:02Yeah, we all did it.

03:03Yeah, I love that truck.

03:04That's amazing.

03:05So, I want to run...

03:06The album feels like, just by the song titles, and we have the three or two songs.

03:10We'll get overdrive tonight.

03:11Yeah.

03:12I'm looking at the song titles, and it feels like a journey through your whole relationship

03:16with your wife.

03:17It kind of is, yeah.

03:18Okay.

03:19But I don't want you to tell me what it is yet.

03:20I'm going to go through the song titles and tell you what I think this journey is like,

03:24and you just tell me if I'm close or not.

03:26Okay, cool.

03:27Yeah, yeah.

03:28Okay, so let's run down.

03:29Fool.

03:30You were a stupid guy, and she wasn't giving you any attention.

03:32Mm-hmm.

03:33Okay?

03:34Overdrive.

03:35I said you were obsessed, and you knew you needed to impress her, so you went a little

03:37double time on that.

03:38Okay.

03:39Even though you just talked about overdrive.

03:42You finally won her over, and she's not going back.

03:44Yeah.

03:45Beautiful is you.

03:46You can't believe you got this girl.

03:47That's right.

03:48Wow.

03:49Can't love you anymore.

03:50You hit the point in the relationship where you're feeling like, hey, everything is perfect

03:54right now.

03:55Yeah.

03:56Aw.

03:57And all bars are closed.

03:58When the party's over, the real joy is being with her.

04:00Is that close?

04:01Do you want me to answer in real time?

04:02No, no, no.

04:03I'm looking at your reactions.

04:04Okay, gotcha.

04:05Church, the wedding.

04:06Yeah.

04:07Back to blue, she probably had to bail you out of jail for something.

04:09Maybe.

04:11Country to California.

04:12Fame and Hollywood are the industry, but she's still with you.

04:15Yeah.

04:16Country to California.

04:17Something about a woman.

04:18You admit that women confuse you, finally.

04:22And boots is probably you reinvigorate that romance by telling her to put on her boots

04:27because you're going out.

04:28Yeah.

04:29Am I close on any of that?

04:31Not really.

04:33Like, at all.

04:34But that's okay.

04:35I think that's the good thing about a song title.

04:37You know what I mean?

04:38It can really mean just about anything.

04:41You were close on a couple.

04:42Okay.

04:43A couple of the first ones you were close on.

04:44The ones you already put out that I got to actually hear?

04:46Yeah.

04:47No, dude, I'm so jacked.

04:48Yeah.

04:49Yeah, I'm so jacked.

04:50I still, to this day, listen all the way through the album at least once a day.

04:54And that has really never happened to me.

04:57I always kind of burn out a little bit of just overplaying and overplaying.

05:01But the funnest part to me is I feel like every couple of weeks I find a new favorite

05:06on the record.

05:07And so, yes, I do listen to my own songs in my truck.

05:09Do you have a favorite right now?

05:10Do what?

05:11Do you have a favorite?

05:12What's your favorite right now?

05:13My favorite right now is a song called What Could Go Right.

05:15Okay.

05:16Yeah.

05:17I think that would, today, it's my favorite track on the record.

05:19Are you going to play something from the new record tonight?

05:22We are.

05:23Yeah.

05:24What song are you most excited to play from the new record for people tonight?

05:27Gone Country has been one that I have just really been looking forward to playing.

05:33And now that Beautiful Is You has been out for a minute, it's been really awesome to,

05:38it's always really nice to play a new song and you see people singing back to you,

05:42especially after a song is so new.

05:45And we're going to play this song called Feeling Country that we released on this

05:48Twisters record because it's just so freaking fun to play.

05:51So I kind of don't care if anybody doesn't know it because me and the band have to.

05:54This is for me.

05:55This is for me.

05:56Not you.

05:57Me and the band have too much of a blast playing it.

05:58That's awesome.

05:59Well, we're excited for your first Windy City Smokeout, man.

06:01Thanks, bro.

06:02This is so cool.

06:03Congratulations.

06:04Thomas Wright.

06:05It's freezing in here for anyone who's, that's why my hands are in my armpits.

06:07Here's what, you can't complain about both.

06:09So it's going to be hot out there.

06:11So it's going to be cold.

06:12So that's what, if you're in Chicago, you either complain about the winters or the summers.

06:16You can't complain about both.

06:17Yeah.

06:18That's kind of the rule.

06:19Yeah.

06:20So.

06:21My dad would want me to put a beanie on right now.

06:22Can we get a parka for Tyler?

06:23I just got out of the shower.

06:24You know, did y'all's parents get mad at you for like walking into the cold with wet hair?

06:27Anyway.

06:28Yeah, they always said you're going to get sick, but there's no proof of that.

06:31They lie to us.

06:32Yeah, they lie.

06:33I mean, you probably lie to your kids too.

06:34We have to, right?

06:35You don't say that.

06:36I don't lie to my kids.

06:37He doesn't lie to his kids.

06:38Uh-uh.

06:45I thought you were going to say something else.

06:47Nope.

06:48Just like that.

06:49That's it.

06:50That is the end.

06:51That's the out.

06:52That's the phone.

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