We're going to give you like $300 a month'. And he said, 'I want to sign you to a developmental publishing deal. And there was a publisher there who came and asked me, he said, 'can you write songs?' And I said, 'I have no idea. And I got to play a writer's round with my dad. And then I would start a band at school with a couple of buddies that were also really wanting to be songwriters, and we'd play it for rat parties, and we'd go play for like 20 people down at Puckets grocery store in Franklin, Tennessee and all this kind of stuff. 'I just want to watch because I think it's so fascinating, and so I'd go watch them. I just started being like, 'hey, can I just come watch you all write songs? I'm not going to say anything'. I learned how to tip two years ago from my wife without using a calculator. Like, me and math still have never clicked. 'But it really wasn't until I got to college that I discovered I was not a great student. Thomas Rhett brought out special guest Niall Horan at C2C in 2023. Like, if I can go to a party and play an old George Strait song or whatever's popping right now, maybe somebody wants to date the boy, you know what I mean?

And as I got into high school, I really just wanted to learn how to write and play and sing for the girl aspect.

'And so that was kind of my first taste of, like, 'this is cool'. 'And playing the drums was my first instrument, so I'll never forget I went to some Nebraska county fair with my dad when I was like, nine, and I learned how to play 'Sweet Home Alabama' on the drums, and dad let me get up there during their encore and play with him. So as a kid, it really wasn't about wanting to do what dad did. When we do any get together, it is at our house because we love to host, we love to entertain, we love to cook, we love to serve, we love all the things. Thomas Rhett with his father Rhett Atkins in 2016. Anytime there was a camera out, I was like, 'hey, you want me to do a dance?' 'I really enjoyed being the centre of attention as a kid. 'I was just one of those kids,' Thomas said about growing up.

Piano everybody wants to rule the world