Thomas Rhett has written several hit songs for other artists since releasing his debut single in 2012. A little-known song about young love and youthful indiscretion led to his major break, however.
With “What’s Your Country Song,” Rhett has 17 No. 1 singles, including the generational love song “Die a Happy Man” and the genre-bending “Make Me Wanna.” Old Dominion‘s “Some People Do” and Lee Brice‘s “Parking Lot Party” are two hit songs he wrote for other artists, but there are plenty more populating albums from LoCash, Carly Pearce, Morgan Wallen and Lady A.
Jason Aldean, meanwhile, is not only a good friend of Rhett’s, he’s the man who first took a chance on the singer-songwriter and two friends before they were known tunesmiths in Nashville. In fact, the younger singer was still in college when he wrote an important song.
Think you know which one it is? Here’s a hint: It’s not “1994,” Aldean’s Top 20 ’90s celebration from 2013. The answer is one of six bits of TR trivia found in this video:
Rhett was just 20 years old when Aldean released his My Kinda Party album in 2010. It’s a pivotal album in the country-rocker’s career and includes the title track, “Don’t You Wanna Stay” with Kelly Clarkson and “Dirt Road Anthem,” his Brantley Gilbert cover; it also includes a song called “I Ain’t Ready to Quit,” written by Rhett, Jaron Boyer and Ben Stennis.
“I would say that was a huge turning point in my life,” Rhett told Billboard’s Chuck Dauphin in 2012. “I’d been writing songs for about five or six months pretty hard, and I was trying to balance songwriting and school — which was a pretty hard task. I wrote it with two other guys who had never had a cut, so for three no name writers to get our first cut on the Album of the Year was an incredible experience as an amateur songwriter.”
My Kinda Party won the CMA for Album of the Year in 2011. Boyer and Stennis went on to enjoy fruitful songwriting careers, and Rhett soon after signed with and released radio singles on the Valory Music Co.
But it all started with a bad habit, literally: “There’s something about lighting up a Marlboro Red / That nicotine rush into my head / And a taste of Southern Comfort on my lips / Tells me I ain’t ready to quit,” Aldean sings to begin the song and Rhett’s songwriting career.
Questions about Rhett’s romance with wife Lauren and his most famous music video also make up the above country music video quiz. Try a few more below when you’re done:
See 20 Hit Songs That Other Artists Passed On: