Thomas Rhett is celebrating a Top 10 hit with his current single, “Angels.” The song, from his latest Where We Started album, was written by Rhett, along with Julian Bunetta, Jaten Dimsdale and Josh Thompson, and — not surprisingly — inspired by his wife, Lauren Akins.
“Lauren’s been through the wringer with me in the van days, the bus days, and now today’s days, and she’s always taken my life as a champ,” Rhett tells Southern Living. “I say this a lot before I play the song live, but I look at Lauren sometimes and I do truly wonder every now and then if her body is completely just taken over by an angel, because it takes a lot of patience to be married to somebody like me.”
Rhett has an impressive 15 songs on Where We Started, but says “Angels” is undoubtedly his favorite, and most personal, song from the record.
“I wrote it from a personal perspective, but I think it will resonate with a lot of people,” Rhett says. “It’s about how none of us are perfect, and how lucky we are to have those people in our lives who show up and love us despite our flaws. I often look at my wife and think she’s truly an angel, for the love and grace she shows me every single day.”
Rhett is currently on his Home Team Tour, with Akins and his four daughters joining him for at least some of the dates.
“When they are out there, my favorite part of them being out there is that I get to show them what I really do for a living, and I get to show them that it is possible to love what you do for a living,” Rhett explains. “I really want them to grow up knowing that whatever they do in life, that it’s okay to love your job. You don’t have to go to something that you dread every day. You can really carve your own path and do something that you love. So if that’s what they take away from me on the road with me, then then I’ve done my job.”
Still, while Rhett loves having his family out with him on tour, the 33-year-old acknowledges that it does bring its own set of challenges as well.
“The way that I’ve always described this is like, if you all brought your kids to your job, what would your day look like?” Rhett reflects. “I realize that my job is a little bit different because the majority of the day is wide open, but the night is when we start to work … I love having them out there. But the thought of waking up at 5:30 three days in a row and then not going to bed until 2:00 in the morning is crazy.”
Rhett’s Home Team Tour will conclude with two back-to-back shows at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. Find music and tour dates at ThomasRhett.com.
Read ‘Thomas Rhett: 11 Things To Know About the Superstar’ here.
Photo Credit: Robbie Caponetto for Southern Living