Chatter, smoke and guitar riffs mixed in the smoky air of The Cotton Eyed Joe Saturday night as one of country music’s most popular artists took the stage.
Thomas Rhett brought his sold out show to Knoxville along with his twangy country lyrics and genre jumping sound.
Along for the ride was country newcomer Chris Lane. Lane performed a number of cover songs, his debut single “Broken Windshield View” and gave the crowd a short preview of the sort of liveliness Rhett also possessed in his performance.
Once he took the stage, Rhett displayed a steady energy as he jumped, danced and climbed upon various platforms throughout the night.
As the first few lyrics to Rhett’s most popular songs spilled from the speakers, the Georgia native’s energy seemed infectious.
Rhett’s catchy country pop hit “Get Me Some of That” and his singer-songwriter love song “It Goes Like This” turned the place into a true dance club as the sound hit the air.
Throughout his slew of songs also came a few tunes that didn’t seem so country; from J-Kwon’s “Tipsy” to Shaggy and Weezer, the country star mixed snippets of various rap and pop songs with his trademark country songs throughout the night.
Rhett even appeared on stage in a white fedora, sunglasses and the dance moves to match as he performed his rendition of “Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars.
But then, the country crooner also introduced the other portion of his show by referring to it as the “more songwriter-y side of Thomas Rhett.”
Not only has Rhett penned a handful of hit songs of his own, but he’s also written numerous songs for some of country’s biggest artists.
He performed songs he had written such as Lee Brice’s tailgate anthem “Parking Lot Party” and Florida-Georgia Line’s mega-hit “Round Here.”
However, Rhett wasn’t the only songwriter to hit the stage Saturday night. The young country star introduced his father Rhett Akins as the best songwriter ever as he joined him on stage.
After Akins sang his 1993 hit “That Ain’t My Truck” acoustically, Akins and Rhett joined forces on Blake Shelton’s “Boys ‘Round Here,” which was a tune Akins wrote.
Though many songs were filled with typical country music themes (see “tailgate” and “moneymaker”), Rhett switched up the tempo when he played his first single “Beer with Jesus.”
The slow country tune slowed the pulse of the evening as the audience displayed every cell phone flashlight and lighter on hand to accompany the Jesus-centered ballad.
Accompanied by a long list of country hits, hints of various other genres and a knack for selling out Knoxville shows, Thomas Rhett will likely be having these sort of nights for a while.
In fact, the country star plans to come back to the Scruffy City on Feb. 6 for an encore performance due to an overwhelming response to his previous shows at The Joe.
