Music has always been a family affair for Thomas Rhett. From spending his childhood on the road with his Dad, Rhett Akins in the 90s, to his own successful music career today with many of his songs centering around his wife and their four daughters — Rhett has proven himself a true family man and his fans love him for it.

The family inspiration continues with Rhett’s recently released, 7th studio album, About A Woman, which as most could guess is filled with tracks inspired by his wife, Lauren. Also the inspiration behind many of Rhett’s biggest hits including “Die A Happy Man,” “Look What God Gave Her” and “Unforgettable,” Lauren is no stranger to being the subject of a hit song, but this go-around she had a special request for her husband of 12 years.

“She was like, ‘I love when you write songs about me, but can you make me dance this go around?’” Rhett said of his wife’s request for this project. “And so that was kind of my bar, and sort of my benchmark.”

Lauren wasn’t the only one ready to dance — Rhett says his four daughters also helped him select some of the songs for the album and were clearly loyal to the ones that made them want to move including, “Fool,” which Rhett says is their clear favorite.

“I remember playing the demo of that for them,” he shared of the track that sits number one in honor of his girls. “That was Willa Gray's number one of the whole record, like most requested song. That, for me, was enough to be like, ‘Alright, well, this is your track on the record and we'll put it number one for you.'”

Rhett credits the support and fun-loving nature of his wife and kids for helping him accomplish this number one goal with the album, which he shares was to put a smile on every listeners’ face. “The first mission was to bring joy,” he shared. “Like, literally, that was like at the root of every song we sat down to write was like, does this put a smile on your face?”

His second goal was to make the project digestible in a world full of massive music releases including double, triple, and quadruple albums. “I remember the conversation being so long about how many songs makes a record good these days because it's all over the place. Some people are putting out EPs, some people are putting out songs with 40 songs on the project… at the end of the day, I wanted to make a record that… felt digestible, something that you could carve out 36 minutes of your time to listen to, and hopefully it had the repeatability.”

That’s exactly what the 34-year-old served up with 14 tracks encompassing joy, musicality and talent, once again, proving he’s at his best when influenced by the love, inspiration, and support of his family.

Hear more about the album, upcoming live shows and his family by checking out Thomas Rhett’s full conversation with Audacy’s Katie Neal above.

Words by Monica Rivera Interview by Katie Neal