It Goes Like This

Thomas Rhett had a pretty good run in the 2000s. The son of country crooner and singer and songwriter Rhett Akins, he's written hits for Jason Aldean ("I Ain't Ready to Quit") and Florida Georgia Line ("Round Here"), as well as putting two of his own singles ("Something to Do with My Hands" and "Beer with Jesus") in the Top 30 country charts, and he hit the top spot in the summer of 2013 with a third single, "It Goes Like This," all of which will earn this debut album a whole lot of attention. Luckily for Rhett, he's ready, and this set, which features the kind of deep, drawled southern vocals and more-rock-and-pop-than-country production that passes for country music a decade and change into the 21st century, will undoubtedly generate another charting single or two, all of which means Rhett is poised to be the next big thing in the genre. It's a solidly professional outing, featuring all three of his singles and other tracks of similar construction, and it's full of energy, good humor, and the kind of backroad good-old-boy wisdom that everybody seems to love these days, even if it feeds more off nostalgia than reality. There really aren't any slack cuts here, although one track, "Sorry for Partyin'," a drunken lurch of a waltz if ever there was one, is a particular highlight. This album should put Rhett over the top as a contemporary country star. ~ Steve Leggett