Album Review: Tangled Up by Thomas Rhett

Really hard to know where to start with this album released by country singer Thomas Rhett. Why? Because the collection of songs on Tangled Up are about as country as those you’d hear on any given AC/DC album.

Considering Rhett, whose father is Rhett Akins, something of a Nashville mainstay since the early 1990s, has such a connection to Nashville and everything that the country music genre stands for – although, there’s plenty of conjecture of just what country is these days – it’s interesting that he’s gone so far as to make a very funky, mainstream pop record. There’s even a little hint of hip-hop thrown in there for good measure. Stylistically, it’s all over the place, but in a good way.

Forget the genre it sits in for a moment, and realise that it’s a bit of fun. The music is lively, there’s plenty of catchy beats, smooth lyrics and Rhett’s voice isn’t half bad, either. Of course, because of the way the thirteen songs are presented – read: decidedly un-country, at least in the traditional sense – there is going to be, and already has been, some negative reaction. The anti-modern country blogs on the internet are already going crazy because of the album’s definite lack of traditionalism. But the music is good, so who cares what genre it is or isn’t or may be or may not be?

Not that Rhett cares. He’s in full control of his career, claiming to now be genre-less, like his new favourite artist, Bruno Mars – Rhett wants to collaborate with him, and covers ‘Uptown Funk’ during his popular live concerts – and early returns are good. The album’s lead single, ‘Crash and Burn’ reached #2 on the US Hot Country chart and one spot higher on the US Country Airplay chart. If you’re selling records and generating radio airplay, that’s about all that matters.

American Idol album Jordin Sparks guests on ‘Playing with Fire’ and adds a nice extra layer to the ballad. There are up-tempo tracks like ‘Anthem’, which Rhett he recorded with live shows in mind, and promises that it will be a concert-opener for some time to come, and ‘T-shirt’. Both songs are amongst my favourites, and would be great party-starters in pretty much any city in the world, not just Nashville.

Importantly, Rhett writes or co-writes on a majority of the album’s cuts, and there’s a great song by one of my favourite Nashville songwriters, Jaren Johnston of The Cadillac Three, called ‘The Day You Stop Looking Back’ that’s definitely worth checking out, too. As an aside: Johnston is a rising songwriter, so keep an eye on him.

Tangled Up is a fun album. You don’t have to like country to enjoy it. Perhaps you won’t even pick up that it’s supposed to be a country album. It doesn’t matter. Tangled Up is a fun listen, and you could do a lot worse than pick up a copy.