Florida Georgia Line, Thomas Rhett Celebrate At Double No. 1 Party

Thomas Rhett celebrated his first No. 1 song as a songwriter (as one of the writers behind Florida Georgia Line‘s “‘Round Here”) and his first No. 1 single as an artist (“It Goes Like This”) during an event Monday afternoon (Dec. 2) at Nashville’s Marathon Music Works. BMI’s Jody Williams and ASCAP’s Ryan Beuschel were on hand to honor the songwriters behind the two chart-topping songs.
It was quite the accomplishment for Big Machine Label Group, which is the recording home to both Florida Georgia Line (Republic Nashville) and Rhett (The Valory Music Co). “The first cut is the deepest, and this is a deep cut,” Big Machine Label Group president and CEO Scott Borchetta told songwriter-singer Thomas Rhett.
It was a special moment for Thomas Rhett’s father, Rhett Akins, who co-wrote “It Goes Like This.” Akins recalled the day he and Thomas Rhett were preparing to meet with a Nashville record label president to discuss signing Thomas Rhett, when he got an enthusiastic call from Big Machine’s Borchetta. “He said, ‘I need to talk to you really badly–in a good way,'” recalled Akins. “We knew we had something.”
According to Borchetta, it was a signing that wasn’t supposed to happen. Two years ago, Borchetta had decided to take a short break from signing artists, and told Allison Jones, VP of A&R. Jones insisted on taking one more meeting, with Thomas Rhett. Borchetta agreed, having known Thomas Rhett’s father for years. Borchetta knew they had made the right decision when he heard Thomas Rhett perform. “This must be what it was like to sign Roger Miller,” Borchetta recalled. He immediately decided to recant on his decision not to sign any new artists at that time. “I said, ‘When you make the rules, you can break the rules. Let’s sign this guy,'” Borchetta told the crowd.
Rhett Akins, Ben Hayslip and Jimmy Robbins were honored for penning “It Goes Like This” for Thomas Rhett. Rodney Clawson, Chris Tompkins and Thomas Rhett were feted for crafting “‘Round Here,” the third chart-topper for FGL.”It’s a big music swirl,” said Craig Wiseman, of Big Red Toe Music. “You got to buy a lot of beers and have a lot of parties, but that’s a good problem to have. I’ve been out there on the road and you can’t even hear the PA when [Florida Georgia Line performs] this song live.”
“I’ve been to a few of these No. 1 parties,” said Thomas Rhett. “I wondered what it would be like to be the person talking. I remember being in Kansas when I got a call from Seth [England] that Brian [Kelley] and Tyler [Hubbard] were cutting this. They are such great guys. We’re all just changing lanes and it all comes together.”