Thomas Rhett wasn’t always a country music superstar
Long before Thomas Rhett was a country star, he was in a punk-rock band.
The High Heeled Flip Flops lasted a hot minute. Rhett formed the band when he was 13, following the music tradition of his father, singer-songwriter Rhett Atkins, who formed his first band when he was 11.
The High Heeled Flip Flops were known to sing in British accents. They took a look something akin to the Ramones, dyeing their hair jet-black.
They recorded a five-song EP in the Atkins’ family living room. They even launched a tour, kind of.
“We got to play one show ever, at this kid named Matthew Johnson’s Halloween party,” Rhett recalls in a phone chat from his home in Nashville. “We were in sixth grade, and that was it. That was our greatest hits-reunion show, right there.”
The High Heeled Flip Flops didn’t make it to Rock and Roll High School but Rhett has captured the Wranglers-and-Resistols crowd. The top-selling artist is riding side-saddle with the National Finals Rodeo this weekend and next, with four shows at BleauLive Theater at Fontainebleau.
Rhett headlines Friday, Saturday and again Dec. 13-14.
He arrives with the breeze at his back, having notched his 23rd career No. 1 spot on the Billboard Country Airplay charts with “Beautiful As You,” from his seventh studio album, “About A Woman.”
Rhett and Country Music Association Best New Artist nominee Teddy Swims teamed for a medley on the “58th Annual Country Music Awards” show on Nov. 20. The performance wowed country fans and media across the country.
Rhett wore himself out during the show and was KO’d by illness for a few days. “I powered through it,” he says, the chat just days after the show. “I’m lucky to be standing.”
He is also hosting the first tree lighting at Fontainebleau’s Oasis Ice Rink at 7 p.m. Thursday. The party starts at 6 p.m. and runs until 9 p.m.
Rhett and his wife, Lauren Akins, are very Christmas-centric individuals.
“Somewhere someone knows how much me and my family love Christmas,” Rhett says. “My wife and I, we go pretty hard for Christmas. The lights go up the day after Halloween, and we’ve seen all the classic movies with our kids a hundred times.
“You ask me to light a tree, it’s probably going to be a yes.”
Rhett had a rehearsal for serving as an ambassador for such an event when he hosted a family reunion recently at his home in Nashville.
“Fifty people at my house, and I didn’t know a single person,” Rhett says. “This is a side of my family that I have never really spent much time with. So it was a lot of a lot of mingling, a lot of getting to know people, some fifth cousins I’d not met.”
The Rhett family is coming to Las Vegas.
“We’re going to try to get to the Eagles at the Sphere, which I’ve never seen from the inside. I’m really excited about that,” Rhett says. “I’ve never actually had a day off in Vegas, so I’m excited to have three or four days to explore. I’m gonna play some golf, I’ve never seen the Grand Canyon, I’m excited about the food scene there, do some hikes.”
But the performances are not secondary. As Rhett says, “Music always been my first love.”
What Works In Vegas
Well, duh, yes. The event sells out every year. But the advance sales for the standing area at Thomas & Mack Center have sold out faster than ever. Those tickets were opened up as to account for high demand when the event is oversold.
It’s too early to tell if attendance will be an all-time high, but as this longtime NFR observes, everyone wants that “Yellowstone” vibe.
A sea of Santas
Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley — the first time we’ve written that into column — will join the Great Santa Run at 9 a.m. Saturday at downtown Las Vegas Event Center. Excalibur headlining comic magician Mac King is grand marshal, with Fox 5’s Jason Feinberg and Alyssa Deitsch hosting.
Entertainment furnished by the Chippendales, DJ Dinero, Carnell “Golden Pipes” Johnson, Dangerous Curves, Misty Rose Dare and Fred Dentler, Adam London, Chase Brown, The OV Elvi, Australian Bee Gees and Tony Marques Band. The event supports the estimated 3,000 Southern Nevada residents with intellectual disabilities and their families.
Go to lvsantarun.com to register through Saturday. The event is all-ages. To find the venue, just follow a Santa
Cool Hang Alert
Las Vegas singer-songwriter-actress Ellie Smith makes her Vic’s Las Vegas debut with two shows at 5 and 6 p.m. Sunday. Smith won the 2014 Miss Nevada America pageant title, and went on to appear in tours of “Grease,” “Rent,” “Rock of Ages” and “Les Miserables.”
Smith is finishing off a rock album produced by Frankie Moreno. That release is scheduled for January. Smith can bring it. No cover, go to vicslasvegas.com to reserve.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.
