The Valory Music Co. When Thomas Rhett released his last album, Life Changes, in September of 2017, he did something he’s not anxious to do again.

“We played three concerts in a day,” he recalls. “We played one in Boston, one in Philadelphia, and one in Chicago at like noon, five, and nine.”

“And I was just like, ‘That just about killed me!’” he admits. “Like, there has to be a different way to bring a lot of people in to celebrate an album.”

So for his new project, Center Point Road, TR is doing what he would want as a fan: he’s playing a “power acoustic” set at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena at noon on Saturday, June 8, during CMA Fest. He promises hits, plus five or six songs from the new record, and a question and answer session.

“If I was gonna go to Eric Church‘s album release event,” he explains, “I wouldn’t wanna just go to a show. I would want to watch him and his guitar, and be able to understand how and why he wrote my favorite song on that record. So I’m trying to do that same thing that I would want as a fan for my fans.”

“And we’re getting to play Bridgestone this fall,” TR points out. “And so for the people that didn’t get tickets to that fall show, they get to come to this in the summertime, especially if they live far away.”

“And so I think it’s gonna be really cool to say that you did an album release event in an arena,” he adds.

This Friday, the title track of Center Point Road comes out, which features Kelsea Ballerini. The full album arrives a week later, on May 31.

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