YOU CAME OVER TO THE UK FOR C2C IN LONDON EARLIER THIS YEAR. WHAT WAS THAT EXPERIENCE LIKE?

C2C was a great experience. It was our first time touring outside of the US, other than Canada, so we didn’t know what to expect, but it was great and really eye-opening to see first hand how much fans over here love and appreciate country music.

DID THE BRITISH FANS SURPRISE YOU?

I had heard from buddies of mine, like Brett Eldredge, that I would be blown away by the reaction of British fans, and he wasn’t wrong.

What most amazed me was how well they knew my music. And I don’t just mean the singles, but the whole albums. I really got the sense that they genuinely loved music and really took the time to get to know everything I have recorded.

ARE UK AUDIENCES DIFFERENT TO THOSE IN THE STATES?

Audiences are definitely different everywhere you go, and the States is so big that audiences can be really different from one state to another, and one town to another.

UK audiences seem to really be music fans who want to get to know your entire album, not just the songs they might have heard on the radio. They’re also so grateful that we made the trip across the Atlantic to come play for them, so there’s that added excitement you can sense from fans whose towns and countries you have never been to before. It’s really humbling.

GIVEN YOUR FAMILY BACKGROUND WAS IT INEVITABLE YOU WOULD BECOME A MUSICIAN?

From the outside looking in, it probably seems as though it was inevitable.

But in actual fact it initially had the opposite effect of me actively not wanting to follow in my father’s footsteps (his dad Rhett Atkins was a successful country singer).

I had seen first hand how difficult and challenging that life was and I genuinely made a deliberate effort to pursue other things. However, as I got older I guess my passion for music started to pull me more and more in that direction and I found myself skipping class to go write songs and play shows.

When I got offered my first publishing deal and realised I could make music my career, it became clear that this door was opening up for me and I needed to give it a shot.

HOW BIG AN INFLUENCE HAS YOUR DAD BEEN ON YOUR CAREER?

Dad has been a huge influence on my career in a number of different ways.

Firstly, he exposed me to so much music growing up that I naturally developed a love for all kinds of different genres.

We listened to everything in the car from old Hank Williams to DMX. He took me to see the Rolling Stones as my first ever concert.

He has an encyclopaedic knowledge of all kinds of music, so I guess the eclectic nature of what I do is rooted in that exposure I had from a really young age.

Beyond that, getting to see him be an artist in the 90s and have the opportunity to go out on the road with him as a child taught me a lot about the industry and what it means to do this for a living.

I still go to him for advice and greatly value his opinion on both the creative and business sides of what I do.

YOUR MUSICAL INFLUENCES CLEARLY EXTEND WAY BEYOND COUNTRY. HOW DID THAT COME ABOUT?

As I said, dad is a huge fan of all kinds of music and so my sister and I were constantly exposed to a wide variety of things growing up.

I was also born in 1990, so while I was able to develop a love for classic country and the 90s’ country my dad was performing as an artist, I was also growing up in a generation that increasingly didn’t see genres as boundaries. We like to refer to it as a “playlist generation” where we can comfortably listen to a country song, next to a hip-hop song, next to a pop song.

For me and my buddies growing up, we either liked it or we didn’t, and those were the only boundaries we drew.

I grew up loving country music, but I also loved Third Eye Blind and played drums in a punk band. It wasn’t strange to me. Music either moves you, or it doesn’t. And if it moves you, it doesn’t matter if it’s Chris Stapleton or Justin Bieber.

WHEN IT COMES TO WRITING IT SEEMS YOU HAVE SOMETHING OF A MIDAS TOUCH WITH A STRING OF HITS BOTH FOR YOURSELF AND OTHERS. WHAT DO YOU THINK MAKES A GOOD SONG?

All songwriting is about storytelling and connecting with the listener.

For me the goal of any good song is to make the listener feel something they didn’t know they were feeling, or help them express something they were feeling but didn’t know how to say it.

Sincerity and honesty are the key parts of that. You have to write about what you know, otherwise you are trying to describe something you yourself don’t understand and that won’t connect.

HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHICH SONGS TO GIVE TO OTHERS AND WHICH TO KEEP FOR YOURSELF?

There is no set rule to it. I tend to write whatever I am feeling on any given day.

Some days you write a song that you immediately know you are keeping for yourself. And some days you know it isn’t right for you, but you still love it and want to find a home for it.

Other times you write a song you love that could be right for you, but it just might not fit your album because you have too many songs of a similar theme or tempo in there already, or whatever, and at the end of the day you have to make a tough decision in the best interest of the album.

In all cases, I like to believe songs end up where they are meant to.

WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM YOUR SHOW?

High energy. We always give 100 per cent and our goal is to get everyone on their feet dancing and having a great time.

Thomas Rhett, Manchester Ritz, Sunday, November 13. Details from 0844 477 2000