''Center Point Road'' is the fourth studio album by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

singer

Thomas Rhett Thomas Rhett Akins Jr. (born March 30, 1990) is an American country music, country singer-songwriter. He is the oldest son of singer Rhett Akins. Rhett has released seven studio albums for Big Machine Records' Valory Music imprint: ''It Goes ...

, released on May 31, 2019, through

Big Machine Label Group Big Machine Records is an American record label, distributed by Universal Music Group. Big Machine is based on Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee. The label was founded in September 2005 by former DreamWorks Records executiv ...

imprint

Valory Music Co. Big Machine Records is an American record label, distributed by Universal Music Group. Big Machine is based on Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee. The label was founded in September 2005 by former DreamWorks Records executive Scott Borchetta and ...

It was supported by the lead single "

Look What God Gave Her "Look What God Gave Her" is a song recorded by American country music singer Thomas Rhett. He wrote the song with his father Rhett Akins, Julian Bunetta, John Ryan (songwriter), John Ryan, Jacob Kasher Hindlin, Jacob Kasher, and Ammar Malik, and co ...

". Rhett co-wrote and co-produced all 16 tracks on the album, sharing production duties with

Dann Huff Dann Lee Huff (born November 15, 1960) is an American record producer, studio guitarist, and songwriter. For his work as a producer in the country music genre, he has won several awards, including the ''Musician of the Year'' award in 2001, 2004 ...

Jesse Frasure Jesse Vernon Frasure (born September 18, 1981), also known as DJ Telemitry, is an American music publisher, record producer, songwriter, and DJ. He has written 22 number one songs and has cuts with various artists including Chris Stapleton, M ...

, Julian Bunetta,

The Stereotypes The Stereotypes are an American music production team, formed in 2003 and composed of Jonathan Yip, Ray Romulus, Jeremy Reeves and Ray Charles McCullough II. In June 2010, they were listed among the "Top 10 Songwriters and Producers to Watch" i ...

, and Cleve Wilson. The album also features collaborations with

Little Big Town Little Big Town is an American country music vocal group from Homewood, Alabama. Founded in 1998, the group has had the same four members since its founding: Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman (née Roads), Phillip Sweet, and Jimi Westbrook. Fa ...

Jon Pardi Jonathan Ryan Pardi (born May 20, 1985) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Signed to Capitol Records Nashville, Capitol Nashville, he has released five studio albums: ''Write You a Song'' (2014), ''California Sunrise'' (2016), ...

, and

Kelsea Ballerini Kelsea Nicole Ballerini (born September 12, 1993) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. A five-time Grammy Award nominee, she began having success in the 2010s, being honored with the Academy of Country Music Awards#Special awards, Ge ...

. The album received a nomination for

Best Country Album The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Country Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality albums in the country music ge ...

at the

62nd Annual Grammy Awards The 62nd Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on January 26, 2020, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from October 1, 2018, to August 31, 2019. Ali ...

in 2020.

Background

Rhett named the album after a road from his hometown of

Hendersonville, Tennessee Hendersonville is the most populous city in Sumner County, Tennessee, on Old Hickory Lake. As of the 2020 census the city's population was 61,753. Hendersonville is the fourth-most populous city in the Nashville metropolitan area after Nas ...

that he said symbolized his childhood.

Promotion

" was released as the lead single from the album on March 1, 2019. On March 3, 2019, "Don't Threaten Me with a Good Time" was released, alongside a performance of it on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

''. Rhett later revealed the cover art and track listing on March 29, and also shared the track "That Old Truck". On April 19, 2019, Rhett released "Remember You Young" as another promotional single.

Commercial performance

''Center Point Road'' debuted at No. 1 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 with 76,000

album-equivalent unit The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, often shortened to just unit, is a sales metric in the music industry that defines the number of streaming media, songs streamed and music download, songs downloaded equal to one Record sales, tradi ...

s, of which 45,000 were pure album sales. It is Rhett's second No. 1 album. In its first week it registered 33.59 million US streams, making it the largest streaming week for a country album at the time. The album has sold more than 101,600 copies in pure albums in the US and 362,000 in units consumed.

Critical reception

Rhett was hailed for his versatility on Center Point Road by ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

,'' while ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is a daily newspaper in the United States primarily serving Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI" ...

'' suggested the album fell short of crossing over to pop music.

Track listing

Personnel

– lead vocals, backing vocals * Dave Cohen – keyboards * Charlie Judge – keyboards, cello * Julian Bunetta – keyboards, programming, electric guitar, drums, backing vocals * Matt Dragstrem – programming, backing vocals *

– programming, backing vocals * David Huff – programming * Zach Skelton – programming *

– programming * Cleve Wilson – programming * Tyler Chiarelli – electric guitar * Brandon Day – electric guitar *

– electric guitar * John Ryan – electric guitar, backing vocals * Derek Wells – electric guitar *

Ilya Toshinsky Bering Strait was a Russian country music band, whose style was sometimes called "redgrass". In 2003, the band was nominated for a Grammy Award and appeared on the TV show ''60 Minutes''. The group disbanded in 2006. The lineup on their first al ...

– acoustic guitars *

Jimmie Lee Sloas Jimmie Lee Sloas is an American session musician, producer, and songwriter, who plays bass. History Jimmie Lee Sloas, born in Ashland, Kentucky, grew up in Fairborn, Ohio and Isonville, Kentucky. His father, Dave, was a member of the popular ...

– bass * Chris Kimmerer – drums * Randy Leago – baritone saxophone * Jim Hoke – tenor saxophone, horn arrangements * Barry Green – trombone * Mike Haynes – trumpet * Kasey Akins – backing vocals * Lauren Akins – backing vocals * Bob Bailey – backing vocals * Jamar Carter – backing vocals * Everett Drake – backing vocals * Kim Fleming – backing vocals * Vicki Hampton – backing vocals *

Michael Hardy Michael Hardy may refer to: *Hardy (singer) Michael Wilson Hardy (born September 13, 1990), known mononymously as Hardy (stylized as HARDY), is an American country music singer and songwriter. He has written songs for Florida Georgia Line, Chris ...

– backing vocals *

Ashley Gorley Ashley Gorley (born April 29, 1977) is an American songwriter, publisher, and producer from Danville, Kentucky, who is based in Nashville, Tennessee. Gorley has written 81 number 1 songs and has over 400 songs recorded by artists including Luke ...

– backing vocals * Kyla Jade – backing vocals * Macy Page – backing vocals * Josh Reedy – backing vocals * Jason Kyle Saetveit – backing vocals *

Ryan Tedder Ryan Benjamin Tedder (born June 26, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is best known as the co-founder, frontman, and lead vocalist for the pop rock band OneRepublic, while also serving as a prolific cont ...

– backing vocals * Russell Terrell – backing vocals * Amy Wadge – backing vocals *

– duet vocals on "Center Point Road" *

– backing vocals on "Don't Threaten Me with a Good Time" *

– duet vocals on "Beer Can't Fix"

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2019 albums Thomas Rhett albums Big Machine Records albums Albums produced by Dann Huff Albums produced by Jesse Frasure