"Death Row" is a country music song by American country music singer Thomas Rhett, featuring Tyler Hubbard and

Russell Dickerson Russell Edward Dickerson (born May 7, 1987) is an American country pop singer-songwriter from Union City, Tennessee. Dickerson has released two albums through Triple Tigers. Both have accounted for four singles charting on Hot Country Songs a ...

. It was released on March 4, 2022, as a promotional single from Rhett's sixth studio album, ''

Where We Started ''Where We Started'' is the sixth studio album by American country music singer Thomas Rhett, released by Big Machine Records' Valory imprint on April 1, 2022. Rhett collaborated with Katy Perry, Riley Green (singer), Riley Green, Tyler Hubbard ...

''. The song was written by Rhett,

Ashley Gorley Ashley Glenn Gorley (born April 29, 1977) is an American songwriter, publisher, and producer from Danville, Kentucky, who is based in Nashville, Tennessee. Gorley has written 60 number 1 songs and has over 300 songs recorded by artists including ...

, and Zach Crowell, and produced by Dann Huff and Jesse Frasure. The song was inspired after the artists performed for men on

death row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting Capital punishment, execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of ...

Background

In 2019, Rhett, Hubbard, and Dickerson went to visit a men's prison in Nashville where they performed for about thirty people on

during Christmastime. They were invited by their friend, Al Andrews, who does prison ministry. During the visit, one man sang " Amazing Grace", which Rhett described as "a strange spiritual experience" that "put life into such a weird perspective" and reminded him of the fragility of life. Dickerson stated that the day changed their lives and described the experience as "humbling, raw and a total God moment." Hubbard said the experience was "extremely encouraging and eye-opening and fulfilling." Hubbard noted "We just wanted to serve and invest into these guys' lives, and it turns out it felt like we left there and they invested in our life." Shortly after their visit, Rhett was finishing up a co-writing session with

and Zach Crowell when he brought up his experience visiting death row and they ended up writing a song about his experience. Rhett did not expect to put the song on one of his albums and said it was "terrifying" to put the song on ''Where We Started''. Of the songwriting experience, Rhett stated "For me, it was just a therapy session, and the only way I knew how to put into words what that day meant." Rhett sent the song to Hubbard and Dickerson to get their approval and to fact-check the experience. Later, family and friends encouraged Rhett to record the song, so he reached out to Hubbard and Dickerson, who agreed to sing on the song. In August 2020, Rhett, Hubbard, and Dickerson released video clips of the song on Instagram. The song was released on March 4, 2022, as the fifth single of the album.

Videos

The song and lyric video were released on March 4, 2022. The lyric video, which was released on Rhett's YouTube page, features Rhett, Hubbard, and Dickerson playing guitar by themselves with superimposed lyrics. Rhett also released a video on his YouTube page titled "Death Row (Story Behind The Song)". In the video, Rhett describes their visit to death row, the impact that the visit had on him, and the process of writing the song.

Critical reception

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

of AllMusic criticized "Death Row" for its lyrics and Hubbard's vocals. Charley Conroy, in '' The Heights'' wrote that "Death Row" "includes Rhett's most striking lyricism and storytelling of any song on the album."

References

{{Florida Georgia Line 2022 singles 2022 songs Thomas Rhett songs Russell Dickerson songs Tyler Hubbard songs Songs written by Ashley Gorley Songs written by Thomas Rhett Songs written by Zach Crowell Song recordings produced by Dann Huff Big Machine Records singles Vocal collaborations Songs about death