''Where We Started'' is the sixth 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 by

Big Machine Records 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 ...

' Valory imprint on April 1, 2022. Rhett collaborated with

Katy Perry Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. She is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists in hist ...

Riley Green Johnathan Riley Green (born October 18, 1988) is an American country music singer and songwriter, signed to Nashville Harbor Records & Entertainment (formerly BMLG) since 2019. He has released three albums: ''Different 'Round Here'' in 2019, ''Ai ...

Tyler Hubbard Tyler Reed Hubbard (born January 31, 1987) is an American singer-songwriter, and musician, best known as a member of the Nashville-based duo Florida Georgia Line. After that duo went on hiatus in 2021, Hubbard began recording as a solo artist on ...

and

Russell Dickerson Russell Edward Dickerson (born May 7, 1987) is an American country pop singer-songwriter from Union City, Tennessee. Dickerson has released three albums through Triple Tigers, and has had four number one singles on the ''Billboard'' Country Ai ...

. The album was preceded by its lead single " Slow Down Summer" which peaked at No. 43 on ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The album debuted at number 12 on US ''Billboard'' 200 with 29,000

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 ...

History

Thomas Rhett began writing songs for the album in 2019, but found out that he was experiencing

writer's block Writer's block is a non-medical condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author is either unable to produce new work or experiences a creative slowdown. Writer's block has various degrees of severity, from difficulty in coming ...

. He told the blog Sounds Like Nashville that he took six months away from writing songs before coming back to continue the album's material. The album includes the lead single " Slow Down Summer", along with three collaborations:

(of

Florida Georgia Line Florida Georgia Line was an American country music duo founded in 2010 by vocalists and songwriters Tyler Hubbard of Georgia and Brian Kelley of Florida. Their 2012 debut single " Cruise" broke two major sales records: it was downloaded over ...

) and

on "

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

on "Half of Me", and

on the title track.

Critical reception

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

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

rated the album 3.5 out of 5 stars, stating that it was "sunny and sweet, an ideal soundtrack for any afternoon activity from housecleaning to day drinking: it sustains its cheerful mood from stem to stern." He compared the title track to the sound of

Sam Hunt Sam Lowry Hunt (born December 8, 1984) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Born in Cedartown, Georgia, Hunt played American football, football in his high school and college years and once attempted to pursue a professional sport ...

, and criticized "Death Row" for its lyrics and Hubbard's vocals.

Commercial performance

In the United States, ''Where We Started'' debuted at number 12 on ''Billboard'' 200 with 29,000

equivalent album units 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 songs streamed and songs downloaded equal to one traditional album sale. The album-equivalent unit ...

sold in its first week. The album also opened at number two on

Top Country Albums Top Country Albums is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The 50-position chart lists the most popular country music albums in the country, calculated weekly by Broadcast Data Systems based on physical sales ...

, becoming his sixth top 10 on the chart.

Track listing

Personnel

– vocals, backing vocals (2–4, 7–9, 11–14), whistle (4, 8) * Charlie Judge – acoustic piano (2, 3, 6, 7, 11, 12, 14), synthesizers (1, 8–10, 12, 13),

Hammond B3 organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

(2–7, 9, 10, 14, 15),

Wurlitzer electric piano The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from 1954 to 1983. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is conceptually similar to ...

(4, 12),

Rhodes piano The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, th ...

(8, 14) * Justin Niebank – programming (1–3, 6–15) *

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 ...

– programming (1, 2, 6–15), electric guitar (2), synth bass (2, 7, 8, 11, 14, 15), acoustic piano (4), synthesizers (4, 15), backing vocals (4), synth strings (11, 13) * David Huff – programming (2, 3, 5, 7–14) * Matt Dragstrem – programming (3, 14), backing vocals (8, 14), acoustic piano (14), synthesizers (14), electric guitar (14) *

Luke Laird Luke Robert Laird (born May 4, 1978 in Hartstown, Pennsylvania) is an American country music songwriter and producer. He has written over 20 number one ''Billboard'' singles, including Carrie Underwood's " So Small", " Temporary Home", and ...

– programming (12), synthesizers (12), synth strings (12), synth bass (12) *

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,

gut string guitar The classical guitar, also known as Spanish guitar, is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string instrument with strings made of gut or nylon, it is a precursor of the modern steel-string a ...

(1),

dobro Dobro () is an American brand of resonator guitars owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally a gui ...

(2, 3), ganjo (3),

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

(3, 11),

ukulele The ukulele ( ; ); also called a uke (informally), is a member of the lute (ancient guitar) family of instruments. The ukulele is of Portuguese origin and was popularized in Hawaii. The tone and volume of the instrument vary with size and con ...

(4, 12),

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

(13) * Derek Wells – electric guitar (1–4, 6, 8–15), slide electric guitar (7), electric guitar solo (14) *

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 ...

– electric guitar (2, 4–8, 10–12), electric guitar solo (2–4, 6, 9, 10), mandolin (6, 11), synth flute (8), slide electric guitar (8, 11),

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in 19th-century India. Khusrau K ...

(8, 11, 12), programming (9, 10, 15), synth bass (10) *

Tom Bukovac Tom Bukovac (born December 20, 1968) is an American session guitarist and producer. He is also a popular YouTube personality with over 100,000 subscribers. He is a five-time winner of Music Row's Top Ten Album All-Stars award in the guitar categ ...

– electric guitar (5) * Julien Bunetta – acoustic guitar (5) * Paul Franklin –

steel guitar A steel guitar () is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conventional guitar i ...

(1, 3, 5–11, 13, 15) *

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 guitar *

Shannon Forrest Shannon Forrest (born August 22, 1973, in Easley, South Carolina) is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work. As a session drummer, he has contributed to the work of many well-known artists, and he is also a p ...

– drums (1, 6) * Chris Kimmerer – drums (2–4, 7–14), percussion (4, 12, 15) * Jerry Roe – drums (5) *

Stuart Duncan Stuart Ian Duncan (born April 14, 1964) is an American bluegrass musician who plays the fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and banjo. Life Duncan was born in Quantico, Virginia, and raised in Santa Paula, California, where he played in the school ...

–

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

(3) * Kristin Wilkinson – string arrangements (1, 11–13, 15) * Stephen Lamb – copyist (11, 12, 15) * Kevin Bate – cello (1, 11–13, 15) * Austin Hoke – cello (1, 13) * Sari Reist – cello (11, 12, 15) * Monisa Angell – viola (1, 11–13, 15) * Betsy Lamb – viola (1, 13) * Chris Farrell – viola (11, 12, 15) * David Angell – violin (1, 11–13, 15), string contractor (11, 12, 15) * Jenny Bifano – violin (1, 13) * David Davidson – violin (1, 11–13, 15) * Alicia Engstrom – violin (1, 13) * Jun Iwasaki – violin (1, 11–13, 15) * Karen Winklemann – violin (1, 13) * Conni Ellisor – violin (11, 12, 15) * Josh Reedy – backing vocals (1–4, 6–14) * Stevie Frasure – backing vocals (2, 11, 13) *

Teddy Swims Jaten Collin Dimsdale (born September 25, 1992), known professionally as Teddy Swims, is an American singer and songwriter. Known for creating genre-blending music, which include elements of soul, country, and pop, Swims originally began to att ...

– backing vocals (5) *

– vocals (6) *

– vocals (9) *

– vocals (15) *

Jon Bellion Jonathan David Bellion (born December 26, 1990) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer. He was born and raised in Lake Grove, New York on Long Island. He is best known for his 2016 single "All Time Low," which peaked at ...

– backing vocals (15)

Production

* Allison Jones – A&R * Dann Huff – producer * Jesse Frasure – producer (1, 2, 4, 6-15) * Matt Dragstrem – producer (3), recording (3) * Julian Bunetta – producer (5) * Joe Baldridge – recording (1-4, 6-15) * Buckley Miller – recording (5) * Joel McKenney – recording assistant (1, 2, 6, 8) * Josh Ditty – recording assistant (3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15) * Sean Badum – recording assistant (5) * Kam Luchterhand – recording assistant (11) * Jory Roberts – recording assistant (11, 12, 14) * Mark Zellmer – additional recording (5) * Steve Marcantonio – string recording (1, 11-13, 15) * Michael Walter – string recording assistant (1, 13) * Justin Niebank – mixing (1-14) * Drew Bollman – mix engineer (1-4), recording (3) *

Serban Ghenea Serban Ghenea () is a Canadian audio engineer and mixer. He has been nominated for a Grammy Award a total of 45 times and has won 21 times. Early life and education Ghenea was born in Romania, and in 1976 he moved to Montreal with his family. H ...

– mixing (15) * Bryce Bordone – mix engineer (15) * David Huff – digital editing * Chris Small – digital editing (1, 2, 4-15) * Scott Cooke – digital editing (3) * Adam Ayan – mastering at Gateway Mastering (Portland, Maine) * Mike "Frog" Griffith – production manager * John Sherear – photography * Sandi Spika Borchetta – art direction * Justin Ford – art direction, design * Thomas Rhett – art direction * Courtney Geree – wardrobe * Jess Berrios – grooming

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Thomas Rhett 2022 albums Big Machine Records albums Thomas Rhett albums Albums produced by Dann Huff