Forrest Frank Hints That Thomas Rhett is Working on a Gospel Album

Could Thomas Rhett be venturing into the Christian space with a new Gospel project?

One of Rhett's recent collaborators, Forrest Frank, has hinted that the ‘Slow Down Summer’ hitmaker is working on a new faith-based record. Forrest is one of the leading figures in the Contemporary Christian Music space, with the Texas native combining pop, hip-hop and R&B textures to create a vibrant, refreshing new sound.

Forrest and TR combined on ‘NOTHING ELSE’, one of the many stand-outs from the former's latest album, CHILD OF GOD II, with the duo having also collaborated on ‘C'est La Vie’ back in 2021 as part of Forrest's Surfaces project with Colin Padalecki.

During an appearance on JT Smith's NEVER HAD A BAD DAY podcast, Forrest Frank reflected on the moment Thomas Rhett surprised the crowd by joining him at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena in April. Rhett emerged from the audience, but as he made his way to the stage and stepped down from the stands, he tripped and sprained his ankle. Like a true champion, though, the ‘Life Changes’ crooner still delivered a stellar performance of ‘NOTHING ELSE’ alongside his buddy.

“He missed that last step”, Forrest recalled, “I think his heel kind of touched it and he slipped out. I don't think it was a break, I think he sprained it”, before outlining that this unfortunate event might have had a divinely-inspired silver lining for Rhett.

Courteous as ever, Forrest underlined that he'd ask Rhett for his permission to speak about his potential foray into the Contemporary Christian landscape before the podcast aired. Given the fact that the episode is out and includes this part of their discussion, this suggests TR is fine with fans knowing he might be moving into this space - and could also indicate that his next project will be a Gospel one.

Forrest Frank excitedly mused, “[Thomas Rhett] immediately was texting like, ‘This is God, like, I needed this’. I don't know the nuances of it, and yeah, I don't know how much I'm allowed to say. But basically he had been putting off making Christian music, because he's a 20-time No. 1 country dude, like, he's got all this trajectory”.

Forrest went on to reveal that Rhett has been wasting no time in working on a plethora of new material for this spiritually-minded project, “He said for years he had been thinking about doing Christian music, and something about him hurting his ankle...God spoke to him. And so the next day he was like, ‘Dude, I just wrote, like, eight Christian songs today’. And he's, like, blowing up my phone...I think I literally have a song that I haven't listened to on my phone that he sent me”.

It's always great to learn that Thomas Rhett is working on new material, and a shift towards Christian music certainly feels like it would make sense for the country titan.

TR has made an effort to include faith-based themes throughout his catalogue, and has joined forces with one of Contemporary Christian Music's most popular artists, Chris Tomlin, for anthems such as ‘Be a Light’, ‘Thank You Lord’ and ‘God Who Listens’.

You can hear TR's faith radiating through beloved deep cuts, too, such as on the rousing outro to ‘Country Again’, as well as ‘Death Row’, ‘Ya Heard’, ‘Blessed’ and more.

With Thomas Rhett eschewing the more stripped-back, introspective ambience of Country Again on his latest two albums, Where We Started and About A Woman, in favour of the toe-tapping, pop-infused aesthetic that permeated his earlier records, we're fascinated to see how TR approaches this Christian project sonically.

Forrest Frank has shown that faith-based music in the modern era doesn't need to conform to the choir-backed, balladic sound the genre has typically been associated with. TR loves blurring the lines between styles, and we'd love to see him bringing this open-minded songwriting approach to Contemporary Christian Music.

Elsewhere during Forrest Frank's conversation with JT Smith, he highlighted just how popular Contemporary Christian Music is becoming, with he and other artists such as Brandon Lake at the forefront of this wave, “So that thing of just like, ‘Hey, Christian music's taking over’. It's happening. And I see people in my comments like, ‘Bro, stop saying Christian music's taking over, you're just bragging about yourself’. I'm like, ‘No, dude, there is a movement happening, and I'm tapped in enough to see it...So when you say, ‘What happened in Nashville?’ Really I think that's what happened, is something shifted where [Rhett's] now gonna be doing Gospel music. So TBD on if it comes out...I'm pretty stoked, dude”.

He also explained how ‘NOTHING ELSE’ came about, “So we had met years ago, and we just hit it off. We maintained our friendship for years and years and years and years. I had just made that song, and kind of immediately thought of him. So I wrote the whole song, sent it to him, he was like, ‘Bro, I'm obsessed with this’. He played it for his kids, he's like, ‘My kids are obsessed with this. However I can contribute, I'd love to be a part of it’. I was like, ‘Bro, take the second verse’”.

Forrest paid tribute to how Rhett's involvement helped elevate the track, “So he hopped on it, and...[the Bible] says where two or more are gathered, the presence of the Lord is, and I feel like that song in particular is so smiley, it's so joyful, if it was just me singing it, I think a lot of people would be like, ‘I'm not buying it’. But you have two grown men - TR's a boot-wearing, truck-driving, bearded dude, and we're talking about the birds and my family, you know what I'm saying? Like that vibe. There's something about that that I think solidified it, where it's like, ‘Okay, yeah, I'm buying it. Here's two dudes that are preaching the joy of the Lord’”.

If Thomas Rhett is gearing up to drop his first ever full-length Gospel album, we can't wait to see what he has in store for us. All we ask, TR, is that if you are going down this path for real, we need you to get Forrest Frank as a featured artist on the record...

Listen to Forrest Frank's full conversation with JT Smith below:

For more on Thomas Rhett, see below: