Thomas Rhett Akins Jr. came into the Nashville system the way some country artists do — through the back door of the publishing house, not the front door of a talent contest. His father, Rhett Akins, had already spent decades in the business writing songs and cutting records, and the younger Akins absorbed the craft early. He left Lipscomb University at twenty to pursue music full-time, spent his first professional years placing cuts with Jason Aldean, Florida Georgia Line, and Scotty McCreery, learning what a hit was from the inside before he needed to be the one singing it. By the time It Goes Like This arrived in 2013, he had done the work. Thirteen years later — with 18 No. 1 hits, a Diamond certification from the RIAA, and seven studio albums behind him — Thomas Rhett brings The Soundtrack to Life Tour to the Moody Center in Austin on Thursday, September 17, 2026. Showtime is 7:30 PM.
About Thomas Rhett
There is a particular kind of Nashville-made country artist who can move between radio-pop and the more earnest end of the genre without losing credibility in either direction. Thomas Rhett has occupied that position since the mid-2010s. His catalog is built on the blend: “Die a Happy Man” is a ballad that has lived in wedding playlists ever since it arrived; “Crash and Burn,” “T-Shirt,” “Marry Me,” and “Make Me Wanna” establish a range that pulls from R&B and pop as freely as from Nashville tradition. Through Life Changes (2017), Center Point Road (2019), and on through About a Woman (2024), he has kept adding dimensions without losing the core of what the audience came for.
The current deluxe edition of About a Woman runs 25 tracks with collaborations throughout; a current Top 5 single with Jordan Davis is still climbing the chart. The RIAA certifications stand at 53 million singles and 4.5 million albums in the United States — Diamond-certified by any measure. The Academy of Country Music Awards named him Entertainer of the Year in 2020. He has earned Grammy nominations for Best Country Album and accumulated multiple ACM and CMA Awards over the years. The trade press called him “the Prince of Country Music” after his 18th No. 1 arrived in nine years — most of those titles fade before the next album cycle; this one has stuck.
The Soundtrack to Life Tour opened July 9, 2026, in Nashville and routes through more than 20 U.S. cities before closing October 24 in Omaha. Rhett has said the show is built around a conviction most songwriters would recognize: “I’ve always believed a great song can take you right back to a moment — your first love, the last day of school, that summer you never wanted to end — and that’s what I hope the fans take away from our shows this summer.” (Live Nation Newsroom.) It is a simpler manifesto than it sounds, and harder to pull off than the arena specs suggest.
The Austin date features Emily Ann Roberts opening every show on the tour, joined on this date by Zach John King as an Austin-specific addition to the bill.
About the Venue
The Moody Center at 2001 Robert Dedman Drive sits on the University of Texas campus and has become, in a short time, the primary destination for arena-scale touring in Austin. With 15,000 seats, it is a serious room built for the kind of headlining show Thomas Rhett has been putting together for the better part of a decade. For venue information, visit moodycenteratx.com.
Tickets & Pricing
Thomas Rhett: The Soundtrack to Life Tour plays the Moody Center ATX on Thursday, September 17, 2026, at 7:30 PM. Tickets are available via Ticketmaster. VIP packages are available at vipnation.com.