Thomas Rhett Akins Sr. (born October 13, 1969) is an American country music singer and songwriter.

Signed to Decca Records between 1994 and 1997, he released two albums for that label (1995's A Thousand Memories and 1996's Somebody New), followed by 1998's What Livin's All About on MCA Nashville.

Overall, his albums have accounted for fourteen singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs, including the number one "Don't Get Me Started" from 1996.

[3] Akins' second album, Somebody New, produced his only number one hit in "Don't Get Me Started", which peaked in August 1996.

This album was even less successful, however, with its lead-off single "More Than Everything" falling one space short of top 40 in the U.S., although it was a No.

A fourth album, Friday Night in Dixie, was released in 2002 on Koch Records.

57-peaking "Kiss My Country Ass", which was later recorded by Blake Shelton for his 2010 extended play Hillbilly Bone.

"If Heaven Wasn't So Far Away" was the second single from People Like Me, which failed to chart for Akins, but was later recorded by Justin Moore, whose version went to number 1.

In the late 2000s, Akins began writing songs for other artists, primarily with Ben Hayslip and Dallas Davidson, collaboratively known as The Peach Pickers.

Among the singles that Akins has co-written are "Put a Girl in It" recorded by Brooks & Dunn, "Barefoot and Crazy" by Jack Ingram,[4] "Gimmie That Girl" and "The Shape I'm In" by Joe Nichols, "All About Tonight", "Honey Bee", "I Lived It", and "Boys 'Round Here" by Blake Shelton, "When She Says Baby", "Just Gettin' Started", "Tonight Looks Good on You" by Jason Aldean, "All Over Me" by Josh Turner, "Hot Mess" by Tyler Farr, "Farmer's Daughter" and "Take a Back Road" by Rodney Atkins, "Bait a Hook" and "Point at You" by Justin Moore, "I Can Take It from There" by Chris Young, "I Know Somebody" by LoCash, "Parking Lot Party", "That Don't Sound Like You" by Lee Brice, "Hey Girl" by Billy Currington, "I Don't Want This Night to End", "Huntin', Fishin' and Lovin' Every Day" by Luke Bryan, "Wild in Your Smile", "Mind Reader", "Small Town Boy" by Dustin Lynch, "It Goes Like This", "Get Me Some of That" and "Star of the Show" by Thomas Rhett, "Granddaddy's Gun" by Aaron Lewis and "A Buncha Girls", "Young & Crazy" by Frankie Ballard, "Kick It in the Sticks", "Small Town Throwdown" by Brantley Gilbert., "Ready Set Roll" by Chase Rice, "Dirt on My Boots" by Jon Pardi, “To Be Loved By You” by Parker McCollum and "Missing" by William Michael Morgan.