Why Thomas Rhett Owes His Love for the Bee Gees to His Grandma

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Monty Brinton/CBS Sunday night, some of the biggest names in country music pay tribute to the brothers Gibb, as Thomas Rhett, Kelsea Ballerini, Little Big Town and Keith Urban perform on the CBS special, Stayin’ Alive:  A Grammy Salute to the Music of the Bee Gees.

“I’m going to be doing ‘To Love Somebody,’” Keith reveals. “I remember hearing the song a lot when I was growing up and always loving it. It’s such a simple song. It’s just beautiful,” he adds.

Thomas Rhett, on the other hand, didn’t come to the Bee Gees quite as easily as Keith did.

“My grandmother is a huge Bee Gees fan and Saturday Night Fever was kind of one of those compilations that my grandmother forced me to listen to,” TR admits.

“I think I was about five or six years old, but I’m so glad that she did because it became one of the most influential things in my retro sound,” he says.

Thomas Rhett and Kelsea aren’t doing one of the Bee Gees’ hits on the special: they’re pairing up for an iconic country song written by the brothers that was produced by Barry Gibb.

“We’re doing ‘Islands in the Stream’,” Kelsea says, “which is really cool, cause it’s kind of paying tribute to our fellow country [artists] Dolly [Parton] and Kenny [Rogers], which is nice, but also honoring the songwriter, Barry. It’s really cool to kind of do both.”

Little Big Town will put their spin on “How Deep Is Your Love,” alongside superstars like Stevie Wonder, Celine Dion, Ed Sheeran, and Nick Jonas, who are part of the event as well.

You can catch the show Sunday starting at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.

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