Something To Do With My Hands

The Making and Chart History of "Something to Do with My Hands" by Thomas Rhett

Thomas Rhett, born Thomas Rhett Akins Jr. on March 30, 1990, in Valdosta, Georgia, came to country music with a considerable hereditary advantage: his father, Rhett Akins, was himself a successful country songwriter and recording artist whose credits included major hits for numerous Nashville acts. Growing up within the professional structures of Nashville's songwriting and recording community gave Thomas Rhett early and extensive exposure to the craft of commercial country music, an education that proved foundational when he began his own recording career.

Thomas Rhett signed with Valory Music Co., a division of Big Machine Records, in 2012 and immediately began releasing material. "Something to Do with My Hands" was his debut single, released in 2012 as the first introduction of the artist to mainstream country radio audiences. The song represented a deliberate opening statement, designed to communicate a sonic identity rooted in contemporary country with an uptempo, party-oriented energy that distinguished it from more somber or introspective debut material. The choice of a high-energy, lightly suggestive track as a debut single signaled a specific commercial positioning within the country landscape.

The recording was produced with the polished sheen characteristic of Nashville's mainstream country output in the early 2010s, a period defined by the rise of what critics labeled "bro-country," a subgenre that emphasized outdoor leisure, social gatherings, and romantic pursuit in energetic, rock-influenced arrangements. "Something to Do with My Hands" fit comfortably within this aesthetic framework while displaying enough personality to suggest a distinctive artist voice behind the genre conventions.

The song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on July 28, 2012, entering at its peak position of number 93. It spent four weeks on the chart, a modest run that nonetheless represented a meaningful commercial foothold for a debut artist releasing his first single. The chart performance was primarily driven by country radio activity rather than by mainstream pop airplay, and the Hot 100 entry reflected the degree to which country radio's strong listener base generated digital download sales that registered on the combined format chart.

On country-specific charts, the song demonstrated stronger legs, consistent with a debut single that was gaining traction through the traditional radio promotion process. Country radio promotion typically involves an extended campaign of building airplay markets one station at a time before a song reaches full national rotation, and "Something to Do with My Hands" followed this conventional path. The Hot Country Songs chart provided more context for the song's genuine industry traction than the Hot 100 position alone suggested.

The song reached number 29 on the Hot Country Songs chart, which for a debut single represented a solid if not spectacular performance. More significantly, it established Thomas Rhett's relationship with country radio programmers and laid the groundwork for the follow-up singles that would generate considerably more momentum. In the country industry, a debut single is as much about establishing relationships and demonstrating commercial viability to the label and radio community as it is about achieving specific chart positions.

The commercial trajectory of Thomas Rhett's career following "Something to Do with My Hands" would prove remarkably strong. Subsequent singles including "It Goes Like This," "Get Me Some of That," and eventually a string of number-one country hits demonstrated that the commercial instincts evident in his debut single were well-founded. In retrospect, "Something to Do with My Hands" reads clearly as a launching pad: a competent, energetic introduction that communicated the artist's personality and commercial positioning without fully previewing the depth and range he would demonstrate over the following decade.

For country music archivists and chart historians, the song's significance lies less in its specific chart performance than in its historical position as the opening chapter of a career that would become one of the most consistently successful in country music of the 2010s. The Hot 100 entry at number 93 was a modest beginning that subsequent commercial achievements would put in very particular perspective, making "Something to Do with My Hands" a notable document of an important career's earliest moments.