Thomas Rhett unveiled his fandom for Bruno Mars last month by releasing a cover of the pop star's 2012 ballad "When I Was Your Man." In an interview with Rolling Stone Country, he revealed that his band was working on a live rendition of the singer's recent Mark Ronson collaboration "Uptown Funk." New video from a show in Dayton, Ohio, confirms that Rhett was not lying.
Rhett is dressed up like Mars in the video below, trading in a cowboy hat for a fedora. The singer uses his baritone to power through the song, but the result is awkward at best. The band plays the hell out of the tune, but some things are better left untouched -- however, the footage is a little rough, so it could be better than it sounds. And those dance moves look like something a Luke Bryan impersonator would cringe at.
Check it out below, via Taste of Country, and let us know what you think in the comments section.
On the "When I Was Your Man" take, Rhett does the song justice by adding some sweet twang to the pop anthem.
"We kept the video really simple," he said. "I wanted everyone to see that all we did was go in there, grab a mic, play the piano and sing the whole thing down. It's a live take with a live vocal. The whole thing wasn't nearly as funny as I thought it would be. It was serious. The moment Josh started playing and I started singing, I felt it. That song gave me chills the first time I heard it, and it still does."
Rhett continues to soak up the success of his 2013 release It Goes Like This. He dropped the album's third single, "Make Me Wanna," in August. The tune hit No. 49 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 4 on the Hot Country Songs charts. He is currently on the road in support of the album, with dates scheduled from now until October.
