Death Row Lyrics
Just last week I went to prison
To see some boys down on death row
Brought some guitars and my buddies
To play some songs I thought they'd know, hm
I could feel myself tremblin'
When I shook one of their hands
I thought that he would be a monster
It turns out he's a whole lot like I am
[Chorus: Thomas Rhett]
Yeah, we talked huntin', we talked fishin'
Like I do with boys back home
How Jesus is the ticket
And narrow is the road
About how all we need is forgiveness
'Fore we see them streets of gold
Yeah, I learned a lot 'bout livin' from them boys down on death row
[Verse 2: Tyler Hubbard]
One of 'em name's was Johnny
Ain't touched the grass in thirty years
Maybe I ain't supposed to feel sorry, no
But it 'bout brought me to tears
Then it hit me, we're all human
Ain't always proud of what we done
Everybody's days are numbered
Only difference is, they all know which ones
Yeah, we talked hunting, we talked fishing
Like I do with boys back home
How Jesus is the ticket
And narrow is the road
About how all we need is forgiveness
'Fore we see them streets of gold
Yeah, I learned a lot 'bout livin' from them boys down on death row
[Post-Chorus: All]
Whoa, whoa, whoa, oh
Whoa, whoa, whoa, oh
Whoa, whoa, whoa, oh
[Bridge: Russell Dickerson & Thomas Rhett]
One of 'em sang, "Amazing Grace", how sweet the sound
With one hand raised and one foot chained to the ground
Yeah, he sang it like he knew; he'd just been found
Yeah, that next week, they laid him six feet down
Oh, oh
[Chorus: Russell Dickerson & Thomas Rhett]
I can't say that he's in Heaven, who am I to judge his soul?
But Jesus don't play favorites, sayin' a name that He don't know
Yeah, I learned that and then some, with them boys down on death row
I learned all that and then some, from the boys down on death row
About
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
We actually went to the men’s prison here in Nashville last Christmas to play some songs for people that were on death row. With this ministry that does this a couple times a year,“ he explains. "I don’t know, our hearts and our brains were just kinda rocked and the next week I went in to write with Ashley Gorley and Zac Crowell and said, ‘I’ve got a really strange title for y'all and it’s called 'Death Row.’ We literally just explained our experience at the prison in a song. It just felt like, I don’t know, something that needed to be said.
–via Taste of Country (Jan, 2022)
Thomas Rhett:
Me, Tyler and Russell got asked to go sing some songs for some inmates that were currently serving time on death row. Before you know it, we played for an hour. And at the very last song that we sang, one of the guys was like, ‘Y'all have to get this guy to sing you his version of “Amazing Grace”.’ And so this guy up top, whose foot was chained to the ground, he came down into where we were sitting, and God, he sang the most beautiful version of ‘Amazing Grace’ you ever heard. I don’t know what I felt, but I do know that after getting done playing the songs and just talking with some of them, I just felt this empathy, like, ‘We’ve all made terrible mistakes in our lives and some end up being way worse than others,’ but also realising there’s always room for redemption.
—via Apple Music
- 1.The Hill
- 2.Church Boots
- 3.Bass Pro Hat
- 5.Angels
- 6.Half Of Me
- 8.Paradise
- 9.Death Row
- 11.Slow Down Summer
- 12.Simple As A Song
- 13.Us Someday
- 14.Somebody Like Me
- 15.Where We Started
