Niall Horan Shows Up for His Buddy Thomas Rhett’s Nashville Honor: All About Their 10-Year Friendship
Learn how One Direction played a part in the pop star and country music icon meeting and becoming friends
Key Takeaways
- Friends for a decade: The duo was introduced through the industry.
- They released their version of 'Old Tricks' in October 2025 and co-headline July shows.
- They support each other: Rhett at Opry debut; Horan at Walk of Fame induction.
When a pop singer meets a country singer, the sweetest friendship emerges and that’s exactly what happened for Niall Horan and Thomas Rhett. The two stars have been good friends for several years, but 2026 is the year they’re coming together for not just a few stadium shows, but to support each other in their other musical endeavors. Learn more about the friendship between Niall Horan and Thomas Rhett, including how they met and what they’re cooking up for fans.
How Niall Horan and Thomas Rhett met
Although Horan and Rhett didn’t begin working together until 2025 with their song, “Old Tricks,” the two have actually been friends for much longer. The singers actually met through mutual friends and their connection has to do with Horan’s time in One Direction.
“I’ve known Niall for a decade now,” Rhett shared. “My producer produced all the 1D [One Direction] stuff back in the day. He produced Teddy Swims, Sabrina Carpenter; he’s awesome. But he introduced me to Niall about a decade ago and we’ve become really good buddies. We put a song out together last year and just decided, ‘Let’s go do some shows together,’ so we’ve got a couple this year.”
Rhett also added in another interview, “We’re golfing buddies and he’s just one of my best buddies in the entertainment industry.”
The duo released their version of “Old Tricks” in October 2025 after Rhett had already put a version out with Blake Shelton. With the big fan reaction the song received, the two decided to go and do a few shows together.
“We’ve been friends for a long time and I jumped on one of his songs last year and it’s crazy that we’ve never actually done much together before,” Horan explained.
Thomas Rhett talks about their friendship
Rhett and Horan aren’t just friends for publicity. The two have been showing up to support one another at their milestone achievements recently and fans are loving their friendship. Rhett joined Horan on stage at his Grand Ole Opry debut and the two performed their song live together for the first time.
The next day, Horan showed up for Rhett at his induction into the Music City Walk of Fame. While at the event, Rhett spoke about his friendship with Niall and what it was like to be at his Opry debut.
“We’ve known each other for about 10 years now,” Rhett shared at the Music City Walk of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee today, July 8, 2026. “Making songs with him is great, doing shows with him is great, but to watch anyone play the Grand Ole Opry for the first time—if you could bottle that feeling up and sell it, you’d be a billionaire.”
Horan and Rhett on performing together
If you love the friendship between Horan and Rhett as much as we do, you’ll love to hear that the duo is co-headlining two shows together. The first show is on July 9 at Geodis Park in Nashville. The second chance to see them is on July 18 at Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
Horan explained, “You don’t really see a lot of crossover shows between country and pop music like this. I think the fans know Thomas and I are genuinely good mates. It’s just gonna make for an unbelievable atmosphere.”
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