Songfacts®:

• Thomas Rhett's wife, Lauren, grew up with a friend from across the street named Hunter. They were like brother and sister, and once Rhett started dating Lauren, he too grew close to Hunter. One tragic day, before Thomas and Lauren got married in 2012, Hunter died in a freak accident when he fell off a rope swing and hit his head. Rhett wrote this song to honor their dear departed friend.
• Rhett co-wrote "Heaven Right Now" with Zach Crowell and Ashley Gorley. Over an acoustic melody, he converses with Hunter, updating him about his family and friends.
  
  Your daddy's still fixin' motors and a good guy married Macy
  
  And the local news.
  
  They still ain't paved that road, on Lower Lickton Pike
• Rhett told The Boot certain things still remind him of Hunter. "Whether I'm driving by certain landmarks that I used to see him at, I just noticed that he's still here in spirit," he said.
  
  Rhett added: "So the song was kind of written from my perspective of just like, you know, life is still kind of moving on, per usual, down here - a lot of things have changed - but [I'm] still kind of just doing life and wondering what he's doing, because it's probably way cooler than anything that we're doing down here."
• Rhett found the song a really hard one to write, as Hunter was the first person he'd ever lost who he was really close to. Rhett's Christian beliefs are important to him, so "Heaven Right Now" became a faith-based song. "This whole concept was just, while we're doin' life as usual down here, you're probably like doin' something way cooler than we are up in heaven," he shared to Audacy's Rob + Holly.
• During the second verse, Rhett tells Hunter every time he hears Eric Church's 2006 song "Sinners Like Me," he turns it up and wonders what he's up to at the moment in Heaven. Rhett also references playing Church's music loudly on Country Again Side A's title track.
  
  And cranked Eric Church to ten
  Thought, "Man, it feels good to be country again"
  
  Rhett noted taking musical influence from Eric Church when making Country Again Side A. "When Chief came out, I remember my mind being blown at the way he could tell a story and the energy he could have on a record and how he could blend rock and roll and country music so well," Rhett told Rolling Stone of Church's 2011 album. "I love that he just does him and there's no shame in it."