Why does Thomas Rhett’s new album list War as co-writers?

Thomas Rhett, whose sophomore album, "Tangled Up," drops Friday makes a direct nod to Marvin Gaye on "Die a Happy Man," one of the first two singles from the album. Ironically, he makes another nod a few songs later — though this one is obviously indirect and inadvertent.

When the record is released, if you look closely at the album's liner notes, you'll notice more than a dozen other individuals listed as composers of the song "Vacation." Contrary to how it might appear, this wasn't a situation of songwriting by committee. Rather Rhett has listed the members of War, the 1970s funk-based fusion band from Long Beach, Calif., as co-writers of his tune.

"We kind of thought that 'Vacation' sounded a little bit like 'Lowrider,' " the rising country star explained in an interview with the Review-Journal on Thursday via phone on the road from Wichita, Kansas, where he's currently on tour. "So the first thing we did was went to War and made them co-writers on the song."

In light of this year's "Blurred Lines" verdict — in which a judge awarded Marvin Gaye's relatives $5.3 million in their civil suit, with a provision providing them 50 percent of the royalties from future earnings, for the Robin Thicke-Pharrell Williams-penned pop hit's similarities to Gaye's song "Got to Give It Up" — adding the individual members of War is an astute decision on Rhett's part.

While he's certainly not the first popular musician in recent years to share a songwriting credit — Elton John is credited on "I'm the Man" by Aloe Blacc (though that one's actually an interpolation), and Tom Petty has a co-write on "Stay With Me" by Sam Smith — he might be the most prominent one thus far to do it proactively.

This news will come as a pleasant surprise to the members of War — who, according to their general manager Joel Brandes, whom we also spoke to Thursday, were unaware of the inclusion — particularly when those royalty checks start making their way to their mailboxes.

As for the song, it's not a dead ringer, by any means, but you can see how some might hear similarities between the bass line and elements of the percussion from "Vacation" and the classic number from the Long Beach band's 1975 platter, "Why Can't We Be Friends?"

In addition to "Vacation," Rhett spoke with us at length about the rest of album, talking to us about each song on the record, track by track. You can read his thoughts at reviewjournal.com, and then catch him next weekend at the Route 91 Harvest Festival at the Las Vegas Village.

Read more from Dave Herrera at reviewjournal.com. Contact him at dherrera@reviewjournal.com.