Rodney Atkins is one of the biggest country artists of the 2000s so far. He has multiple RIAA-certified Platinum singles, 6 Number Ones, 3 BMI Songs of the Year and many other accolades. He is currently in the studio working on a new album, but took some time to talk to NECM ahead of his upcoming FREE show at Mohegan Sun this Saturday 2/25.
To date, Rodney has released four studio albums and is currently finishing up his fifth with new music expected later this year. He explains “Every time I’m this far into it I go ‘man, crazy for it to take this long.’ Then last year the end of the year, they announced the most played songs of the decade and we had 6 songs in there. ‘Watching You,’ a tune I wrote about my son, was the most played song of the decade. It kinda renewed my belief that this is the right process to take this much time, find songs that will be around for a decade that people will remember.” It is important to Rodney to have songs that will not just be fillers on an album, or even radio songs that don’t stand the test of time “I love the process of writing songs and trying to make something special and not just tunes that will disappear, you know. That if you’re lucky they get on the radio, but they’re gone and no one will remember them. It’s fortunate to have songs that will be around, so hopefully that’s what we’ve done this time.”
So far, Atkins has gotten the desired results from his songs. He recently was able to release a Greatest Hits album, something he never expected when he moved to Nashville to try to make a career as a songwriter. Before he was a successful artist and songwriter he delivered firewood as a way of making money. One of his customers was Alan Jackson, who at the time had just released his first greatest hits album “I remember thinking back then, it would be so cool to have enough hits to actually have a greatest hits album. So that was something I dreamed of but didn’t ever think was gonna happen.”
Another artist who Rodney had a “run in” with before his own fame, was country icon Randy Travis. Before he even moved to Nashville he was a student at Tennessee Tech, about 100 miles East of Nashville. “I was secretly always trying to get to Nashville, I wanted to be a songwriter, and I would get my guitar and play songs every now and then in front of a handful of people, and they’d be like i really like that. It just seemed like an impossible thing for me to get to Nashville, and I really looked up to Randy Travis.” One of Rodney’s friends was who a waitress at the local Cracker Barrel came over to his place after her shift one day. “She said to me ‘you’re not gonna believe it, Randy Travis came into Cracker Barrel and I told him about you and he told me to tell you whatever you do, don’t quit singing’ and i’m thinking ‘that’s just B.S., you did not see Randy Travis.’” The friend went on to explain that she told Mr. Travis about Rodney and his songs and she told him that Mr. Travis said to tell him “just keep on singing, keep writing songs.” Atkins was still skeptical until the friend pulled out a signed napkin that said ‘Rodney keep singing -Randy Travis.’ “At that point it was like in my head he actually knew me, and he was actually telling me to keep going. It was big for me ‘Randy Travis told me to keep doing this’. He had such an influence on me.”
Years later, Atkins had the chance to tell Travis about the napkin and what an influence it had on his career. “I got to sit and visit a little bit and talk for another event that we were doing. It was so cool. It was surreal to really get to talk to him. He’s just country dude, he’s just a down to earth humble guy. I got to tell him that story and he was knocked out.” Atkins recently played as a part of 1 Night. 1 Place. 1 Time.: A Heroes and Friends Tribute to Randy Travis, alongside acts such as Garth Brooks, Alabama and Kenny Rogers “to be asked to be a part of that for that guy was such an honor… Randy Travis is such an icon.”
Atkins has always been notably charitable throughout his career. He sounded genuinely confused when we asked him why it was so important. To him there is no other way “it’s really what we do it for. Its great to have hits, but the hits are just vehicles, opportunities. They are just ways to open doors for you to get to do those things. That was always the goal, was to get to do something. My prayer was always to do something that touched people’s lives because I am a firm believer, that’s what success is, its what you do for other people.” He credits his desire to help others with giving him the courage to get on stage and play “I never could get up in front of people and sing because I was to shy. I’d written it off, wasn’t ever gonna happen. I just wanted to write songs. Somehow it turned because I was able to realize its not about me.”
In addition to his multiple USO tours and his very successful annual Music City Gives Back concert, each year Rodney and his wife host the Rod & Rosey’s Livin’ Room Live event which features a concert and live auctions. All the proceeds from the event directly to benefit the Holston Home for Children, an organization very close to his heart as it is the orphanage Rodney was adopted from. So far Atkins has been able to build a new living facility as well as start an equestrian program. This event came about after a grant funding the home’s music program expired. “When I was a kid, music what it did for me was help me get out of my head. If you’re thinking about how to make a D Chord you can’t think about much else. That really helped me out tremendously.” This years event is March 26th. You can find more info, including getting involved in the auctions which have awesome prizes from music, NASCAR, UFC, the NFL and many others, on Rodney’s website or social feeds.
Atkins says we can expect to hear his hits when he comes to Mohegan, adding that he “hate(s) it when you see somebody and they don’t play anything you know” but he is also going to preview and try out some new stuff. He actually credits fans, “real world people” as he called them, with helping him feel out songs. “I’m a firm believer in trying out songs live. If you can get a reaction. ‘Farmer’s Daughter’ was one we played live and got a response quickly… I wouldn’t have had the success that I had if I would have listened to the professionals completely in Nashville.” He was told his future number one, gold certified single ‘Cleaning This Gun’ was too slow and that there was no way he could sing about that on the radio. Well, he played the song live acoustic one day and was nervous and rushed through it. The fans reacted well, he recorded the song sped up and the rest is history.
He similarly was told that “nobody wanted to hear a four minute story song about my kid saying a four letter word.” Turns out that they did and ‘Watching You’ went on to be Country Aircheck’s No. 1 song on their ‘Top 100 Songs of Our Decade’ list. Atkins says that is his favorite song, not only because of the personal connection with him and his son, but because of how fans related to it. “That came from such a real place and such a natural place. For it to become, that is means so much to so many people, people come up and say, that’s my song, that’s me and my dad, that’s just always gonna be my most special, favorite song.”
If you do plan on going to the show at the Mohegan Sun this weekend be sure to get there early to line up for a seat inside the Wolf Den, it’s gonna packed! Be sure to follow Rodney on his website and Twitter for info on the Rod & Rosey’s Livin’ Room Live event, as well as upcoming shows and new music!
Main photo credit: Joseph Llanes