Rodney Atkins is about to release his sophomore CD for Curb Records. The first, “Honesty” included a number of country ballads and love songs, many written by Atkins. The new CD, due out July 10 will be even more country. During a recent phone interview, we discussed the success of the “Honesty” single and the new tracks for his second CD. While Atkins insists he’s a just a simple country guy, its easy to see (and hear!) that he is a cut above the ordinary!

Atkins explains that this CD will be different from his debut record.  “Things that I wrote and/or recorded for this album I wanted to be genuine pictures of me, pieces of what I’m living during the process of this record.  It’s changed a lot.  I really wanted this record to be about who I am.”

“I’m very simple guy. I live in the sticks, about 80 miles east of Nashville.  I’m kind of an outside guy. I’m building a barn right now.  Where we live, it’s a simple house out in the country with a little bit of land. I heat my house with firewood and I cut the firewood myself.  I even cut firewood this winter that I delivered it to Alan Jackson’s house. That’s the kind of guy I am. I spend time with my son (Elijah).  He’s a four-year old. I wanted pieces of that to be in the record.  I’ve actually written 10 songs about my little boy, but I wanted to put one on there that was specifically about he and I, but that everybody could relate to.” 

It’s obvious that Atkins believes in family first and loves to be with and talk about his son. “I went to pick him up at school one day, he’s in pre-K, the teacher stops me and says we just wanted to let you know your boy was singing your new song in the lunch room today. And I thought oh that’s cute, and then I realized which song, he was doing “If You’re Going Through Hell (Before the Devil Even Knows It)” in the lunch line and maybe that wasn’t appropriate. When the song first came in, I asked myself, because it does have “hell” in it, is this something you want your kid to hear.  It says something I do want him to hear, it’s about the rough patches we all go through. If you’re going to leave a legacy that’s the message you want people to know you for and that’s the song. I did go home that night and talked to him about why he might not what to sing that song in the lunch line and then I wrote a song about my four year old saying a four letter word!” 

The CD was long time in the making and a lot of the extra time was spent selecting just the right music.  He wanted the album to reflect the kind of mark he wanted to leave on music.  “What guy are you?  Are you the beach guy, the vacations guy, like Kenny Chesney, or are you like Toby Keith and stick your flag in, kicking butt, patriotic. You know what I mean, just who are you. I realized I’m just the South. I’m the guy next door. Drink a beer, drink ice tea.” 

Atkins wrote the majority of the songs on the first album, but fewer on the new CD.   “It was a different process then. I was signed to Curb in ‘98 I think. I went through different producers and lots of people telling me what I needed to do and who I needed to be, you know what I mean, what an artist is suppose to look like and act like, sound like.”  

“It was a period, I guess from ‘99 to 2000 that we started doing the songs, and the label and those folks had a lot of input in the song selection process. I would say I liked this or I didn’t like this, but it was pretty much driven by ‘this is a good song, let’s go ahead and do this’. I was learning a lot.”  

“It was basically, Ted Hewitt and I producing it and I had really not done a lot of studio work. I’d sang demos, but I had to learn that singing studio was really different then singing live.  It was an evolution, a process to learn and to experiment in sounds and what’s going on in the studio. A lot of experimenting with songs and what fit me best. It was a lot of fun and I learned a ton during that time.  And Curb let me take my time and I was thankful for that.” 

Did they give him grief about using his own songs?   “It depended on the song, if I was pretty adamant. There are a couple of songs on there that were very important to me, I had a personal reason behind doing them, like “My Old Man” about my folks, so I could share that and it comes from a very real place for me.” 

How do you pick up songs from other people that were included on “Honesty”? What do you look for?  “Its interesting.  When I got Scotty Emerick’s song for example (“Uncomplicated”), I thought Scottie is incredible he’s so talented and I knew that he’d written for Toby Keith, but for me the other guy that wrote on that song, Troy Seales is the one that got the song to me and he’s one of my biggest songwriting heroes.  He wrote “Seven Spanish Angels” and “Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes” and Eric Clapton’s “Rock and Roll Heart”. He’s had so many songs, Keith Whitley stuff too, and to meet Troy, I was going wow this is a Troy Seales song. I had met Scotty and knew him slightly, but it was Troy that brought the song to me and told me this is you. So it was an honor to cut one of his songs.” 

“The Keith Urban song, (“Yeah She Does”) I can’t remember exactly how it came down. When I first got to Nashville in ‘95 or ‘96, I got to open some shows for Joe Diffie .  On the same ticket was the Ranch, Keith Urban’s band and we took turns opening. Keith was out there playing and I got to know him a little, and he was a good guy, real friendly and he was out there trying to figure out his thing which has since blown up. That song just came about back then. When I got it, I thought there’s no way I could sing this. This was Keith and a guy named Hugh Murray, another guy from Australia and they were friends that used to write a lot. It was both Hughie and Keith singing the song – you should hear the demos! It’s pretty amazing, I just done it, I like what it said. That’s what it kind of comes down to.” 

Is Nashville as friendly and helpful a city as it seems for country artists?  “I think it is, most of the artists I’ve met are overly friendly and genuinely supportive. Because once you are out there doing it, you’re out on the road and have something playing on the radio, you realize how incredibly hard that is.”  

“I think there it’s sort of like that small town thing when someone hits the lottery and  gets rich and everyone is envious of that guy and thinks he’s living above his raising. A little of that happens. Some acts genuinely keep their roots – Alan Jackson is one of them. He seems like he’s the same guy he’s always been.  It’s what you love to see. Most of us are from the sticks and believe in not getting above your raising and stuff. Pretty much everyone I come across is that way, and they kind of take you under their wing.  

Atkins is planning to tour more this summer, including a May 27 show in Hartford, CT opening for Montgomery and Gentry. He enjoys touring and knows he needs more exposure. 

“I love playing--it’s the traveling that kills you! Getting to play and meet folks that has always been my favorite part.  I don’t like to be gone for crazy long. Obviously, having a family, that’s my priority. But you got to make money too!” 

“I don’t know how many dates with Montgomery Gentry we’ll have, their booking a lot of dates right now and typically a lot of different acts that we’ll go open for. In a lot of clubs we’ll be the only ones, the only act. It changes.”   

Atkins knows his priorities.  “I was talking to a friend the other day about spending the day with my son. He said I used to think it was kind of sad, you didn’t get to spend time with Elijah, then I realized you spend more time with Elijah that I do with my kids – I spend it getting them up in the morning (the two worst times of the day) and off to school and later I spend about an hour and half and then with them and then its time for them to go to bed.” 

Atkins agreed.  “I said yeah, I’m pretty lucky. We get to spend an entire day together. We might just go down to the river and fish or just hang out. If family is a priority, it’s a priority. I’m not a big ‘get out there and stay gone’ kind of guy. I couldn’t do this that way.” 

He was able to combine family with his career when he decided to create the new CD from his home.  “One interesting thing for you to know about this record is that typically we track in a studio. Normally, you have the musicians come in and lay down their tracks and then you come in later and sing. All of my part was done at home. The first thing I sang was “Going Through Hell” with my little boy lying on the floor behind me coloring and I was looking out the window singing and just then an 8 point buck, a white-tailed deer, came right up to the window and was looking at me singing. I thought, if this ain’t country then nothing is!”

For more info on Rodney Atkins go to his website:   http://www.rodneyatkins.com/