CMT Blog: Rodney Atkins

I am so blessed. With my family, my health, this job. But I'm also feeling blessed with really good friendships today. I celebrated my birthday this weekend (I turned 29. Again.) and just feel so lucky to have a group of good pals to make the party such a blast. These are friends who make me laugh, but are there when you need a good cry. Friends who know all your dirty secrets but would never tell a soul. And friends who will buy you one too many Jack & Cokes, but then make sure you get home OK. So this morning I'm celebrating every song that has anything to do with friendships.

"Find Out Who Your Friends Are," Tracy Lawrence
"My Old Friend," Tim McGraw
"Friends in Low Places," Garth Brooks
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When a new song comes on the radio, do you ever get the artist wrong? Like when you thought for sure it was Tim McGraw but then you realize it's Rodney Atkins? Or when you start singing along with what you think is a Trisha Yearwood single and the DJ announces it is the latest from Martina McBride? Same with the soundalikes of Tracy Lawrence and Tracy Byrd, Craig Morgan and Billy Currington, Trace Adkins and Josh Turner and Kellie Pickler and newcomer Whitney Duncan. Not to take away from any of those voices. They are all brilliant and powerful and wonderful. But then there are those signature voices in country music that are undeniably unique.

Like Jennifer Nettles. There is just no way you'd ever not know it was her singing. You'd never hear a twangy Sugarland song and think, "Is that Faith Hill?" I am starting to feel that way about a handful of other voices, too. Lady Antebellum's Charles Kelley comes to mind, with the way he can sound soulful and deep even when he's singing about a one-night stand like he does on "Lookin' for a Good Time."

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According to Rodney Atkins, when he gave up smokin', women and drinkin' last night, it was the worst 15 minutes of his life. Or so goes the song. And now he wants to know what the worst 15 minutes of your life were. It could be a similar tale of giving up a bad habit that was very short-lived -- or something even worse. Maybe it was the day you got caught cheatin'. Maybe it was the morning you woke up not knowing where you were. Whatever it was, if you send Atkins a photo, video or just an e-mail about that horrible quarter hour, he'll pick out the best of the worst, and the winner will get a trip for two to San Diego to see him in concert on Oct. 24, a meet-and-greet and a behind-the-scenes backstage tour. The prize includes roundtrip airfare from Southwest Airlines and two nights hotel accommodations.

This makes me so proud -- that a country artist of this caliber would take the time to celebrate our troops with a special concert on Aug. 14. Carrie Underwood isn't touring much this summer because she's been prepping her new album, but this Salute to the Troops show is special. She's doing the show, along with John Rich, Rodney Atkins and Jake Owen, for the soldiers and families of Fort Campbell, Ky., during the Week of the Eagles event. "People just expect there to be a military, but they don't see faces and they don't know names," said Underwood. "It's very important to just go and raise awareness and bring some cheer to people who might not get it all the time, people who are stuck in another country, away from their family and friends and kids." The concerts are free and civilians are welcome.

Photo credit: Mike Theiler

One week from today, I would normally be loading up my car with notepads, pens, camera lens, cell phone batteries, rain ponchos and about 50 ounces of really strong sunblock. Then I'd strap on my media credentials and enter the Country Thunder grounds in Twin Lakes, Wis.

I'm not going this year, for a list of reasons too long to blog about. But that hasn't stopped me from crying a river over it to anyone who will listen. There is so much I'll miss, from the fresh air and henna tattoos to the corn dogs and people-watching. I might even kind of miss the muddy parking lot. But obviously, when there are four days of country happening practically right in my backyard, what I will really miss this year is the non-stop music.

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There are so many country songs about small towns. But somehow, not one of them ever mentions Meth Watch.

Now, I know I'm gullible. And I like to believe that all those pictures of small towns that country music paints are real. But after spending eight hours in the car yesterday, traveling through the Midwest's rural farm towns, I was struck with the loss of innocence.

Where I expected to see Justin Moore's old dirt roads, I saw signs telling me, "This Town Is on Meth Watch." When I was looking for Rodney Atkins' lemonade stands, I saw only adult bookstores. When I wanted to see kids painting their names on dirt road bridges, I just saw billboards for fireworks outlets. And while I was trying to find Billy Currington's little country store with an old Coke sign, I saw boarded-up shops. There were no flat-bed trucks with guys selling turnips, either.

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The early bird gets the worm and -- at least Friday morning (May 29) on Fox & Friends -- Rodney Atkins, too. And even better, a live performance of Atkins' brand new single, "15 Minutes." The one where he admits that he gave up smokin', women and drinkin', and it was the worst 15 minutes of his life. It is a solid country summertime hit if I've ever heard one. One where he sounds a little bit like Dierks Bentley (when he laughs) and a little bit like Tim McGraw (when he drawls). Not a bad combination at all. So I'm looking forward to hearing Atkins do it live in the New York studio. He'll be on Fox sometime between 6 and 9 a.m. ET, right when I'm getting my kids off to school (which is pretty much the worst 15 minutes of my life), so I will have to DVR this one to make sure I don't miss it.

Picture any clique from your high school. Bitchy Cheerleaders. Holier-Than-Thou Jocks. Squinty-Eyed Stoners. Now try to picture Nashville's singers and songwriters being that divisive. I've tried to imagine it, but just can't. Even though a feature story in The Washington Post ponders the very real possibility that it may be exactly what's happening on Music Row.

What the article really is is a big-picture look at small-town songs. About how those songs have spread throughout the country landscape like fire on a stream of kerosene down a dirt road, with Justin Moore's "Small Town USA," Rodney Atkins' "These Are My People," Jason Aldean's "Hicktown" and Zac Brown Band's "Chicken Fried" right there in the thick of it.

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It makes sense that two country stars would have the same taste in tour buses. But I never realized you could actually pass down a bus from one artist to another. In this video interview with Rodney Atkins, though, he talks about how he was in love with Martina McBride's tour bus when he was first on the road as her opening act. So when her lease ran out, the bus company offered it to Team Atkins. They've made some changes to the big red bus since signing the papers. It's now adorned with 12-gauge shotgun shells around the window frames, pictures of Atkins' family and the third place ribbon he and his son won in the Cub Scouts Pinewood Derby. There's no ribbon hanging on the bus wall for his No. 1 song, "It's America," but I'm guessing he'll find some other way to commemorate that.

Ever wonder how true that Rodney Atkins song "Cleaning This Gun (Come On In Boy)" really is? For Carrie Underwood, it was way, way, way too true. In an audio clip of her describing her first date ever (which ultimately became her worst date ever), it totally fits. She was 16 and going out with an older guy. "And he came in and my dad actually had gotten out his shotguns to start cleaning them," she says. Then they went out, and he really didn't put that much thought into their destination. They tried going to a movie, but Underwood couldn't get in to any R-rated movies, so they watched a horrible movie, left halfway through and he took her home. Bet he's kicking himself now.