Rodney Atkins

Rodney Allan Atkins (born March 28, 1969) is an American country music singer and songwriter.

Rodney Allan Atkins was born March 28, 1969, in Knoxville, Tennessee.

His biological mother, who was 19 at the time, became pregnant with him after a "traumatic first date".

She hid the pregnancy from her parents and put him up for adoption at the Holston United Methodist Home for Children in Greeneville, Tennessee.

His first adoptive parents, Charles Hutchins and Linda Weems, returned him to the home after he developed a major respiratory infection.

Allan and Margaret Atkins, who had lost a newborn about a year prior, inquired after the child, but decided not to proceed due to surgery that Margaret had just undergone.

Meanwhile, another couple adopted him, but also returned him soon after when he developed colic.

After Margaret Atkins recovered, she proceeded to adopt him.

In the mid-1990s, Atkins moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a recording career.

Signed to Curb Records in 1996, he charted his first single on the Billboard country chart in 1997, but did not release an album until 2003's Honesty, which included the hit single "Honesty (Write Me a List)".

He signed with Curb Records in 1996, the same week that LeAnn Rimes did.

Atkins's debut single, "In a Heartbeat", spent one week at number 74 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) chart dated for August 30, 1997.

One of the song's cowriters was Brian Gowan, who was also recording on Curb at the time as one-half of Blake & Brian.

Its b-side, "God Only Knows", was also released as a single, but did not chart.

His debut album was slated for release on September 16 of the same year, but it was never released due to Atkins' dissatisfaction with his material.

He discussed his dissatisfaction while sitting next to Curb Records owner Mike Curb on an airplane; Curb allowed him to switch producers, and Atkins chose Ted Hewitt, with whom he had been working on demos.

Hewitt also changed Atkins' style from a cowboy appearance and a vocal style similar to Roy Orbison to a more polished appearance.

Atkins, Hewitt, and Max T. Barnes wrote the track "Don't Think I Won't" on Mark Wills' 1998 album Wish You Were Here, but he was otherwise inactive until 2002.

In mid-2002, Rodney Atkins released his third single, "Sing Along".

Both it and its followup, "My Old Man", peaked in the lower regions of the Top 40 on the country chart.

He entered the Top 10 for the first time in late 2003-early 2004 with "Honesty (Write Me a List)", which went on to peak at number 4 on the country charts and 57 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The song was the title track to his album Honesty, which was released by the end of 2003.

"Someone to Share It With" and "Monkey in the Middle" (both also co-written by Gowan) were also issued as singles, with the former peaking at number 41 on the country charts.

Atkins told the Associated Press that he chose to record "Honesty" because he and producer Ted Hewitt wanted a twelfth song for the album, and co-writer David Kent had recommended it to Hewitt.

Jeffrey B. Remz of Country Standard Time gave the album a mixed review.

He thought that Atkins seemed too similar in sound to labelmate Tim McGraw, but praised some of the songs for having strong melodies.

A more favorable review came from Matt Bjorke of About.com, who called it a "confident debut from a talented newcomer."

Having been absent from the country music charts for most of 2004 and 2005, he returned in 2006 with a single entitled "If You're Going Through Hell (Before the Devil Even Knows)", which served as the lead-off to his second released album, If You're Going Through Hell.

If You're Going Through Hell, his second album, was released in 2006.

Its first two singles, "If You're Going Through Hell (Before the Devil Even Knows)" and "Watching You", each spent four weeks at number one the country music chart, and were respectively ranked as the top country songs of 2006 and 2007 according to Billboard Year-End.

The album, which has since been certified platinum in the United States, produced two more number one singles in "These Are My People" and "Cleaning This Gun (Come On In Boy)".

Atkins has received six nominations from the Academy of Country Music and two from the Country Music Association, winning Top New Male Vocalist from the former in 2006.

Atkins did not meet his biological mother until 2008, and has never revealed her identity.

The Atkins family moved frequently in his youth, eventually settling in Claiborne County, Tennessee.

He attended high school at Powell Valley High in Speedwell, Tennessee.

During high school, Atkins played guitar in his spare time at events and festivals.

After graduating from Walters State Community College, he went to Tennessee Tech in Cookeville, Tennessee, where he made friends with songwriters and soon began writing himself.

"In a Heartbeat" later appeared on the soundtrack of the 2008 film Camille.

It's America (2009) included the number one single "It's America" and the Top 5 hit "Farmer's Daughter", which was added to a later reissue of the album.

Take a Back Road (2011) produced his sixth number one in its title track, and 2019's Caught Up in the Country set a record for the longest run on the country singles charts with its title track.