Some people grab my hair and pull it out. People write on my jeans when I’m on stage. They write on my boots – their phone number, name or whatever. – Rodney Atkins
I see the crowd singing ‘Rock ‘N Roll’ or ‘Back Road’ at my concerts… they are anthems and they lift up your life. – Rodney Atkins
With videos, I find I’m better off if I’m playing a role inside of it. The more you do it, the more you understand it. – Rodney Atkins
Every song you’re trying to find something that going to connect in different ways but for me the songs that I’m really drawn to are inspirational, songs that lift you and that everybody can relate to no matter where you’re from. – Rodney Atkins
There’s a book called ‘The Shack’ – it had a lot to do with me coming full circle, meeting my birth mother. Awhile back, my birth mom and my adopted mom came to my show together, and it was pretty surreal. – Rodney Atkins
Where I’m fortunate and why I think I’ve thrived and survived, through the not having albums out every year-and-a-half, is not taking the songs lightly and trying to make sure I’ve got consistency. – Rodney Atkins
I started doing some demos and got online and bought a refurbished laptop, bought a microphone off of eBay. A lot of folks said you can’t really do it that way at a pro level, but I did some vocals that way, turned it into the label and they said, ‘Wow, where did you record this? The vocals sound great!’ – Rodney Atkins
You may not know it, but I was adopted as a baby by my wonderful parents, Allan and Margaret Atkins of Cumberland Gap, Tenn. – Rodney Atkins
I am so excited this year getting to play the 85th Anniversary Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Everyone knows on Thanksgiving morning to get up, turn on the TV and watch the parade, so to be an actual participant is going to be fun and I’m looking forward to it. I am gonna have to put on my deer hunting gear, though, to stay warm! – Rodney Atkins
It’s still a trip for me to see somebody that I’ve only seen on television or in a movie. When they are there in real life, it’s very different. When we played Detroit, Kevin Costner played before us. – Rodney Atkins
The way I heard about The American Giving Awards was from the people that I work with. My publicist and I had a conversation a while back about wanting to really get involved more and more. We’ve been working with the National Council for Adoption with the children’s home that I was adopted from called Holston Home. – Rodney Atkins
I’ve never really focused on if I had good habits when I sang or if I had bad habits, or if I was breathing correctly. So, I started doing vocal exercises and would stretch out before I sang, stuff to help my breathing. It’s funny, you breathe your whole life then you find out you’re not doing it correctly. – Rodney Atkins
You wind up creating from silence, like painting a picture on a blank canvas that could bring tears to somebody’s eyes. As songwriters, our blank canvas is silence. Then we write a song from an idea that can change somebody’s life. Songwriting is the closest thing to magic that we could ever experience. That’s why I love songwriting. – Rodney Atkins
When you’re adopted, no matter what, you’ve got issues with unconditional love. And you find out you’re the product of the worst situation for a young girl to be in and start her life, and I’m so grateful that my birth mom made the decision she made. She came from a rough situation. – Rodney Atkins
I was a sickly baby, and after two sets of adoptive parents took me home, they returned me to the orphanage because of a serious respiratory infection. But as they say, the third time’s a charm, because my mom and dad adopted me and took me into their home where I was raised in a family full of love. – Rodney Atkins
You choose to be happy, and in life we have as many good days as bad days. I try to find and record those songs that pull you through the bad days, and keep you believing that the good days are just around the corner. – Rodney Atkins
Right now my favorite TV show – because it’s too close to home – is ‘My Name Is Earl.’ That show kills me. There’s some funny stuff in there. – Rodney Atkins
I grew up playing music and enjoying good food, friends and family in my own backyard. – Rodney Atkins
My family and I are just regular folks, just trying to get through the day and do the best you can and pay the bills, and that’s who we’re singing to. – Rodney Atkins
My wife grew up loving country music, so I always run songs by her whether I wrote it or if somebody pitched it to me. – Rodney Atkins
If I spent the rest of my life getting even with the people that had helped me out, I would never settle the score. – Rodney Atkins
You can hear some artists, hear five of their albums and still have no idea who they are. But if you’ve heard most of what I’ve recorded, you know me. You go from ‘Honesty’ to ‘Going Through Hell’ – you can listen to the hits, and they pretty much reflect who I am. ‘Take a Back Road’ is the same thing. – Rodney Atkins
But I have vertigo… I lose my equilibrium easily. I can lean out to look at something and just keep leaning and not realize I’m about to fall. – Rodney Atkins
I could be on 52nd and Third in Manhattan up and ask a strange for directions and they will help you, that’s a rural heart. Your car breaks down in the middle of Iowa or somewhere, or Tennessee where I’m from, people want to help each other. Given each opportunity, you see how people come together. – Rodney Atkins
When I did ‘The Tonight Show’ and Jay Leno was still there, he was very nice but it was surreal. It’s like you can’t believe you’re standing there talking to that person. If you’ve seen them in a lot of movies or on TV you feel like you know them, just like my fans feel like they know me. – Rodney Atkins
