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Rodney Atkins speaks to Everything Nash about releasing "Watching You 2.0" with his son Elijah, new music and more
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0:00
hey guys it's Gail with Everything Nash
0:01
here with one of my favorite people
0:03
Rodney Atkins we haven't talked in a
0:05
long time so it's good to see you again
0:07
it has It's been too long it's great to
0:09
see you great and we have things to talk
0:11
about um watching you okay go back to
0:14
the beginning of that song because it
0:16
started when Elijah was I think four
0:18
right yes ma'am he was four he was four
0:22
and um I went to pick him so it really
0:27
started the night before I had done my
0:30
first album on Curb and it didn't sell
0:34
many records at all maybe six copies and
0:37
I didn't know if I was going to get to
0:38
go back into studio after that and I
0:41
decided I was going to figure out how to
0:43
record at home so I got on eBay and I
0:47
bought like a a old a refurbished laptop
0:50
or something a cheap microphone i set it
0:53
up in the pantry at at the house and
0:56
started trying to record and while I'm
0:58
trying to figure that stuff out and I'd
1:00
got this gadget for Pro Tools i was just
1:03
learning all of it well Eli was my
1:06
shadow he was in the room just coloring
1:08
in the floor behind me while daddy's
1:10
trying to figure this stuff out and um
1:13
didn't think he was paying attention to
1:15
me till the next day I went to pick him
1:16
up from school and the first song I was
1:18
working on is what he heard me singing
1:21
and I walked in his teacher Miss Sarah
1:22
said "I got to talk to you about your
1:24
boy." I said "Oh no what you done?" She
1:26
said "No it was it was cute it was
1:29
funny." We got a routine where I turn
1:31
the lights on and off every day and then
1:33
all the kids line up and that's their
1:34
signal uh when they see the lights flash
1:37
that we go to lunch once they're quiet
1:39
we started to walk to the cafeteria and
1:41
then I heard him singing a song i said
1:44
"A song?" She said "Yeah it was
1:45
something like if you're going through
1:47
hell keep on going." And I said "Oh man
1:52
i'm sorry that's just a tune I'm working
1:53
on." And she said "Well it was kind of
1:55
funny it was really funny." And he got
1:58
embarrassed
1:59
and so we talked about it i said "No you
2:03
you got to be quiet the teacher says be
2:04
quiet." I mean he said "But why can't I
2:07
sing the song?" I said "You can sing the
2:09
song." So we got this whole thing of how
2:10
come I could sing it and he couldn't
2:14
and talked about it and that evening I
2:16
got him to bed
2:18
and I was just thinking my four-year-old
2:20
said a four-letter word i wonder if
2:21
there's a song in that and I had a
2:23
writing appointment with two two friends
2:25
Steve Dean and Brian White talked about
2:27
it and that song kind of just fell out
2:29
it was just a story and a day of our
2:32
life you know um aren't those the best
2:34
songs though it it just to come from a
2:37
real place and just tell a story and the
2:39
song's a weird song the way it's written
2:41
if you look at the structure of it and
2:43
how it rhymes and it's just a different
2:46
thing and I never intended any human on
2:48
earth to hear it but him so it was crazy
2:51
that it connected with folks and uh I
2:56
remember the head of ANR at the time
2:57
even said
2:59
look
3:01
I don't really get it i don't know if
3:03
people really want to hear you sing
3:04
about your four-year-old saying ain't a
3:06
four-letter word it's a cute song though
3:08
don't get me wrong but you know I don't
3:09
know but Mike Curb says he just he wants
3:12
to get it out he wants to put it out
3:14
before somebody else hears this idea
3:16
steals it and then they do it so we're
3:18
going to put it out there we'll see what
3:20
happens and that was how the song became
3:22
a single really okay so then fast
3:24
forward to a few months ago you
3:26
performed that song with Elijah i'm
3:29
guessing you had no idea what was going
3:31
to happen no not at all i kept
3:34
encouraging him you can do it you can do
3:36
it i had a show at the Ryman and the
3:39
word rhyming makes me nervous it just
3:41
it's like it just it's like few places
3:44
make me nerv I get nervous every show
3:46
but really nervous the the rhyming
3:49
playing the Aubrey um singing in church
3:52
always makes me nervous um and I said
3:55
you can do it just come out i'm going to
3:58
tell people about the duet but I'm not
3:59
going to introduce you and you just come
4:01
out and start singing it and he came out
4:03
at the Ryman and he kind of froze and he
4:05
looked at me and I started mouthing the
4:07
words and then he started singing that
4:09
was his first time ever in front of a
4:10
crowd i couldn't believe it at the Ryman
4:13
at the Ryman and he he killed it and
4:15
then we uh Nissan Stadium CMA Fest last
4:19
night he came out and uh we made it the
4:22
last song at the end of our set and sang
4:25
it in front of all those people it was
4:27
surreal it was So does this make him
4:29
want to be a musician
4:32
so a couple years ago
4:34
um all through him growing up he's been
4:36
a good song guy like uh Take a Back Road
4:41
was a tune that I love but I wasn't
4:42
really getting that response from the
4:45
label on that song well as I was going
4:48
to work working on songs coming home
4:51
getting him and as we're driving to
4:52
baseball practice and stuff I would play
4:55
him what I songs I was working on and he
4:58
kept asking for take a back road they
5:00
actually said "Play that Skannard
5:01
Daddy." He thought it was a Lane
5:02
Skannard song and he would pick songs
5:05
like that he was just a good song guy so
5:08
he would send me songs sometimes and say
5:10
"You should sing this Dad." So he sent
5:12
me a song a year and a half ago i know
5:13
I'm making a long story longer and uh I
5:17
said "This is cool." I said "You're
5:18
crazy if you think I can sing it." I
5:20
stay in my lane whoever this is it's a
5:22
great singer it's really cool i I don't
5:24
recognize it though who is this he said
5:25
"That's me Dad." And I was just blown
5:28
away blown away and he had started
5:31
writing songs and um he started learning
5:34
to record stuff and uh now he's
5:37
finishing school uh audio engineer in
5:41
school and um he's just very smart he's
5:44
kind of taking his time he's not country
5:47
and I told him you don't have to be
5:48
country just be you just do what you do
5:51
and it's really interesting the stuff
5:52
he's coming off with it's it's it's
5:54
really cool i don't even know what
5:56
format you would call it um but yeah
5:59
he's he's kind of started making music
6:01
and I totally you know with social media
6:04
now you can kind of put stuff out there
6:06
and try it out and see what happens yeah
6:09
it's a much different ball game than
6:10
when I started 20 years ago same for you
6:12
I'm sure oh Lord 30 years ago so what
6:15
does this do for you with new music
6:17
moving forward because it's been a few
6:19
years I think since you've released an
6:20
album so what is coming from you now u
6:24
just finished the whole new album
6:25
watching YouTube is going to go on this
6:27
record the album is called True South
6:30
and so True South is out there now on
6:34
DSPs um
6:37
and it's just a fun record there's a
6:39
couple of ballads um but it's mostly
6:42
just like I love we songs we're in Us
6:44
Together inclusive Things not Us Against
6:46
You and this album is just a whole lot
6:49
of that it's different forms of these
6:52
are my people i think that singing songs
6:55
together um there's some anthems in
6:58
there just a lot of fun songs man and
7:00
it's been a blast playing these songs
7:02
live and so the whole album will be out
7:05
this fall i'm not even sure what the
7:07
date is okay and uh it's just it's just
7:10
a great record i love this record it's
7:12
the most fun record I think I've ever
7:14
made so I have to let you go soon
7:16
because I know you have a lot of people
7:17
to talk to today but I'm really curious
7:20
what did this do for you like I would
7:21
imagine I'm not an artist but you get a
7:24
little frustrated when you don't see big
7:26
surges because of the Tik Tok and the
7:28
Facebook what did this do for you Rodney
7:30
Atkins
7:33
the like the response from So like
7:38
I've dabbled with Tik Tok i dabbled with
7:41
social media um and last year as new
7:44
music was coming I was like we got to we
7:47
got to up this game somehow tik Tok
7:49
seemed like the most mysterious thing
7:52
ever to
7:54
to get in there and let it kind of work
7:56
for you the way it and I I didn't
7:58
understand it my wife pays a lot of
8:01
attention she studies a lot of stuff and
8:04
um
8:05
I'd even worked with some people to do
8:08
social media stuff and to help me figure
8:10
it out and nothing ever worked
8:13
and she pretty much said "All you got to
8:16
do is be you just be you." She said
8:18
"Stand there." She said "Sing this
8:20
song." And I think it was Farmer's
8:22
Daughter put it up there
8:25
and the response blew me up she said
8:28
"You got to read the comments look at
8:29
it." So I started looking at that and
8:31
the comments that it truly changed my
8:35
perspective on how I see myself as an
8:38
artist because people talked about how
8:40
important these songs we released some
8:42
acoustic versions of songs um how much
8:45
these songs meant to them how Farmer's
8:49
Daughter might not have been number one
8:51
radio but it was number one in the back
8:52
of my grandpa's car stuff like that but
8:55
I mean sincere uplifting
8:59
the engagement was unbelievable and it
9:02
changes your
9:05
changes everything really on how you
9:07
view these songs mean to people and
9:10
going out and you could start as the
9:12
social media numbers kept coming up and
9:17
every post almost is going viral in some
9:19
way and it's just the people it's the
9:22
connecting with the people and the live
9:24
shows you can feel that whole thing
9:28
happening it's it lifts you up it it's
9:31
it fires you up it's cool because
9:33
technically where I am I shouldn't be
9:35
really going up in social media but but
9:40
it is and it's so amazing to witness it
9:43
to be a to I'm sit back being a part of
9:46
it and it's fun i have a blast doing Tik
9:48
Tok stuff i'll do silly stuff but it's
9:50
it's so much fun well I'm really about
9:54
the people i'm really happy for you i'm
9:56
I'm so happy to talk to you and can we
9:58
not go this long without talking again
10:00
please really that's it always good to
10:03
see you congrats and best of luck to you
10:04
my friend
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