Rodney Atkins Interview - "Watching You," Hit Songs, Touring

Seasoned country music hitmaker Rodney Atkins clocks in on TikTok as a major success with the release of the triple platinum single, “Watching You 2.0.” Atkins revisits the top-charter from nearly two decades ago with a duet version, featuring his son, Elijah Atkins, who was featured as the little “buckaroo” in the original music video. The posts tied to the song have surpassed 132 million views. Impressively, “Watching You” became Atkins’ second No. 1 hit and led Billboard’s year-end country songs chart in 2007. Co-written by Atkins along with Steve Dean and Brian Gene White, the single earned a BMI Million-Air Award and the pinnacle spot on Country Aircheck’s top-played songs of the decade list.

“Watching You 2.0” follows on the heels of Atkins’ recent singles, the autobiographical ballad “Marry Me Again,” and “True South,” the title cut from his latest album. Atkins faithful fans have soared to over 440,000 new TikTok followers in the past year alone, with his TikTok content generating 35 million views.

The Knoxville, TN native first saw chart success in late 2003-early 2004 with “Honesty (Write Me a List),” from his debut album, Honesty. But it wasn’t until 2006 when he released “If You’re Going Through Hell (Before the Devil Even Knows),” from his second studio album that he truly broke through. Eventually Atkins persevered, finding his true voice and image in country music, taking him to the next level.

Notably, Atkins has had six No 1’s—“If You’re Going Through Hell (Before the Devil Even Knows),” “Watching You,” “These Are My People,” “Cleaning This Gun (Come On In Boy),” “It’s America,” and “Take a Back Road.” He’s had eight Top 10 singles, plus two platinum and one gold album.

In this new interview, we talk with Atkins about his smash hit, “Watching You 2.0,” and his previous chart-toppers “If You’re Going Through Hell (Before the Devil Even Knows) and “Cleaning this Gun (Come On In Boy).” He also talks about why he gets cold chills during his hot summer shows, hiding an anniversary song from his songwriting wife, and how one of his songs saved a life.

BC: Why is “Watching You 2.0” special to you?

Rodney Atkins: I wrote it about my Eli…my older son. He was four years old at the time. He got in trouble at school for singing “If You’re Going Through Hell,” in the lunch line at Pre-K one day. Teachers were laughing at him and he was embarrassed. I just started thinking about four-year-olds saying a four-letter word. I wonder if there’s a song in that. It just painted a picture of a day in our lives. I was only intending for him to hear the song, and for it to be our world. And for people to relate to that on the level that they have, it’s just such a blessing. It blows my mind that there was some divine intervention in that song coming together because the structure is different. Every night people are singing it at the top of their lungs, which is the coolest thing ever.

Here’s the video of Rodney Atkins’ updated hit, “Watching You 2.0,”
with his son Elijah Atkins.

BC: As he grew up, what did Eli watch and learn from you?

Atkins: The other day, somebody asked him, “What have you learned from your dad?” And he said the biggest one that dad preaches is Colossians 3:23. Do everything like you’re doing it for the glory of the Lord. No matter if you’re sweeping the floor, taking out the trash, making a record, or whatever you’re doing. I thought that was pretty cool.

BC: Is he interested in following in your footsteps in the music business?

Up until about two years ago, I didn’t think he had any interest in music. He loved music, [but] I never heard him sing. He showed no interest in wanting to come out and sing with me ever growing up. He would send me songs from time to time, or he’d say, “Check this song out, Dad. Maybe you should cover this song.” About a year-and-a-half ago, he sent me a song and I said, “This is cool, man, but there is no way I can sing this. Whoever that is is a great singer.” And he said, “That’s me, Dad.” I was just blown away.

The reason I started writing songs is a girl just shattered my heart when I was 18 years old, and I started wanting to write songs about it. Same thing happened to him. A girl just kind of broke his heart and he turned around and wrote some songs about it. He’s been taking his time figuring out how to record. He went to college for a few years and he’s getting another degree now in audio engineering. The only two times he’s performed live were with me at the Ryman Auditorium and at Nissan Stadium for CMA Fest. Baptism of Fire, man. I’ve told him if you want to do this, you can do it. He’s a great singer & great songwriter. I said, “You’ve got to throw a little band together and go play some places in town.” So I think that’s what he’s working on.

BC: You’ve had a couple of other recent hits that you co-wrote. How did “Marry Me Again” (co-written with Jaxson Free, Adam Craig, Russell Sutton & Jim McCormick) come about?

Atkins: My wife (Rose Falcon) and I were having our 10th anniversary and I wanted to try to write a song for her. She’s an incredible songwriter, so she’s not impressed by anything. I didn’t let her hear the song. I titled it in ProTools and in my computer as MMA me, for “Marry Me Again.” But I wanted her to think it was something about cage fighting, so she wouldn’t be interested in it (laughs). I finally got to play it for her and she boo-hoo’d and said she would marry me again. The funniest thing was six months before I played it for her, she heard somebody talking about renewing their vows and she said, “Renewing vows, would you ever do that? Would you want to do that?” She said, “That seems crazy. I never want to do that.” And I’m like, “No. it’s not going to work.” But she got it was the sentiment, which I’m relieved I didn’t have to go through the whole ceremony again (laughs).

Here’s the lyric video of Rodney Atkins’ new song, “Marry Me Again.”

BC: Another recent hit you had was “True South” that you wrote with Blake Redferrin, Jake Saghi, and your wife, Rose. How did you go about writing that one?

Atkins: My wife is a ballad songwriter, and she mostly writes with young guys. That’s who she relates to. As I’m trying to finish my album, I would come to her and she’d go through my song ideas and she’d say this one. I’d tell her something I kind of wanted to do. She said this idea “True South—that’s the one.” She put us in the room with a couple of people, sat down and just started throwing out the lines…”We don’t smoke meth, don’t smoke brisket.” I’d say the craziest stuff I can come up with, and she helped put it all together. It was a blast to write.

We wrote it and then recorded it a couple different ways. We wound up stripping it down, and that’s the version that we went with. It’s an anthem, and the cool thing how people reacted on social media to new music was wild. It just blew up. It was so cool. It’s almost impossible to get any traction on TikTok, but the people have been absolutely amazing, encouraging, and fired up for music. “Watching You 2.0”—it’s been insane.

BC: You mentioned earlier playing the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville and at the CMA Fest. How’s the touring going? Are you still enjoying singing to the crowds?

Atkins: Hell, yeah! It’s not changed from how people responded when “Watching You,” and “These Are My People” and “Take a Back Road first came out. People might even respond more intense now than they ever have. I’ve tried to have songs that are relevant, that would work 30 years ago or 30 years from now. I’ve built a catalog of those songs to play live, and people sing every word. If I had to go out on stage and say, “Y’all sit there. I’m gonna sing at you. Just listen.” It would never work. I couldn’t do that. I’ve tried to have songs that it’s us (with the audience). We’re singing together, and that’s what happens every night. I’m the luckiest man ever.

BC: I’d like to ask you about a couple of blasts from the past. One is “Cleaning This Gun (Come On In Boy)” that songwriters Casey Beathard & Marla Cannon-Goodman penned.

Here’s the lyric video of Rodney Atkins’ new song, “True South.”

Atkins: That was a song that a lot of people absolutely hated. The first reviews on “Watching You” ever saw…it was “F You!, You should die!” Just brutal. That whole album had a lot of bad reviews and I learned a lot from that, to just not pay attention to it. “Cleaning This Gun” was one that the label came to me—We had three number ones “Going Through Hell, “Watching You,” “These Are My People”— said, “What do you want this fourth single to be?” I said, “I think it’s got to be “Cleaning This Gun.” They’re like, “Are you sure? I don’t know if we should do that. It’s about kids and guns.” I said, “But it’s a smart song. It’s the Declaration of Independence is the first line. It’s an intelligently written song.” And I said, “People get the joke. People out there get it. You’ve got to give them credit.” And when it started connecting, it just blew up.

BC: The last song I want to ask you about is “If You’re Going Through Hell,” (writers Dave Berg, Sam Tate, and Annie Tate) that Eli sang in the first “Watching You” music video. How did that song come about?

Atkins: Typically, songs are love songs. 95% of tunes that come out are guy/girl songs. I hit the spot that I’m gonna let those other guys do that. I might sing one every now and then. I want live songs. A love song for me is “Watching You” and “Cleaning This Gun.” I want songs about being human, not stopping, about lifting somebody up and encouraging them to move on. That’s when “If You’re Going Through Hell” came in. I’ll never forget one of the first emails I got after “Going Through Hell” came out, and it was somebody that said, “I want you to know I lost my job. My wife left.” It was a whole country song situation. “I’m broke. I don’t know what to do. I was sitting in my truck with a pistol in my hand and ‘Going Through Hell’ came on the radio. I listened to it and now that gun is at the bottom of the river. I’ve turned my life around and everything is going great now because of your song.”

Wow! I’ve had so many messages of people telling me that story about how it lifted them up. I thank God for that song and I can relate to it. Sometimes it’s big, sometimes it’s small, but we’re all struggling. It’s the same story with “Take A Back Road.” You’re going through something that’s bad. You don’t quit. You find a better way. “Farmer’s Daughter” is about having that bad job, but you don’t quit and you get the girl. “Watching You” is about cussing and praying. With “These Are My People that line: It ain’t always pretty, but it’s real–That’s kind of my overall message I’m trying to get to people just to relate real life, and lift people up.

Bill Conger has been a freelance music journalist for more than 30 years, writing feature segments for shows on the former TNN and Country Music Television. He has written for various publications including Bluegrass Unlimited, Bluegrass Today, Fiddler, American Songwriter, CMT.com, GACTV.com. He can be reached at [email protected].