On this episode of the BobbyCast, Bobby sits down with country music singer/songwriter, Rodney Atkins. Rodney openly discussed his story as a kid and how he found out he was adopted at the age of 5. Plus, he talked about his birth family, why he didn't want to meet his birth father, and him and his birth mom being close today. Bobby and Rodney also discussed NBA star Jimmy Butler requesting to meet him when he was in Chicago. And Rodney told the story of the time he delivered wood to Alan Jackson and how that led to a huge career moment in his journey. Rodney also told Bobby why he refused to change his name, and much more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
When I did this stuff for the National Council for Adoption,
I was doing these interviews, and in those interviews, those
stories would get out there and people started showing up
at my shows with like ziplock baggies with hair. Wanted
me to run some kind of CSI analysis to prove
they're my cousin, uncle, brother's sister. No way, not crazy,
I mean crazy.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Welcome to episode five twenty seven with Rodney Atkins. You
can follow him at Rodney Atkins on Instagram. He has
a new song, Watching You two point zero and it's
with his son, Eli Atkins, and that whole song is
about his kid when he was way, way, way younger,
so kind of a full circle moment we talk about that.
You can also go see Rodney on tour. Just go
to Rodney atkins dot com. Little Rodney News for you.
(00:52):
He's had six number one songs, massive songs too. He
has I've Been watching You eight thing, and he has
if You're going through ooh hell, maybe I don't think
that one as well. He has Cleaning that Gun. Just
a crazy cool career. Also, his story of being adopted,
which we talk about a lot in this episode, and
I felt like he was pretty generous with going to
(01:14):
those stories. Didn't you you get emotional? Yeah? Yeah, it
was good. So first time I've really spent well this
much time with Rodney Atkins. Really liked it. I hope
you like it. And again, you can follow us on
Instagram the Bobby Cast and you can see all these clips.
You can watch the whole video as well. If you
just don't want to listen, you can watch the YouTube
same thing. Go over and find at Bobby Bone's channel
(01:34):
over on YouTube. All right, here he is, Episode five
twenty seven. Rodney Atkins, Bridney, how are you man?
Speaker 1 (01:40):
I'm good man.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Good to see Yeah, good to see you too. I
feel like I've been in Nashville now twelve thirteen years?
Oh yeah yeah, how long have you been here? Dude?
Speaker 1 (01:48):
This is my year that I moved here in ninety five,
so this is my thirtieth year. From where from East Well, So,
I grew up in East Tennessee, a little town called
Cumberland Gap. That's where I grew up kind of started
making my way this direction. I went to a junior
college in East Tennessee. Then I went to Tennessee Tech.
(02:09):
So that's where I moved here from was Cookville.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
I have friends from Cookville, so I know the area. Yeah, Gator,
Gator love Gator, Yeah, Gators from near Cookville.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
He was one of my first encourager relievers. Yeah, early
early on when he was at the Country Giant Man.
He rocked that morning show forever while I was going
to school at Tennessee Tech.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
It's weird people have radio names. I say that as
somebody with a radio name, like because his name's not Gator.
But I remember we were getting married and not you
and I Rodny, my wife and I sir, and we
were writing down all the names for the guest list,
and a lot of my friends are in radio, and
so there's like Gator, Harrison, rod Phillips, Charlemagne the God.
(02:51):
And she was like, you know, these aren't their real names,
Like we need their real names to invite them to
the wedding. And funny, I know Gator, I've known him
for so long. His name is just Gator, but that's
he was part of a morning show and that's how
he got his name. That's that's funny think about. So
when you were going to college, what were you doing?
Speaker 1 (03:06):
So I was there, I was majoring in psychology Tech
they make you do these these practicums, these these huge
paper these thesis papers for an undergraduate degree in that,
and it took forever, and I really had no desire.
I was just taking classes. I wound up leaving supposedly
(03:27):
with one class left that thesis that I was supposed
to do, And then years later I qualified for this
interdisciplinary studies degree. So I finally got my degree after
all that. But I was pretty much trying to write songs.
I think the whole time I was there.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Why psychology, you know, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
It just seemed like, what are you interested in? And
I thought about working with kids. That was kind of
my drive at the time, and I wound up doing
some I had a job at Woodland Residential Center in Cookeville,
and it was just working with I think there were
thirteen to eighteen year old males that had gotten a
(04:07):
lot of trouble and the spilled to be the worst
of the worst in the state of Tennessee. I started
working there and that kind of opened the door of, Okay,
this could be something that I love to do. That's
the only thing I can go back to that I
was really interested in psychology.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
I guess did you get in much trouble as a kid, No, No,
not really, nothing more than small town South trouble.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Exactly, just normal. Yeah, I might break a window or
get caught out too late, but no.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Did you play ball?
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Yeah? Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
What was your sport?
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Baseball? Man, I love baseball.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Did you play outside of high school at all?
Speaker 1 (04:42):
I did. I played at that junior college is like
the It could be the best baseball school in the
whole country. It's called Walter State, and I went there
for a couple of years thinking that I had a
shot at playing baseball until I got around those guys
and they were all like either drafted out of high
scho cool and just beast players, had a blast. But man,
(05:05):
I realized how good I wasn't around those guys. They
were brutes.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
When did you start doing music?
Speaker 1 (05:11):
So? My dad played gospel music, He directed choirs, and
he was always around music. I was always too shy
to actually get up and sing in front of people.
Got in high school and I met a girl and
her parents played all kinds of instruments. It was that
backwood hillbilly family that plays every instrument, and you would
(05:34):
literally hear people playing music on a front porch somewhere,
show up, they'd hand you a guitar. And so when
I went over to her house, they played music. Her
little brother was like Roy Clark or something, in the
sixth grade, and they taught me my first guitar chords.
They were a singing bunch. They could all sing and play,
and I just started playing music. Then I was kind
(05:57):
of into writing, Like I remember, like A really loved
doing book reports and stuff in school. And then somewhere
in there, this girl that gave him my first guitar
just broke my heart, just shattered me, and it made
me a want of riot songs and be get out
of that little town. It was all her, and that's
(06:19):
really where I started playing music and writing songs. That's
all I wanted to do was write songs. And when
I got to Walter State, the junior college, the guys
would like, bring your guitar on the bus, and so
I would take it. We'd sit around and sing. But
it was never me getting up in front of people
and singing. It was just around friends. And that's how
I kind of started playing.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Really, I feel like Roy Clark's one of the greatest
players of all time, and he doesn't get lumped in
with the greatest of all time, probably because he was
in country music, I.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Guess, so, yeah, he was just other next level chaed
Atkins kind of uppear.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
I feel like he's one of the greatest of all time,
and because country music hadn't spread as much as it
has now into popular culture, he's often overlooked.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
And he was Buck Owen's sidekick. Yeah, so Buck took
that buck Owen's world. But yeah, man, I remember just
being in awe of that and a lot of pickers.
I think guitar players see that.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Are you a good guitar player?
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Oh? No, I can just accompany myself. I just just
enough to really play along with this Dwight Yoakham song
or what you know, to learn those songs as you
hear them on the radio and stuff.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Did you play piano? No, did you ever learn to
play piano?
Speaker 1 (07:33):
I did not, wish I would have. I was that
kid that my sister took piano. She did all that,
But I'm like, I'm not doing that. I'm playing sports.
I don't want to play music that didn't happen until later.
I'd give anything if I would have.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Now I feel the same way I wish I would
have been a band. Yeah, because I played sports exactly,
but I wish I would have just sucked it up
and got I wanted to play an instrument. I think
a lot of the reason, too, is financial, but still
there were ways to make it happen, because there are
ways to make other things happen. I wish I would
have earned music in high school.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
My our neighbor, the lady that lived near us, taught
my sister piano. I could have just walked over there,
but I just I'm not doing that. The band leader,
you should join the band. I'm not playing in a band.
Play sports, That's what I do.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
You've talked about being adopted. When you say your dad
your adopted father, Yeah yeah, yeah, So when did you
first know you were adopted? Were you always?
Speaker 1 (08:24):
When I was a kid, my sister came up and said,
you're not really their kid, You're adopted. And so I
went to my parents and asked them. I mean, I
was like five, and it's funny now, but they told
me the whole story that I was put up for adoption,
and then this children's home took me in, and Holston
(08:47):
Home for Children still do a lot of stuff with them,
and evidently my parents had lost a child that had
a respiratory staff infection, I think is what it was
a couple of weeks. Well after they went through that,
they applied to adopt, and I was adopted by another couple,
(09:07):
and then I was taken back because I had the
same thing to just lesser degree of what their child had.
So I was adopted like two or three times and
returned to the orphanage.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Baby. Yeah, so you have no memory of this.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Lord, no, no, And so that is kind of how
I wound up with them. And so they told me
the whole story.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
And I've had trouble trying to figure out who's like
my grandparents are my great grandfathers. So my dad left
when I was five or six. I know my mom,
but she was an addict. She died in her forties.
But my grandmother adopted me for a lot, uh you know,
a big part of my life and which I found
like I saw security car with a different name on it,
Like that's how I found out. And it wasn't the
(09:49):
same story because my parents were still alive, they were
just not with me. My grandmother had to take over
guardianship and I found out because I literally saw I
sold security card with a different last name, and I
was like, what is this?
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
And it was like, well, you've been adopt that whole story, right.
But because my grandmother's husband that my grandpa died before
I was born, and my grandmother on my dad's side,
I didn't know my dad, so I didn't know her.
I didn't know anything. I don't know any family history
of like medical. They're like, hey, what's your family mister?
I don't know. Like that's a struggle.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Yeah. I went down that road for quite a while.
And you start thinking about that that kind of stuff,
because you just don't know where you come from. My
wife actually just so back when I finally met my
birth mom, because you don't you met her? Yeah, yeah,
close to hers. She's amazing.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
You have a relationship now with her, Yeah yeah yeah wow.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Yeah. She lives in Knoxville. Sweetheart. Found out I have
a little brother. He's down in Texas and it's great. Now.
My birth father, I found out who he was, But dude,
he had he had a crazy past on him. So
I never made that happen. It just didn't seem like
the right thing to do.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
He's still alive. No, did you ever have the opportunity
to be done?
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Probably so I found it. So what the reason I've
even found who my birth mom was when I did
this stuff for the National Council for Adoption. I was
doing these interviews and uh, it was like Godpost and
just a lot of stuff talking about adoption. And in
those interviews, those stories would get out there and people
started showing up at my shows with like ziplock baggies
(11:28):
with hair in it. Wanted me to run some kind
of CSI analysis to prove they're my cousin, uncle, brothers, sister.
No way, not crazy, I mean crazy And uh.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Were they being honest with themselves or was they kind
of a grift?
Speaker 1 (11:44):
I have no id. I'm sure both, but a lot
of them were convinced man that I'm your cousin uncle.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Well, that's just being in the South. To me, like
everybody in Arkansas related to it feels like uncle daddy.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
That's crazy and so in that I got to figure
this out. I need to nail down where I'm from.
So we hired I guess it was an attorney that
kind of tracked down people and could get into the
records and see so they contacted my birth asked me
if I wanted to meet my birth mom. They showed
me a picture of her, said yes, we'd love to,
(12:16):
and then said, this is your dad and this is
his story. And uh. In that I found out that
I have a one brother on death row that I
never met from my father.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
So technically a half brother, yes, mom got it.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
And another one that was just in and out of jail.
And I think my dad had been in and out
of jail a lot. And it kind of hits you. You just, man,
I could have been that. I could have been the
road I was on. So I'm very grateful. But so
I met my birth mom and we got together and
talked and we're very close.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Now that's really cool.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
It is cool.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
I have the same feeling of, man, what could have
been if it wasn't for somebody stepping in? Because my
biological dad, I don't really my dad, but he's alive,
and a lot of that family has spent time in prison,
some of them are two of them still are. My
mom and her sister married two brothers, so all my
cousins are double cousins. I mean, it's as Arkansas as
(13:13):
you could be. You know, yeah, yeah, And I say
that not in a way of sure. Find everybody's just
close small town like two sisters married, two brothers. But
there's a whole part of the family that's been in
a lot of trouble, and a lot of that just
comes from circumstances right when there aren't a lot of options.
It's not bad people per se that's getting in trouble.
It's people without a lot of options. And so when
(13:35):
there aren't a lot of options presented to you, you
pick the one that you think is the best for
that time, and a lot of times it ends up
in trouble. And for my family sounds like much like
yours that I'm not close to. They're in prison like
many many first cousins parents. You know, a lot of
that for sure happened, and I'm very grateful to my
grandmother who did not have to step in and did
(13:57):
and raised me and my sister for you know, years
and years like a kid like her own kid. And
so I'm sure you have that feeling toward your parents now,
like had they not taken care of you, that could
have been you.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
For sure. Yeah, the path I could have been on
it and we didn't grow up with much, but it
was for the most part, very stable and very normal.
So yeah, I can't imagine what my life would have
been like.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Consistency is such currency. Yep, that's what I feel now.
I didn't have a bunch of it until I made
it myself, like made and had the ability to have consistency.
Now I live and thrive off of it, probably too much,
because nothing feels secure unless it's consistent and constant and safe.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
I get that. Yeah, And I grew up a lot
about with the adoption in the back of my head,
still thinking that I was given up and I found
out this is a crazy thing to even process. But
I was the product of a first date gone wrong.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
How old were they? Do you know when you were born?
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Early twenties. I'm pretty sure my mom had a She
had a kind of crazy story. She was married before,
it was an abusive situation, she got out of it
and had a daughter, and then I came along on
the bad date, and she wanted to hide me from
(15:30):
her parents because she was divorced and.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Just yeah, the whole it's all that shame attached to it.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Exactly, And so she hid me from her parents, and
then I was born, she gave me up, and then
she went on and got married had a son. So
you struggle with that just self worth and you don't
belong anywhere and you don't think much of yourself and
you must not be worth much.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Yeah I felt that. Yeah, yeah, my mom was fifteen
when she got pregnant. Wow, my biological father was seventeen,
and so it was he left. So again there's that
he just chose to leave when I was like five,
So there's that part of it. And I did have that,
like like you're talking about, you're kind of challenging your
(16:15):
value within yourself, and then it turns into I just
had like crazy sympathy for like my mom she was fifteen,
and then I just felt terrible for her, and you
kind of just process until like a new emotion comes in,
like you just I've just sat on one and I
think my wife and I wn't have kids yet. Well,
I have kids sometime soon, but I would hope. And
(16:37):
what makes me so nervous about being a dad eventually
is that I hopefully will not be like what I
what I had happened to me. Did that happen with
you at all? Before you were dad? Did you worry
about that, hopefully, I said that clears it makes me
nervous because I don't want to be what was to
me exactly.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
And yeah, especially if I found out that these guys
they're on death row and stuff. Are you capable of that,
you know, of not showing up? But I don't think.
I don't know. Man, It's driven me to not be that,
to not even come close to to that. Just to
be stable and consistent and to know you come to
(17:21):
terms with unconditional love. I think that's what do you mean?
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Come to terms of that.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
That you you The best you can do is under
is believe it. Believe you are unconditionally loved. And and
I don't think I got that until I met my
wife Rose, and those voices in my head, I just
quit listening to them and said, I'm just gonna believe
her what she thinks of me. I'm gonna believe that.
(17:49):
And I became closer to God and and really started
thinking about if I want my kids to know the Father,
I need to represent that in some form until they
can figure it out for themselves. Just to be there,
consistent and stable and you know, and really care. And
(18:12):
by that I mean don't let them just do whatever.
You know. When you're trying to raise I say, I'm
trying to raise men and not babies, and kind of
all those things come into play of what you're representing
for your kids, and that's all I think about. That's
the main drive for me, period, every single day is that.
(18:34):
And I don't know if that's me running away from
what I don't want to be. It's just who I
want to be really years ago. Man, this is kind
of crazy. I don't know why this you made me
think of this. I was in Chicago and I forgot
about this. This is crazy. I was in Chicago visiting
(18:55):
USN station and they said, hey, there's a Chicago Bulls
player that is a fan. You would you like to
meet him. I said, heck yeah. And it was Jimmy Butler,
and he came to a show to the show that evening.
He said, can I talk to you? I said absolutely.
He said, I just want to tell you something and
I want you to sit there and listen to me
(19:16):
until I'm done, all right, And he said, your song
watching You. I grew up without a dad and when
I heard that song, it really pissed me off. That
that's what it's supposed to be like, and I didn't
have it, he said. But that song got inside of
me and made me realize what I would never be
(19:38):
because I want to be like that song. And that
song changed my life. It made me want to do
better in school, It made me get my grades, It
made me work harder at basketball. It shaped me by
trying to not be who I was afraid I would be,
which is my dad that he didn't know.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
And when Jimmy Butler's I sit and listen, I imagine
you just said and listen.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
To absolutely, Oh he killed me. I was crying.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
Let's take a quick pause for a message from our sponsor,
and we're back on the Bobby Cast.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
I imagine that song resonates with a lot of people,
and you probably feel it, like if you're doing any
sort of meet and greet, because that's when the fan
has the opportunity to talk. Does that come up a
lot like that? That song is affected me, Like, what
are the common themes of how it's affected people?
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Mostly it's that's me and my dad, or recently it's
been several stories of my dad has passed and we
played that song at his funeral. And it was just
in it an important part of our life. It's me
and my mom. I get it's it's me and my dad,
(20:56):
just over and over. It's that's the coolest thing where
space is one of your tunes is their song when
they take ownership of it. That's mostly what I get
is just say that's our song. It's our song. If
we hear it, we stop, we sing it.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Whenever you did two point zero, yeah, a lot of
people message me, going, you got to talk to him
about this song? Why did you choose now to do
two point zero version of that song?
Speaker 1 (21:26):
For years, I didn't think Elijah my son was interested
in singing it all again. He was shy like me.
And then he had started. Through the years, he would say, Dad,
you should sing this song or check this song out,
and he would send me songs or play something for me.
(21:48):
And then, oh, a year and a half ago or something,
he sent me a tune and I'm like, this is cool, man.
I can't sing like that. I stay in my lane,
but this is great. I've never I don't recognize the voice.
She said, that's me, Dad, And I was just blown away.
He had started writing songs, and I think he had
a girl that broke his heart, the whole thing. And
(22:13):
then for Father's Day last year, my wife said, we
need to do a duet for watching you. And I
didn't even know what that was at the time on
TikTok Sorry TikTok yet, and so she said, and I've
got an idea. I don't know if we can pull
it off, but just sing and then we're going to
(22:34):
have people jump in and sing with you. And she
turned around there. Within about three days, Eli had come
in and she said, Eli, you have to do this.
The number one comment that we're getting on TikTok from
this is you need to do it with your son.
So she sweet talked him. She made him chicken cass
(22:57):
or role just she just cap on only got him
to just sing a chorus of it. And it was
the craziest thing. I mean, it was like twelve million views.
And so from that moment on, it was her again saying,
you guys got to do the whole version. You gotta
make it happen, the whole thing. And so just convincing
Eli to take a chance and do it.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
How's he felt about it?
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Since, Yeah, I think he just said fun with it.
It's been amazing. He's only performed twice in his life,
and one was his debut was at the Rhymen here
when I played the show, we came out, and then
at CMA Fest at the Stadium, he came out and
(23:39):
sang it with me. So he's just kind of rolling
with it. He's having fun.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
And those are not traditional debuts.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
No, no, and they're almost so big you can't take
in what's happening around you. The Rhyman just the thought
of that place makes me nervous more than probably anywhere else.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Do you remember the first time he played the Rhymen.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Yeah, it was the Opry and uh, they asked me
to sing a cover song. And I'll never forget asking
my mom pick a cover song, name something you want
me to sing.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Oh, they just said sing a cover.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
I was just like randomly sing.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
I don't know if I had a single out. It
was like the first time I got to play there,
just something to play with the band. And she told me, uh,
behind closed doors Charlie Rich And I'm like, really, so
my mom is like a sweet pure and she's want
me to sing that. It was pretty funny. So my
first time I sang behind closed doors at the Raymen,
(24:40):
and they got to come and see that show.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
In your first opry performance was at the Ryman as well. Yeah, yeah,
both of you got you and your son.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
True, that's true.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
That's pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Yeah, it's awesome.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
You still play the operat all?
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Yeah, yeah, I'll jump in and play with them from
time to time. And h aways makes you nervous always.
It's an honor. It's not lost on me.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
How many times have you played it? You know?
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Man, I got my tin cup? You know, I don't
know if they do they give you a Do they
give you a cup after you played ten? Was that
a thing even five years ago?
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Not that I'm aware of.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
I walked off stage after my tenth opera performance and
they gave me a cup with a number ten on it,
and I thought it was a joker. I didn't know
that they gave people a ten a number ten cup
on it, and so yeah, I mean I have it.
I guess I didn't. I don't know the symbolism of
a cup, or maybe I think it's just.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
That it's the Opry, it's the ram and it's it's
being a part of that historical.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
And That's why I don't use the cup. I just
let it sit. You just let us sit and make history.
I don't even drink coffee.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
That's funny. Do you drink coffee occasionally? Not a lot?
Did you caffeine? I used to do energy drinks like crazy,
and I'm like, this is gonna kill me. So I
just kind of shut all that down and just occasionally
of a cup of coffee if what uh, if I
get up and I'm still sleepy. Sometimes if I have
(26:11):
a late show, I might have a cup of coffee
at four or five, just to kind of ramp up.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
What made you move to Nashville music?
Speaker 1 (26:24):
I just I wanted to be a songwriter. Man.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Did you have confidence to quote move to Nashville? Or
was it I got nothing else? Right now, let's just
give it a run.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
I never looked at it like that there was a
backup plan. It's just I wanted to write songs, just
write songs. And so I was at Tennessee Tech in Cookville,
and I met some other dudes that wrote songs, and
they said, you got to come play a writer's not
with us, And I really didn't want to go up
and get up and sing in front of people, but
(26:55):
they said, you can do it, let's go.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
So you had no intention really to be an artist.
You wanted to write songs, that was it.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Wow, I had yet my deal when I prayed my prayer.
I just want to make music that can touch people's
lives and that's I just want to write songs. That's it.
Not get up and sing at all.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
See you play the writers around?
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Played the writers around. That next day was kind of
a crazy story too. Uh played the Courtyard Cafe down
south of town. And so my first night that I played,
they put me up there with one other guy. It
was just us playing songs back and forth, and he
(27:35):
was just killing me. I'm like, oh my god, if
this is what Nashville songwriters are, I'm I'm screwed because
this guy's he's out of control. And uh, we exchanged
numbers and it was you know, Casey Bethard. So Casey
became Songwriter of the decade, you know, and we became friends.
(27:58):
So that night, and I think it was because he
was so great that I was just wrapped up in that.
I got an opportunity to come take a meeting on
music row with a publisher.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
You think that they invited you, or that they thought you.
I'm gonna be putting words in your mouth here just
by what you just said. Do you think they thought
you were better than you were because you were next
to somebody who was really great?
Speaker 1 (28:20):
I don't think. Maybe. I mean he made because he
was so great, he made me seem better than I
probably was, I'm sure. And we just got along. We
had fun up there talking and just kind of being silly.
(28:42):
So yeah, I definitely think that had a lot to
do with people coming up giving me cards to have
a meeting.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
They were so moved by the night.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
I think.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
So.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Yeah, and that's what Nash.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Himself a little bit because you've done that a few
times already during the interview.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Okay, So tell me about the next day then, and
so you go, you have a you go to Music
Row publish a meeting.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Yeah, I went to uh do you remember the Artist
the UA Artist Tower that used to be there, kind
of the round building there's loud studios. Was there?
Speaker 2 (29:13):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
It's next door to actually one of Curb Records buildings.
And so the first time you're in Music Row, if
you can go back to that, it is an insane
place to go because of the one way streets and
then the two way alleys. And so I was trying
to figure out how to get to this UA Artist
(29:34):
Tower and had a guitar and a backpack, and I'm
walking across one of those alleys in a car came
flying up and just just bowed up, stopped about three
inches from me. And I looked up and it was
Garth Brooks. I'm like, that guy almost killed me. And
then I went it's Garth Brooks. What planet him I on?
(29:56):
And he was like, hey, buddy, sorry about that. Man.
All good? And so I walked across the street, across
that alley and went to the UA Tower. And because
I was just a clobberhead carrying a guitar case backpack,
I went up to get the door, set my guitar
case down, my backpack falls over, and a hand comes
across me. So let me get that door for you.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
So let me guess that. Let me guess by the impression.
Trace ackins, No, okay, cause that does guess? I like, Trace, No,
are you doing an impression of him?
Speaker 1 (30:25):
I don't think I can do impression?
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Okay, they never mind? Go ahead?
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Who is it, but it was Merle Haggard.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Oh, that's probably pretty good Haggard impressions.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
And so he said, let me get that door for you.
And I'm like, so Merle Haggard opened my first door.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Almost died, Garth almost kills you, and Merle Haggard opens
the door for you.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Yeah, And it was just what planet am I on?
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Yeah, it feels like a movie of what country music
is like in the perfect fictional universe.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Exactly, and which that deal turned into kind of nothing,
but it opened up this possibility of what it feels
like to go take meetings and you know the again
like that and yeah, and plus that's the other thing
Nashville is so incredibly great about because I met Casey
(31:11):
Bethard and we became buddies after all that time, and
that's I kind of fell in love with that about Nashville,
or playing the Roters' Knots, and it's the songwriter, just
camaraderie that that happens. It's an amazing thing.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
The Bobby Cast will be right back. This is the
Bobby Cast.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
When did you start to have confidence in singing publicly
or doing anything publicly considering you're a pretty shy person.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
You know what, I think it clicked. It's still the
same way now. I was asked to if I would
be willing to play some songs for tips at a
bar in Cookville, and they like, you can play original
songs and doesn't have to be great, it'll be quiet,
just something over here in the corner. I'm like, Okay,
(32:14):
I'll give it a shot. Why not. I want to
write songs, That's what I want to do. I can
try songs out. And as I was doing that, a
couple of songs that I've written and I can't remember
them now were kind of that sing along thing, and
the people would sing along with me after they heard
it the first time there, and I'm like, wait a minute,
(32:35):
So I'm not gonna be the guy that y'all sit
there and I'm gonna sing at you and you're just
gonna love this. It's let's do this together. If I
can have songs that people sing along with me, then
it's not on me anymore and we're all in this together.
And I was just always drawn to more we songs
instead of us against them kind of songs.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
What about when you got to town because you came
as a writer, you did a writer's night. When did
you think I think I'll be an artist now as well?
Speaker 1 (33:06):
Man?
Speaker 2 (33:08):
Because there's an intention.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
It is so the way that I got signed to
my deal. A buddy of mine that we've written some
songs together, named Ted Eweitt. Ted was offered a publishing
deal with Curb and he wanted me to go and
play for the guy that he was working with named
Chuck Howard, and Ted said, I want you to check
(33:30):
my buddy out. Man, he's got some great songs. You
just got to hear it. And he's like, Curb does
not need any more acts. They don't need need Maile
acts at all. They had Tim McGraw and Jeff Carson
and I can't remember who else. Maybe a band, if
you can put a band together. And Ted said, just
let him play a song for you. So I did,
and he stopped me halfway through and said, I don't
(33:51):
want to sign you.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
What'd you play?
Speaker 1 (33:53):
Just some tune we'd written. I think it was something
called God Only Knows or something, and I'm like, okay, cool,
I got a publishing deal. He said, no, I want to.
We want to sign you to the label. And I
don't even know how that twisted around like that. Wow,
And the next day. Now, my publishing deal took about
(34:13):
sixteen months. My record deal was done. The next day
he recorded me in his little studio there. He took
it to Mock Curb. Mock Curb called the next day
of my deal was done.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
Why do you think that pace was different? Because they
you were assigned artists. They wanted you scigence, They could
get you working immediately. Like why did one takes a
long on one?
Speaker 1 (34:36):
You know? Oh, the publishing deal, I don't That's not
a question for me. Publishing deals just take forever. I
don't know why the record deal was I think just
pretty cut and dry. But that was ninety six. So
I moved here in ninety five and then that deal
was done. Then then God blessed Curb Records. But it
was ten years later before ever had a hit.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Did you feel like they show you out of a
cannon in ninety five As far as like traveling around
doing the hey I'm a new artist, Like the radio
tour that used to happen type thing.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
Yeah, I did a lot of radio tours. It was
really uh so what happened? I recorded some stuff with
other producers there and I was talking to that's the
crazy thing. I'm talking to mock Kurb weekly through all this,
and he said, how you feel about this music you record?
(35:29):
And I recorded a whole album, and I said, I
don't feel close to it. I feel like I'm just
kind of grasping at something. I don't you would say that, yeah, yeah,
I said, it just doesn't seem there yet. And he said, well,
they had me with some other producers, some rock guys,
some different people, and then finally I got named Phil
(35:52):
Gernhard stepped in way back then and he said, I'm
going to do with you what to do with Tim McGraw.
I don't know what that means. And he seemed like
a like a not real person. I just heard his
name around there. And so he said, when Tim came here,
he signed his first record deal. And explained to me
how he saw Tim at a showcase maybe New Faces,
(36:16):
CRS or something, and Tim just shined. He just came out.
He sang Indian Outlaw and he had done his first
album that sold. I don't think it did much at all,
And he said, but I took Tim in right then
told him to forget everything. I'm gonna teach you, how
to record yourself, how to find your own sound, how
(36:37):
to do every single thing. If you'll do it, it's
gonna be boot camp. And I don't know how long
it's gonna take. I'm like, well, if you're willing to
to dig into it. And talking with Mike Curb too,
and it was Mike's right hand guy, So all that
time you're asking me was really boot camp. Of he
would tell me stuff sucked. He like, why did you
(37:00):
send me this? This obviously is a scratch vocal, this brutal.
But man, when it when he finally started tapping into
something with the the Going Through Hell album, He's like,
this is it, This is this is different. This is
not what I thought you would do because these are
live songs, these aren't love songs. But if you can
(37:23):
have a hit with this sound like if you're going
through Hell, that'll be around forever. And so the whole
time was do a lot of encouraging and sit and
wait and believe. But I started recording at home back
then too, and people didn't do that. But it was
a lot of pick you up, knock you down for
all those years and for working on songwriting and figuring out.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
Literally boot camp. It was like, knock you down, rebuild
you back up.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
I guess it's artist development, that's what you would call that.
And I don't know if that happens a lot.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
Like that now, No, that's go to HR you get
in trouble with you true do that knock you down? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (37:59):
It was. I wouldn't trade it for anything. Man. He
was a true mentor. Myt curve was. He was right
in the middle of that. Man. What a great man
he is.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
How many songs did you put out as singles before
going through Hell?
Speaker 1 (38:12):
I think we put a couple of singles out and
in between. I did this album beforehand that we talked about,
and it had I think we released a couple of
singles maybe on it. I'm not even sure because they're
just constantly trying stuff. It was probably two or three
singles at least.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
Did you start to lose hope that your artist career
would thrive?
Speaker 1 (38:38):
That's the crazy thing, man. I don't think I did.
I think I just this is what I'm doing. And
I was working odd jobs, man, I was I'd work
three and four jobs.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
What kind of jobs? One of them?
Speaker 1 (38:54):
Back then? So I was living in Cookville and Baxter,
a little town outside there. And in between I would
cut firewood for example, or mow yards or do farmwork
or whatever I could do. And so I was cutting
firewood and I was asked to deliver it to some
(39:15):
people in Nashville. So I would load my trailer, drive
to Nashville, to music Row or to the Nashville area,
deliver the firewood, go put my trailer somewhere, go rite songs,
go back and do it again. And one of my
customers back then, I was asked to deliver firewood to
Alan Jackson, and that was like in two thousand and five,
(39:37):
but Going through Hell came out in two thousand and six,
and I'll never forget delivering that firewood to his big
place out there. And then three months after going through Hell,
three months after I delivered firewood to him, he asked
me to open some shows for him. It still kills me.
He invited me on his bus to say hello, how
(40:08):
much he loved what I was doing. And I got
to thank him because we needed the money so bad.
And it was just like, this is not real, this
is like a movie. Because it was. It was so hard.
(40:37):
But occasionally people would pop up like that and things
would happen, or luck with Phil Gernhardt in A and
R just encouraging me. Little things would come up. So
I never really quit believing that just do the right thing.
Speaker 2 (40:52):
So others belief in you at times kept your belief
in you strong. Yeah, that's crazy about the Alan Jackson story.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
And I think all that goes back to being a
little adopted kid, you know, and learning to trust what
other people think of you a lot that people that
believe in you. I think beyond that, it kind of
doesn't matter what people think of you. But fortunately people
that came in my path just encourage me. And when
(41:22):
myk Curb's telling you that, it's like, Okay, we can
do this. If you think we can do it, we
can do it.
Speaker 2 (41:27):
When Going through Hell comes out, you put it out
a lot of traction quickly or was it a slow burner?
Speaker 1 (41:34):
No, I think it was a pretty slow burn It
took a long time. I think it even on the
charts would go up and die wow, no way, lose
go backwards, move forward again. I think the label did
a whole lot of shifting stuff around or I don't
(41:55):
know what they did, but yeah, it was a long, long, long,
I want to. I'm pretty sure it was like a
fifty week kind of thing. It was.
Speaker 2 (42:05):
That's crazy looking back because now that everybody knows that song,
and to think of the struggle that even that song had,
that now is I think a song that people identify
with it was so big as a part of their life,
like a time. There are certain songs I think of
and reminds me of a time in my life, like
that's one of those songs for a lot of people.
When that song hits top ten or so, when did
(42:25):
it kind of shift for you to where now you're
that guy?
Speaker 1 (42:30):
Man? I don't know if ever thought it was that guy.
I just I was I was getting to do that.
It shifted pretty early when the demands and shop at
radio tours and I did so many of them, and
I've heard people complain about that. I don't really get that.
It was always I don't have to do this, I
get to do this. And I started hearing stories about
(42:55):
going through hell. You're asking me about stories earlier about
watching you. I'll never forget when the song was in
the top ten and would that be my space or
an email or something that I got back then? And
the person said they were they wanted to thank me
(43:16):
for the song that they were just they I don't
know if their wife left, they lost their job. They
were at the bottom. They were in their pickup truck
and the song came on the radio and they had
a pistol in their hand and they said, your song
came on the radio and I heard it and it
(43:36):
stopped me. And that pistol is at the bottom of
the river now. And I started getting these messages about
how that song was really touching people's lives. And with
Phil Gernhard, he's telling me this is working, this is connecting,
it's doing what you wanted it to do. That after
(43:57):
the crazy thing after that, as Phil even came to me.
He didn't have kids, and he said, all right, so
I think the second sing we're gonna come with watching you,
he said. And I gotta tell you, I don't really
get it. It's just it's not I don't have kids.
I can't relate. But my curb is afraid somebody's gonna
hear that song, rewrite it some way and beat us
(44:20):
being able to get it out, because he said, I
can't believe no one else has written that. And uh
so that was just because of Mick didn't want to
get get beat, so it came out next.
Speaker 2 (44:30):
I thought Cleaning this Gun was are you talking about
a life song? I mean, that's a live song that parents, kids, daughter's,
girlfriend's boyfriends, like everybody kind of has a version of
living that story.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
And that song. Man, I went out the cleaning is
God just loved the song. It's Casey Bethard's song and
Marla Cannon. But so that song the demo. His workday
was pretty dark, it was slower, and I left town
(45:06):
and just tried the song out in some little places.
I mean I played. I played grocery stores, at elks, lodges,
little bars, flea markets, anywhere I could just try and
those songs out with the going through Hell. And one
time I was down in Texas and a guy had
just had a baby daughter and now some I won't
(45:27):
to play a song for you, and I played it
too fast, but he loved the song and it kind
of clicked that that's how it should be. And it's
been amazing people that have come up through the years
with Clean this Gun and talk about hell. That's an
intell that's a very smart song. That's that's an intelligent,
redneck kind of song. But I was told too at
(45:48):
the beginning that that wouldn't work because it's kids and
guns and people won't get that. It'll never work.
Speaker 2 (45:54):
What's the story about These are My People?
Speaker 1 (45:58):
These are my People? Man? So I did not write
These are My People. Dave Berg, Rivers, Rutherford and I
heard the song, loved it, and they said Steve Azar
was cutting the song. And I'm like, oh, man, well
let me know if I can get it. And so
(46:19):
I'd got with Dave Berg to write, to get together
to write songs. And I said, you what you got, man?
You got anything for me that any new songs? He said,
I got one. Check this out and he started playing
These Are My People. Well wait a minute, no, that's
getting cut. I love that song, but it can't happen.
He said, it just came off old. If you wanted
(46:40):
it's yours. I'm like, all right, let's go. I just
I believed in that song, just that it was a
special WE song.
Speaker 2 (46:50):
Yeah, that one feels like a WE song that you
were talking about earlier. Of all those songs, which one
almost didn't make it, and which one happened the fastest
happened the fastest where it just wasn't a struggle, not
that it was easy, but great song.
Speaker 1 (47:08):
I feel like watching you, probably because I didn't write it.
I just wrote it because my kid got in trouble
for singing if You're going through Hell in pre k.
One day he got in trouble. He heard me working
on the songs at home trying to record, and he
would just stay in the room with me, being quiet.
I think he's paying attention. The next day I went
(47:28):
to pick him up from pre k and his teacher said,
I got to talk to you about your boy, and said,
what happened? She said, We got this routine. I turned
the lights on and off every day and that's their
signal to get in line and get quiet. Then we
go to lunch and today started to walk and then
I heard it, your boy singing some song I've never
heard before. So he's in the lunch line. If you're
(47:49):
going through Hell, keep on going, And uh, she just
laughed about it. I just thought my four year old's
had a four letter word and that was it. I didn't.
I got with a couple of guys. Uh, Steve Deana
brown White told him about it. Had a chorus made up,
(48:09):
and uh, I didn't think it was gonna go anywhere.
It was just a cute song for my kid, and
so at one point it wasn't we It kind of
got no bounce back to even get to record it.
The whole recording process, I think I recorded it two
or three times because it just seemed too slow and
(48:31):
I'd almost given up on it. Then with radio it
very was very slow, but uh, once it once it
kicked in. Man, that was a that was an awesome ride.
Speaker 2 (48:43):
It was a real life experience.
Speaker 1 (48:44):
So that.
Speaker 2 (48:46):
Triggered that thought to write that song.
Speaker 1 (48:48):
Oh for sure. My four year old said a four
letter word, I wonder if there's a song in that.
That's what I was thinking, And it was a It
was amazing when that when people first time I was
out playing and people knew some of the words that
if you're going through hell, but that song and it's
still the same exact way today, I don't have to
(49:09):
sing it. That's the dream is for me to go
on stage and just I'm gonna be the house band
for all you guys to sing. And still today hearing
people sing I've been watching you that that's the coolest
thing in the world.
Speaker 2 (49:24):
Did people, and they probably still do a bit. Get
you Rodney and Rhett because your last names are very
similar to confused all the time for sure.
Speaker 1 (49:34):
Yeah, with Ret, even with Trace, people get that confused. Yeah.
And that's the crazy thing. When I've my crab was
I had I talked to other publishers and somewhere there
was other labels, and and what I kept hearing was
(49:55):
I had to change my name even to be a songwriter.
You got to change your name because it's Rhett over
here and Trace over here. And my Curve asked me,
what do you think about changing your name? It happens
all the time in music business. And I said, man,
I just don't think I can. I'm lucky to have
this last name. I shouldn't have this last name. I
didn't have it when I was born. But I can't.
(50:17):
I don't think I can do that. And he said, well,
that's a good enough reason for me. And he said,
and Curve Records is on ched Atkins whatever Avenue or
whatever ITSBC said, I think it's meant to be. We're
not changing your name. And years later people thought I
did change my name, that I.
Speaker 2 (50:34):
Made it up because it was similar. They thought you
chase them.
Speaker 1 (50:38):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (50:40):
That's a really great reason to not change your name.
Speaker 1 (50:43):
Yeah, I couldn't.
Speaker 2 (50:43):
You could have been Gaiter. I could have been Gator,
could have been Gater Bones. I an't my real name.
Stuck with bones. You know, it's like a pirate. It's
awesome if she sounds like a human.
Speaker 1 (50:55):
I don't know, man, it is crazy that the turn
you take and what brought you here, stuff that you
don't think matters, but it all kind of matters. I
guess we.
Speaker 2 (51:08):
I hope everybody checks out watching you two point zero
and visually check it out to I would encourage that.
I think hearing it's cool, but seeing that's really cool cool.
I think the visuals, all the content you guys did
that it's like next level sets it apart. So yeah, congratulations,
it's been fun. Your wife excellent, excellent writer like she
(51:29):
I don't know. I mean, she's great, She's.
Speaker 1 (51:31):
On another level. Some people get in a room and
you write songs with Casey Bethword was one of those
guys they see around corners and like anything that I do,
she's putting it together and we're writing those songs, and
she writes with all these new guys, she prefers being
around dudes, and I think she doesn't write with many girls.
(51:52):
And the stuff that she writes is like, I don't
know how you get your hit around that. She is
a creative force. I think she's putting out some music
on her own.
Speaker 2 (52:00):
Tell her. I said, hello, I'm a fan and thanks
for coming by. This has been awesome. This has been
super cool. Again you guys, check out Rodney and Rodney
Atkins on Instagram. It's just his name and watching you
two point zero. If you go listen to the song,
I encourage you to check out the visuals on it.
Check out the video, especially Rodney. Thanks man, and hopefully
we'll see you again soon.
Speaker 1 (52:20):
This is an honor man.
Speaker 3 (52:20):
Thanks, thanks, thanks for listening to a Bobby Cast production
When I did this stuff for the National Council for Adoption,
I was doing these interviews, and in those interviews, those
stories would get out there and people started showing up
at my shows with like ziplock baggies with hair. Wanted
me to run some kind of CSI analysis to prove
they're my cousin, uncle, brother's sister. No way, not crazy,
I mean crazy.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Welcome to episode five twenty seven with Rodney Atkins. You
can follow him at Rodney Atkins on Instagram. He has
a new song, Watching You two point zero and it's
with his son, Eli Atkins, and that whole song is
about his kid when he was way, way, way younger,
so kind of a full circle moment we talk about that.
You can also go see Rodney on tour. Just go
to Rodney atkins dot com. Little Rodney News for you.
(00:52):
He's had six number one songs, massive songs too. He
has I've Been watching You eight thing, and he has
if You're going through ooh hell, maybe I don't think
that one as well. He has Cleaning that Gun. Just
a crazy cool career. Also, his story of being adopted,
which we talk about a lot in this episode, and
I felt like he was pretty generous with going to
(01:14):
those stories. Didn't you you get emotional? Yeah? Yeah, it
was good. So first time I've really spent well this
much time with Rodney Atkins. Really liked it. I hope
you like it. And again, you can follow us on
Instagram the Bobby Cast and you can see all these clips.
You can watch the whole video as well. If you
just don't want to listen, you can watch the YouTube
same thing. Go over and find at Bobby Bone's channel
(01:34):
over on YouTube. All right, here he is, Episode five
twenty seven. Rodney Atkins, Bridney, how are you man?
Speaker 1 (01:40):
I'm good man.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Good to see Yeah, good to see you too. I
feel like I've been in Nashville now twelve thirteen years?
Oh yeah yeah, how long have you been here? Dude?
Speaker 1 (01:48):
This is my year that I moved here in ninety five,
so this is my thirtieth year. From where from East Well, So,
I grew up in East Tennessee, a little town called
Cumberland Gap. That's where I grew up kind of started
making my way this direction. I went to a junior
college in East Tennessee. Then I went to Tennessee Tech.
(02:09):
So that's where I moved here from was Cookville.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
I have friends from Cookville, so I know the area. Yeah, Gator,
Gator love Gator, Yeah, Gators from near Cookville.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
He was one of my first encourager relievers. Yeah, early
early on when he was at the Country Giant Man.
He rocked that morning show forever while I was going
to school at Tennessee Tech.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
It's weird people have radio names. I say that as
somebody with a radio name, like because his name's not Gator.
But I remember we were getting married and not you
and I Rodny, my wife and I sir, and we
were writing down all the names for the guest list,
and a lot of my friends are in radio, and
so there's like Gator, Harrison, rod Phillips, Charlemagne the God.
(02:51):
And she was like, you know, these aren't their real names,
Like we need their real names to invite them to
the wedding. And funny, I know Gator, I've known him
for so long. His name is just Gator, but that's
he was part of a morning show and that's how
he got his name. That's that's funny think about. So
when you were going to college, what were you doing?
Speaker 1 (03:06):
So I was there, I was majoring in psychology Tech
they make you do these these practicums, these these huge
paper these thesis papers for an undergraduate degree in that,
and it took forever, and I really had no desire.
I was just taking classes. I wound up leaving supposedly
(03:27):
with one class left that thesis that I was supposed
to do, And then years later I qualified for this
interdisciplinary studies degree. So I finally got my degree after
all that. But I was pretty much trying to write songs.
I think the whole time I was there.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Why psychology, you know, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
It just seemed like, what are you interested in? And
I thought about working with kids. That was kind of
my drive at the time, and I wound up doing
some I had a job at Woodland Residential Center in Cookeville,
and it was just working with I think there were
thirteen to eighteen year old males that had gotten a
(04:07):
lot of trouble and the spilled to be the worst
of the worst in the state of Tennessee. I started
working there and that kind of opened the door of, Okay,
this could be something that I love to do. That's
the only thing I can go back to that I
was really interested in psychology.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
I guess did you get in much trouble as a kid, No, No,
not really, nothing more than small town South trouble.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Exactly, just normal. Yeah, I might break a window or
get caught out too late, but no.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Did you play ball?
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Yeah? Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
What was your sport?
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Baseball? Man, I love baseball.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Did you play outside of high school at all?
Speaker 1 (04:42):
I did. I played at that junior college is like
the It could be the best baseball school in the
whole country. It's called Walter State, and I went there
for a couple of years thinking that I had a
shot at playing baseball until I got around those guys
and they were all like either drafted out of high
scho cool and just beast players, had a blast. But man,
(05:05):
I realized how good I wasn't around those guys. They
were brutes.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
When did you start doing music?
Speaker 1 (05:11):
So? My dad played gospel music, He directed choirs, and
he was always around music. I was always too shy
to actually get up and sing in front of people.
Got in high school and I met a girl and
her parents played all kinds of instruments. It was that
backwood hillbilly family that plays every instrument, and you would
(05:34):
literally hear people playing music on a front porch somewhere,
show up, they'd hand you a guitar. And so when
I went over to her house, they played music. Her
little brother was like Roy Clark or something, in the
sixth grade, and they taught me my first guitar chords.
They were a singing bunch. They could all sing and play,
and I just started playing music. Then I was kind
(05:57):
of into writing, Like I remember, like A really loved
doing book reports and stuff in school. And then somewhere
in there, this girl that gave him my first guitar
just broke my heart, just shattered me, and it made
me a want of riot songs and be get out
of that little town. It was all her, and that's
(06:19):
really where I started playing music and writing songs. That's
all I wanted to do was write songs. And when
I got to Walter State, the junior college, the guys
would like, bring your guitar on the bus, and so
I would take it. We'd sit around and sing. But
it was never me getting up in front of people
and singing. It was just around friends. And that's how
I kind of started playing.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Really, I feel like Roy Clark's one of the greatest
players of all time, and he doesn't get lumped in
with the greatest of all time, probably because he was
in country music, I.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Guess, so, yeah, he was just other next level chaed
Atkins kind of uppear.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
I feel like he's one of the greatest of all time,
and because country music hadn't spread as much as it
has now into popular culture, he's often overlooked.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
And he was Buck Owen's sidekick. Yeah, so Buck took
that buck Owen's world. But yeah, man, I remember just
being in awe of that and a lot of pickers.
I think guitar players see that.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Are you a good guitar player?
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Oh? No, I can just accompany myself. I just just
enough to really play along with this Dwight Yoakham song
or what you know, to learn those songs as you
hear them on the radio and stuff.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Did you play piano? No, did you ever learn to
play piano?
Speaker 1 (07:33):
I did not, wish I would have. I was that
kid that my sister took piano. She did all that,
But I'm like, I'm not doing that. I'm playing sports.
I don't want to play music that didn't happen until later.
I'd give anything if I would have.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Now I feel the same way I wish I would
have been a band. Yeah, because I played sports exactly,
but I wish I would have just sucked it up
and got I wanted to play an instrument. I think
a lot of the reason, too, is financial, but still
there were ways to make it happen, because there are
ways to make other things happen. I wish I would
have earned music in high school.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
My our neighbor, the lady that lived near us, taught
my sister piano. I could have just walked over there,
but I just I'm not doing that. The band leader,
you should join the band. I'm not playing in a band.
Play sports, That's what I do.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
You've talked about being adopted. When you say your dad
your adopted father, Yeah yeah, yeah, So when did you
first know you were adopted? Were you always?
Speaker 1 (08:24):
When I was a kid, my sister came up and said,
you're not really their kid, You're adopted. And so I
went to my parents and asked them. I mean, I
was like five, and it's funny now, but they told
me the whole story that I was put up for adoption,
and then this children's home took me in, and Holston
(08:47):
Home for Children still do a lot of stuff with them,
and evidently my parents had lost a child that had
a respiratory staff infection, I think is what it was
a couple of weeks. Well after they went through that,
they applied to adopt, and I was adopted by another couple,
(09:07):
and then I was taken back because I had the
same thing to just lesser degree of what their child had.
So I was adopted like two or three times and
returned to the orphanage.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Baby. Yeah, so you have no memory of this.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Lord, no, no, And so that is kind of how
I wound up with them. And so they told me
the whole story.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
And I've had trouble trying to figure out who's like
my grandparents are my great grandfathers. So my dad left
when I was five or six. I know my mom,
but she was an addict. She died in her forties.
But my grandmother adopted me for a lot, uh you know,
a big part of my life and which I found
like I saw security car with a different name on it,
Like that's how I found out. And it wasn't the
(09:49):
same story because my parents were still alive, they were
just not with me. My grandmother had to take over
guardianship and I found out because I literally saw I
sold security card with a different last name, and I
was like, what is this?
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
And it was like, well, you've been adopt that whole story, right.
But because my grandmother's husband that my grandpa died before
I was born, and my grandmother on my dad's side,
I didn't know my dad, so I didn't know her.
I didn't know anything. I don't know any family history
of like medical. They're like, hey, what's your family mister?
I don't know. Like that's a struggle.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Yeah. I went down that road for quite a while.
And you start thinking about that that kind of stuff,
because you just don't know where you come from. My
wife actually just so back when I finally met my
birth mom, because you don't you met her? Yeah, yeah,
close to hers. She's amazing.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
You have a relationship now with her, Yeah yeah yeah wow.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Yeah. She lives in Knoxville. Sweetheart. Found out I have
a little brother. He's down in Texas and it's great. Now.
My birth father, I found out who he was, But dude,
he had he had a crazy past on him. So
I never made that happen. It just didn't seem like
the right thing to do.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
He's still alive. No, did you ever have the opportunity
to be done?
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Probably so I found it. So what the reason I've
even found who my birth mom was when I did
this stuff for the National Council for Adoption. I was
doing these interviews and uh, it was like Godpost and
just a lot of stuff talking about adoption. And in
those interviews, those stories would get out there and people
started showing up at my shows with like ziplock baggies
(11:28):
with hair in it. Wanted me to run some kind
of CSI analysis to prove they're my cousin, uncle, brothers, sister.
No way, not crazy, I mean crazy And uh.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Were they being honest with themselves or was they kind
of a grift?
Speaker 1 (11:44):
I have no id. I'm sure both, but a lot
of them were convinced man that I'm your cousin uncle.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Well, that's just being in the South. To me, like
everybody in Arkansas related to it feels like uncle daddy.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
That's crazy and so in that I got to figure
this out. I need to nail down where I'm from.
So we hired I guess it was an attorney that
kind of tracked down people and could get into the
records and see so they contacted my birth asked me
if I wanted to meet my birth mom. They showed
me a picture of her, said yes, we'd love to,
(12:16):
and then said, this is your dad and this is
his story. And uh. In that I found out that
I have a one brother on death row that I
never met from my father.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
So technically a half brother, yes, mom got it.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
And another one that was just in and out of jail.
And I think my dad had been in and out
of jail a lot. And it kind of hits you. You just, man,
I could have been that. I could have been the
road I was on. So I'm very grateful. But so
I met my birth mom and we got together and
talked and we're very close.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Now that's really cool.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
It is cool.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
I have the same feeling of, man, what could have
been if it wasn't for somebody stepping in? Because my
biological dad, I don't really my dad, but he's alive,
and a lot of that family has spent time in prison,
some of them are two of them still are. My
mom and her sister married two brothers, so all my
cousins are double cousins. I mean, it's as Arkansas as
(13:13):
you could be. You know, yeah, yeah, And I say
that not in a way of sure. Find everybody's just
close small town like two sisters married, two brothers. But
there's a whole part of the family that's been in
a lot of trouble, and a lot of that just
comes from circumstances right when there aren't a lot of options.
It's not bad people per se that's getting in trouble.
It's people without a lot of options. And so when
(13:35):
there aren't a lot of options presented to you, you
pick the one that you think is the best for
that time, and a lot of times it ends up
in trouble. And for my family sounds like much like
yours that I'm not close to. They're in prison like
many many first cousins parents. You know, a lot of
that for sure happened, and I'm very grateful to my
grandmother who did not have to step in and did
(13:57):
and raised me and my sister for you know, years
and years like a kid like her own kid. And
so I'm sure you have that feeling toward your parents now,
like had they not taken care of you, that could
have been you.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
For sure. Yeah, the path I could have been on
it and we didn't grow up with much, but it
was for the most part, very stable and very normal.
So yeah, I can't imagine what my life would have
been like.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Consistency is such currency. Yep, that's what I feel now.
I didn't have a bunch of it until I made
it myself, like made and had the ability to have consistency.
Now I live and thrive off of it, probably too much,
because nothing feels secure unless it's consistent and constant and safe.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
I get that. Yeah, And I grew up a lot
about with the adoption in the back of my head,
still thinking that I was given up and I found
out this is a crazy thing to even process. But
I was the product of a first date gone wrong.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
How old were they? Do you know when you were born?
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Early twenties. I'm pretty sure my mom had a She
had a kind of crazy story. She was married before,
it was an abusive situation, she got out of it
and had a daughter, and then I came along on
the bad date, and she wanted to hide me from
(15:30):
her parents because she was divorced and.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Just yeah, the whole it's all that shame attached to it.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Exactly, And so she hid me from her parents, and
then I was born, she gave me up, and then
she went on and got married had a son. So
you struggle with that just self worth and you don't
belong anywhere and you don't think much of yourself and
you must not be worth much.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Yeah I felt that. Yeah, yeah, my mom was fifteen
when she got pregnant. Wow, my biological father was seventeen,
and so it was he left. So again there's that
he just chose to leave when I was like five,
So there's that part of it. And I did have that,
like like you're talking about, you're kind of challenging your
(16:15):
value within yourself, and then it turns into I just
had like crazy sympathy for like my mom she was fifteen,
and then I just felt terrible for her, and you
kind of just process until like a new emotion comes in,
like you just I've just sat on one and I
think my wife and I wn't have kids yet. Well,
I have kids sometime soon, but I would hope. And
(16:37):
what makes me so nervous about being a dad eventually
is that I hopefully will not be like what I
what I had happened to me. Did that happen with
you at all? Before you were dad? Did you worry
about that, hopefully, I said that clears it makes me
nervous because I don't want to be what was to
me exactly.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
And yeah, especially if I found out that these guys
they're on death row and stuff. Are you capable of that,
you know, of not showing up? But I don't think.
I don't know. Man, It's driven me to not be that,
to not even come close to to that. Just to
be stable and consistent and to know you come to
(17:21):
terms with unconditional love. I think that's what do you mean?
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Come to terms of that.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
That you you The best you can do is under
is believe it. Believe you are unconditionally loved. And and
I don't think I got that until I met my
wife Rose, and those voices in my head, I just
quit listening to them and said, I'm just gonna believe
her what she thinks of me. I'm gonna believe that.
(17:49):
And I became closer to God and and really started
thinking about if I want my kids to know the Father,
I need to represent that in some form until they
can figure it out for themselves. Just to be there,
consistent and stable and you know, and really care. And
(18:12):
by that I mean don't let them just do whatever.
You know. When you're trying to raise I say, I'm
trying to raise men and not babies, and kind of
all those things come into play of what you're representing
for your kids, and that's all I think about. That's
the main drive for me, period, every single day is that.
(18:34):
And I don't know if that's me running away from
what I don't want to be. It's just who I
want to be really years ago. Man, this is kind
of crazy. I don't know why this you made me
think of this. I was in Chicago and I forgot
about this. This is crazy. I was in Chicago visiting
(18:55):
USN station and they said, hey, there's a Chicago Bulls
player that is a fan. You would you like to
meet him. I said, heck yeah. And it was Jimmy Butler,
and he came to a show to the show that evening.
He said, can I talk to you? I said absolutely.
He said, I just want to tell you something and
I want you to sit there and listen to me
(19:16):
until I'm done, all right, And he said, your song
watching You. I grew up without a dad and when
I heard that song, it really pissed me off. That
that's what it's supposed to be like, and I didn't
have it, he said. But that song got inside of
me and made me realize what I would never be
(19:38):
because I want to be like that song. And that
song changed my life. It made me want to do
better in school, It made me get my grades, It
made me work harder at basketball. It shaped me by
trying to not be who I was afraid I would be,
which is my dad that he didn't know.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
And when Jimmy Butler's I sit and listen, I imagine
you just said and listen.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
To absolutely, Oh he killed me. I was crying.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
Let's take a quick pause for a message from our sponsor,
and we're back on the Bobby Cast.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
I imagine that song resonates with a lot of people,
and you probably feel it, like if you're doing any
sort of meet and greet, because that's when the fan
has the opportunity to talk. Does that come up a
lot like that? That song is affected me, Like, what
are the common themes of how it's affected people?
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Mostly it's that's me and my dad, or recently it's
been several stories of my dad has passed and we
played that song at his funeral. And it was just
in it an important part of our life. It's me
and my mom. I get it's it's me and my dad,
(20:56):
just over and over. It's that's the coolest thing where
space is one of your tunes is their song when
they take ownership of it. That's mostly what I get
is just say that's our song. It's our song. If
we hear it, we stop, we sing it.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Whenever you did two point zero, yeah, a lot of
people message me, going, you got to talk to him
about this song? Why did you choose now to do
two point zero version of that song?
Speaker 1 (21:26):
For years, I didn't think Elijah my son was interested
in singing it all again. He was shy like me.
And then he had started. Through the years, he would say, Dad,
you should sing this song or check this song out,
and he would send me songs or play something for me.
(21:48):
And then, oh, a year and a half ago or something,
he sent me a tune and I'm like, this is cool, man.
I can't sing like that. I stay in my lane,
but this is great. I've never I don't recognize the voice.
She said, that's me, Dad, And I was just blown away.
He had started writing songs, and I think he had
a girl that broke his heart, the whole thing. And
(22:13):
then for Father's Day last year, my wife said, we
need to do a duet for watching you. And I
didn't even know what that was at the time on
TikTok Sorry TikTok yet, and so she said, and I've
got an idea. I don't know if we can pull
it off, but just sing and then we're going to
(22:34):
have people jump in and sing with you. And she
turned around there. Within about three days, Eli had come
in and she said, Eli, you have to do this.
The number one comment that we're getting on TikTok from
this is you need to do it with your son.
So she sweet talked him. She made him chicken cass
(22:57):
or role just she just cap on only got him
to just sing a chorus of it. And it was
the craziest thing. I mean, it was like twelve million views.
And so from that moment on, it was her again saying,
you guys got to do the whole version. You gotta
make it happen, the whole thing. And so just convincing
Eli to take a chance and do it.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
How's he felt about it?
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Since, Yeah, I think he just said fun with it.
It's been amazing. He's only performed twice in his life,
and one was his debut was at the Rhymen here
when I played the show, we came out, and then
at CMA Fest at the Stadium, he came out and
(23:39):
sang it with me. So he's just kind of rolling
with it. He's having fun.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
And those are not traditional debuts.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
No, no, and they're almost so big you can't take
in what's happening around you. The Rhyman just the thought
of that place makes me nervous more than probably anywhere else.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Do you remember the first time he played the Rhymen.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Yeah, it was the Opry and uh, they asked me
to sing a cover song. And I'll never forget asking
my mom pick a cover song, name something you want
me to sing.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Oh, they just said sing a cover.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
I was just like randomly sing.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
I don't know if I had a single out. It
was like the first time I got to play there,
just something to play with the band. And she told me, uh,
behind closed doors Charlie Rich And I'm like, really, so
my mom is like a sweet pure and she's want
me to sing that. It was pretty funny. So my
first time I sang behind closed doors at the Raymen,
(24:40):
and they got to come and see that show.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
In your first opry performance was at the Ryman as well. Yeah, yeah,
both of you got you and your son.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
True, that's true.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
That's pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Yeah, it's awesome.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
You still play the operat all?
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Yeah, yeah, I'll jump in and play with them from
time to time. And h aways makes you nervous always.
It's an honor. It's not lost on me.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
How many times have you played it? You know?
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Man, I got my tin cup? You know, I don't
know if they do they give you a Do they
give you a cup after you played ten? Was that
a thing even five years ago?
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Not that I'm aware of.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
I walked off stage after my tenth opera performance and
they gave me a cup with a number ten on it,
and I thought it was a joker. I didn't know
that they gave people a ten a number ten cup
on it, and so yeah, I mean I have it.
I guess I didn't. I don't know the symbolism of
a cup, or maybe I think it's just.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
That it's the Opry, it's the ram and it's it's
being a part of that historical.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
And That's why I don't use the cup. I just
let it sit. You just let us sit and make history.
I don't even drink coffee.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
That's funny. Do you drink coffee occasionally? Not a lot?
Did you caffeine? I used to do energy drinks like crazy,
and I'm like, this is gonna kill me. So I
just kind of shut all that down and just occasionally
of a cup of coffee if what uh, if I
get up and I'm still sleepy. Sometimes if I have
(26:11):
a late show, I might have a cup of coffee
at four or five, just to kind of ramp up.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
What made you move to Nashville music?
Speaker 1 (26:24):
I just I wanted to be a songwriter. Man.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Did you have confidence to quote move to Nashville? Or
was it I got nothing else? Right now, let's just
give it a run.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
I never looked at it like that there was a
backup plan. It's just I wanted to write songs, just
write songs. And so I was at Tennessee Tech in Cookville,
and I met some other dudes that wrote songs, and
they said, you got to come play a writer's not
with us, And I really didn't want to go up
and get up and sing in front of people, but
(26:55):
they said, you can do it, let's go.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
So you had no intention really to be an artist.
You wanted to write songs, that was it.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Wow, I had yet my deal when I prayed my prayer.
I just want to make music that can touch people's
lives and that's I just want to write songs. That's it.
Not get up and sing at all.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
See you play the writers around?
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Played the writers around. That next day was kind of
a crazy story too. Uh played the Courtyard Cafe down
south of town. And so my first night that I played,
they put me up there with one other guy. It
was just us playing songs back and forth, and he
(27:35):
was just killing me. I'm like, oh my god, if
this is what Nashville songwriters are, I'm I'm screwed because
this guy's he's out of control. And uh, we exchanged
numbers and it was you know, Casey Bethard. So Casey
became Songwriter of the decade, you know, and we became friends.
(27:58):
So that night, and I think it was because he
was so great that I was just wrapped up in that.
I got an opportunity to come take a meeting on
music row with a publisher.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
You think that they invited you, or that they thought you.
I'm gonna be putting words in your mouth here just
by what you just said. Do you think they thought
you were better than you were because you were next
to somebody who was really great?
Speaker 1 (28:20):
I don't think. Maybe. I mean he made because he
was so great, he made me seem better than I
probably was, I'm sure. And we just got along. We
had fun up there talking and just kind of being silly.
(28:42):
So yeah, I definitely think that had a lot to
do with people coming up giving me cards to have
a meeting.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
They were so moved by the night.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
I think.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
So.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Yeah, and that's what Nash.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Himself a little bit because you've done that a few
times already during the interview.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Okay, So tell me about the next day then, and
so you go, you have a you go to Music
Row publish a meeting.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Yeah, I went to uh do you remember the Artist
the UA Artist Tower that used to be there, kind
of the round building there's loud studios. Was there?
Speaker 2 (29:13):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
It's next door to actually one of Curb Records buildings.
And so the first time you're in Music Row, if
you can go back to that, it is an insane
place to go because of the one way streets and
then the two way alleys. And so I was trying
to figure out how to get to this UA Artist
(29:34):
Tower and had a guitar and a backpack, and I'm
walking across one of those alleys in a car came
flying up and just just bowed up, stopped about three
inches from me. And I looked up and it was
Garth Brooks. I'm like, that guy almost killed me. And
then I went it's Garth Brooks. What planet him I on?
(29:56):
And he was like, hey, buddy, sorry about that. Man.
All good? And so I walked across the street, across
that alley and went to the UA Tower. And because
I was just a clobberhead carrying a guitar case backpack,
I went up to get the door, set my guitar
case down, my backpack falls over, and a hand comes
across me. So let me get that door for you.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
So let me guess that. Let me guess by the impression.
Trace ackins, No, okay, cause that does guess? I like, Trace, No,
are you doing an impression of him?
Speaker 1 (30:25):
I don't think I can do impression?
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Okay, they never mind? Go ahead?
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Who is it, but it was Merle Haggard.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Oh, that's probably pretty good Haggard impressions.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
And so he said, let me get that door for you.
And I'm like, so Merle Haggard opened my first door.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Almost died, Garth almost kills you, and Merle Haggard opens
the door for you.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Yeah, And it was just what planet am I on?
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Yeah, it feels like a movie of what country music
is like in the perfect fictional universe.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Exactly, and which that deal turned into kind of nothing,
but it opened up this possibility of what it feels
like to go take meetings and you know the again
like that and yeah, and plus that's the other thing
Nashville is so incredibly great about because I met Casey
(31:11):
Bethard and we became buddies after all that time, and
that's I kind of fell in love with that about Nashville,
or playing the Roters' Knots, and it's the songwriter, just
camaraderie that that happens. It's an amazing thing.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
The Bobby Cast will be right back. This is the
Bobby Cast.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
When did you start to have confidence in singing publicly
or doing anything publicly considering you're a pretty shy person.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
You know what, I think it clicked. It's still the
same way now. I was asked to if I would
be willing to play some songs for tips at a
bar in Cookville, and they like, you can play original
songs and doesn't have to be great, it'll be quiet,
just something over here in the corner. I'm like, Okay,
(32:14):
I'll give it a shot. Why not. I want to
write songs, That's what I want to do. I can
try songs out. And as I was doing that, a
couple of songs that I've written and I can't remember
them now were kind of that sing along thing, and
the people would sing along with me after they heard
it the first time there, and I'm like, wait a minute,
(32:35):
So I'm not gonna be the guy that y'all sit
there and I'm gonna sing at you and you're just
gonna love this. It's let's do this together. If I
can have songs that people sing along with me, then
it's not on me anymore and we're all in this together.
And I was just always drawn to more we songs
instead of us against them kind of songs.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
What about when you got to town because you came
as a writer, you did a writer's night. When did
you think I think I'll be an artist now as well?
Speaker 1 (33:06):
Man?
Speaker 2 (33:08):
Because there's an intention.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
It is so the way that I got signed to
my deal. A buddy of mine that we've written some
songs together, named Ted Eweitt. Ted was offered a publishing
deal with Curb and he wanted me to go and
play for the guy that he was working with named
Chuck Howard, and Ted said, I want you to check
(33:30):
my buddy out. Man, he's got some great songs. You
just got to hear it. And he's like, Curb does
not need any more acts. They don't need need Maile
acts at all. They had Tim McGraw and Jeff Carson
and I can't remember who else. Maybe a band, if
you can put a band together. And Ted said, just
let him play a song for you. So I did,
and he stopped me halfway through and said, I don't
(33:51):
want to sign you.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
What'd you play?
Speaker 1 (33:53):
Just some tune we'd written. I think it was something
called God Only Knows or something, and I'm like, okay, cool,
I got a publishing deal. He said, no, I want to.
We want to sign you to the label. And I
don't even know how that twisted around like that. Wow,
And the next day. Now, my publishing deal took about
(34:13):
sixteen months. My record deal was done. The next day
he recorded me in his little studio there. He took
it to Mock Curb. Mock Curb called the next day
of my deal was done.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
Why do you think that pace was different? Because they
you were assigned artists. They wanted you scigence, They could
get you working immediately. Like why did one takes a
long on one?
Speaker 1 (34:36):
You know? Oh, the publishing deal, I don't That's not
a question for me. Publishing deals just take forever. I
don't know why the record deal was I think just
pretty cut and dry. But that was ninety six. So
I moved here in ninety five and then that deal
was done. Then then God blessed Curb Records. But it
was ten years later before ever had a hit.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Did you feel like they show you out of a
cannon in ninety five As far as like traveling around
doing the hey I'm a new artist, Like the radio
tour that used to happen type thing.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
Yeah, I did a lot of radio tours. It was
really uh so what happened? I recorded some stuff with
other producers there and I was talking to that's the
crazy thing. I'm talking to mock Kurb weekly through all this,
and he said, how you feel about this music you record?
(35:29):
And I recorded a whole album, and I said, I
don't feel close to it. I feel like I'm just
kind of grasping at something. I don't you would say that, yeah, yeah,
I said, it just doesn't seem there yet. And he said, well,
they had me with some other producers, some rock guys,
some different people, and then finally I got named Phil
(35:52):
Gernhard stepped in way back then and he said, I'm
going to do with you what to do with Tim McGraw.
I don't know what that means. And he seemed like
a like a not real person. I just heard his
name around there. And so he said, when Tim came here,
he signed his first record deal. And explained to me
how he saw Tim at a showcase maybe New Faces,
(36:16):
CRS or something, and Tim just shined. He just came out.
He sang Indian Outlaw and he had done his first
album that sold. I don't think it did much at all,
And he said, but I took Tim in right then
told him to forget everything. I'm gonna teach you, how
to record yourself, how to find your own sound, how
(36:37):
to do every single thing. If you'll do it, it's
gonna be boot camp. And I don't know how long
it's gonna take. I'm like, well, if you're willing to
to dig into it. And talking with Mike Curb too,
and it was Mike's right hand guy, So all that
time you're asking me was really boot camp. Of he
would tell me stuff sucked. He like, why did you
(37:00):
send me this? This obviously is a scratch vocal, this brutal.
But man, when it when he finally started tapping into
something with the the Going Through Hell album, He's like,
this is it, This is this is different. This is
not what I thought you would do because these are
live songs, these aren't love songs. But if you can
(37:23):
have a hit with this sound like if you're going
through Hell, that'll be around forever. And so the whole
time was do a lot of encouraging and sit and
wait and believe. But I started recording at home back
then too, and people didn't do that. But it was
a lot of pick you up, knock you down for
all those years and for working on songwriting and figuring out.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
Literally boot camp. It was like, knock you down, rebuild
you back up.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
I guess it's artist development, that's what you would call that.
And I don't know if that happens a lot.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
Like that now, No, that's go to HR you get
in trouble with you true do that knock you down? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (37:59):
It was. I wouldn't trade it for anything. Man. He
was a true mentor. Myt curve was. He was right
in the middle of that. Man. What a great man
he is.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
How many songs did you put out as singles before
going through Hell?
Speaker 1 (38:12):
I think we put a couple of singles out and
in between. I did this album beforehand that we talked about,
and it had I think we released a couple of
singles maybe on it. I'm not even sure because they're
just constantly trying stuff. It was probably two or three
singles at least.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
Did you start to lose hope that your artist career
would thrive?
Speaker 1 (38:38):
That's the crazy thing, man. I don't think I did.
I think I just this is what I'm doing. And
I was working odd jobs, man, I was I'd work
three and four jobs.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
What kind of jobs? One of them?
Speaker 1 (38:54):
Back then? So I was living in Cookville and Baxter,
a little town outside there. And in between I would
cut firewood for example, or mow yards or do farmwork
or whatever I could do. And so I was cutting
firewood and I was asked to deliver it to some
(39:15):
people in Nashville. So I would load my trailer, drive
to Nashville, to music Row or to the Nashville area,
deliver the firewood, go put my trailer somewhere, go rite songs,
go back and do it again. And one of my
customers back then, I was asked to deliver firewood to
Alan Jackson, and that was like in two thousand and five,
(39:37):
but Going through Hell came out in two thousand and six,
and I'll never forget delivering that firewood to his big
place out there. And then three months after going through Hell,
three months after I delivered firewood to him, he asked
me to open some shows for him. It still kills me.
He invited me on his bus to say hello, how
(40:08):
much he loved what I was doing. And I got
to thank him because we needed the money so bad.
And it was just like, this is not real, this
is like a movie. Because it was. It was so hard.
(40:37):
But occasionally people would pop up like that and things
would happen, or luck with Phil Gernhardt in A and
R just encouraging me. Little things would come up. So
I never really quit believing that just do the right thing.
Speaker 2 (40:52):
So others belief in you at times kept your belief
in you strong. Yeah, that's crazy about the Alan Jackson story.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
And I think all that goes back to being a
little adopted kid, you know, and learning to trust what
other people think of you a lot that people that
believe in you. I think beyond that, it kind of
doesn't matter what people think of you. But fortunately people
that came in my path just encourage me. And when
(41:22):
myk Curb's telling you that, it's like, Okay, we can
do this. If you think we can do it, we
can do it.
Speaker 2 (41:27):
When Going through Hell comes out, you put it out
a lot of traction quickly or was it a slow burner?
Speaker 1 (41:34):
No, I think it was a pretty slow burn It
took a long time. I think it even on the
charts would go up and die wow, no way, lose
go backwards, move forward again. I think the label did
a whole lot of shifting stuff around or I don't
(41:55):
know what they did, but yeah, it was a long, long, long,
I want to. I'm pretty sure it was like a
fifty week kind of thing. It was.
Speaker 2 (42:05):
That's crazy looking back because now that everybody knows that song,
and to think of the struggle that even that song had,
that now is I think a song that people identify
with it was so big as a part of their life,
like a time. There are certain songs I think of
and reminds me of a time in my life, like
that's one of those songs for a lot of people.
When that song hits top ten or so, when did
(42:25):
it kind of shift for you to where now you're
that guy?
Speaker 1 (42:30):
Man? I don't know if ever thought it was that guy.
I just I was I was getting to do that.
It shifted pretty early when the demands and shop at
radio tours and I did so many of them, and
I've heard people complain about that. I don't really get that.
It was always I don't have to do this, I
get to do this. And I started hearing stories about
(42:55):
going through hell. You're asking me about stories earlier about
watching you. I'll never forget when the song was in
the top ten and would that be my space or
an email or something that I got back then? And
the person said they were they wanted to thank me
(43:16):
for the song that they were just they I don't
know if their wife left, they lost their job. They
were at the bottom. They were in their pickup truck
and the song came on the radio and they had
a pistol in their hand and they said, your song
came on the radio and I heard it and it
(43:36):
stopped me. And that pistol is at the bottom of
the river now. And I started getting these messages about
how that song was really touching people's lives. And with
Phil Gernhard, he's telling me this is working, this is connecting,
it's doing what you wanted it to do. That after
(43:57):
the crazy thing after that, as Phil even came to me.
He didn't have kids, and he said, all right, so
I think the second sing we're gonna come with watching you,
he said. And I gotta tell you, I don't really
get it. It's just it's not I don't have kids.
I can't relate. But my curb is afraid somebody's gonna
hear that song, rewrite it some way and beat us
(44:20):
being able to get it out, because he said, I
can't believe no one else has written that. And uh
so that was just because of Mick didn't want to
get get beat, so it came out next.
Speaker 2 (44:30):
I thought Cleaning this Gun was are you talking about
a life song? I mean, that's a live song that parents, kids, daughter's,
girlfriend's boyfriends, like everybody kind of has a version of
living that story.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
And that song. Man, I went out the cleaning is
God just loved the song. It's Casey Bethard's song and
Marla Cannon. But so that song the demo. His workday
was pretty dark, it was slower, and I left town
(45:06):
and just tried the song out in some little places.
I mean I played. I played grocery stores, at elks, lodges,
little bars, flea markets, anywhere I could just try and
those songs out with the going through Hell. And one
time I was down in Texas and a guy had
just had a baby daughter and now some I won't
(45:27):
to play a song for you, and I played it
too fast, but he loved the song and it kind
of clicked that that's how it should be. And it's
been amazing people that have come up through the years
with Clean this Gun and talk about hell. That's an
intell that's a very smart song. That's that's an intelligent,
redneck kind of song. But I was told too at
(45:48):
the beginning that that wouldn't work because it's kids and
guns and people won't get that. It'll never work.
Speaker 2 (45:54):
What's the story about These are My People?
Speaker 1 (45:58):
These are my People? Man? So I did not write
These are My People. Dave Berg, Rivers, Rutherford and I
heard the song, loved it, and they said Steve Azar
was cutting the song. And I'm like, oh, man, well
let me know if I can get it. And so
(46:19):
I'd got with Dave Berg to write, to get together
to write songs. And I said, you what you got, man?
You got anything for me that any new songs? He said,
I got one. Check this out and he started playing
These Are My People. Well wait a minute, no, that's
getting cut. I love that song, but it can't happen.
He said, it just came off old. If you wanted
(46:40):
it's yours. I'm like, all right, let's go. I just
I believed in that song, just that it was a
special WE song.
Speaker 2 (46:50):
Yeah, that one feels like a WE song that you
were talking about earlier. Of all those songs, which one
almost didn't make it, and which one happened the fastest
happened the fastest where it just wasn't a struggle, not
that it was easy, but great song.
Speaker 1 (47:08):
I feel like watching you, probably because I didn't write it.
I just wrote it because my kid got in trouble
for singing if You're going through Hell in pre k.
One day he got in trouble. He heard me working
on the songs at home trying to record, and he
would just stay in the room with me, being quiet.
I think he's paying attention. The next day I went
(47:28):
to pick him up from pre k and his teacher said,
I got to talk to you about your boy, and said,
what happened? She said, We got this routine. I turned
the lights on and off every day and that's their
signal to get in line and get quiet. Then we
go to lunch and today started to walk and then
I heard it, your boy singing some song I've never
heard before. So he's in the lunch line. If you're
(47:49):
going through Hell, keep on going, And uh, she just
laughed about it. I just thought my four year old's
had a four letter word and that was it. I didn't.
I got with a couple of guys. Uh, Steve Deana
brown White told him about it. Had a chorus made up,
(48:09):
and uh, I didn't think it was gonna go anywhere.
It was just a cute song for my kid, and
so at one point it wasn't we It kind of
got no bounce back to even get to record it.
The whole recording process, I think I recorded it two
or three times because it just seemed too slow and
(48:31):
I'd almost given up on it. Then with radio it
very was very slow, but uh, once it once it
kicked in. Man, that was a that was an awesome ride.
Speaker 2 (48:43):
It was a real life experience.
Speaker 1 (48:44):
So that.
Speaker 2 (48:46):
Triggered that thought to write that song.
Speaker 1 (48:48):
Oh for sure. My four year old said a four
letter word, I wonder if there's a song in that.
That's what I was thinking, And it was a It
was amazing when that when people first time I was
out playing and people knew some of the words that
if you're going through hell, but that song and it's
still the same exact way today, I don't have to
(49:09):
sing it. That's the dream is for me to go
on stage and just I'm gonna be the house band
for all you guys to sing. And still today hearing
people sing I've been watching you that that's the coolest
thing in the world.
Speaker 2 (49:24):
Did people, and they probably still do a bit. Get
you Rodney and Rhett because your last names are very
similar to confused all the time for sure.
Speaker 1 (49:34):
Yeah, with Ret, even with Trace, people get that confused. Yeah.
And that's the crazy thing. When I've my crab was
I had I talked to other publishers and somewhere there
was other labels, and and what I kept hearing was
(49:55):
I had to change my name even to be a songwriter.
You got to change your name because it's Rhett over
here and Trace over here. And my Curve asked me,
what do you think about changing your name? It happens
all the time in music business. And I said, man,
I just don't think I can. I'm lucky to have
this last name. I shouldn't have this last name. I
didn't have it when I was born. But I can't.
(50:17):
I don't think I can do that. And he said, well,
that's a good enough reason for me. And he said,
and Curve Records is on ched Atkins whatever Avenue or
whatever ITSBC said, I think it's meant to be. We're
not changing your name. And years later people thought I
did change my name, that I.
Speaker 2 (50:34):
Made it up because it was similar. They thought you
chase them.
Speaker 1 (50:38):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (50:40):
That's a really great reason to not change your name.
Speaker 1 (50:43):
Yeah, I couldn't.
Speaker 2 (50:43):
You could have been Gaiter. I could have been Gator,
could have been Gater Bones. I an't my real name.
Stuck with bones. You know, it's like a pirate. It's
awesome if she sounds like a human.
Speaker 1 (50:55):
I don't know, man, it is crazy that the turn
you take and what brought you here, stuff that you
don't think matters, but it all kind of matters. I
guess we.
Speaker 2 (51:08):
I hope everybody checks out watching you two point zero
and visually check it out to I would encourage that.
I think hearing it's cool, but seeing that's really cool cool.
I think the visuals, all the content you guys did
that it's like next level sets it apart. So yeah, congratulations,
it's been fun. Your wife excellent, excellent writer like she
(51:29):
I don't know. I mean, she's great, She's.
Speaker 1 (51:31):
On another level. Some people get in a room and
you write songs with Casey Bethword was one of those
guys they see around corners and like anything that I do,
she's putting it together and we're writing those songs, and
she writes with all these new guys, she prefers being
around dudes, and I think she doesn't write with many girls.
(51:52):
And the stuff that she writes is like, I don't
know how you get your hit around that. She is
a creative force. I think she's putting out some music
on her own.
Speaker 2 (52:00):
Tell her. I said, hello, I'm a fan and thanks
for coming by. This has been awesome. This has been
super cool. Again you guys, check out Rodney and Rodney
Atkins on Instagram. It's just his name and watching you
two point zero. If you go listen to the song,
I encourage you to check out the visuals on it.
Check out the video, especially Rodney. Thanks man, and hopefully
we'll see you again soon.
Speaker 1 (52:20):
This is an honor man.
Speaker 3 (52:20):
Thanks, thanks, thanks for listening to a Bobby Cast production
Host
Bobby Bones
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