Rodney Atkins
Inspired By His Son
Rodney
Atkins says his hit "Watching
You" was actually inspired by
his first No. 1 song "If You're
Going Through Hell (Before the Devil
Even Knows)."
Rodney
tells X Radio that it all stemmed
from his son Elijah getting in hot
water at his school. "It came
from me picking Elijah up from pre-K,
and Miss Sara and Miss Lari grabbed
me when I walked in the door and
said, 'We need to talk to you.' I
thought it was some real bad problem
going on. They said, 'Could you talk
to your boy? He won't quit singing
your new song in the lunch
line.'"
When
Rodney asked Elijah what song he had
been singing, "he started
singing 'If you're going through
hell' I didn't realize he knew the
words to the song. Now, everywhere I
go people say 'My little
four-year-old loves singing your
song.' I realized so many folks were
relating to that that I thought of
writing a song about 'My
four-year-old said a four letter
word.' He is paying attention.
Whether you think they are or not,
they're watching you."
Rascal
Flatts Back In The Studio
Rascal
Flatts has started work on their
follow-up to Me and My Gang,
which was the best-selling artist
album in all genres last year.
"We
always try to better ourselves from
the last record," the group's
Jay DeMarcus tells The Tennessean.
"We always try to challenge
ourselves to find better songs than
the last time and to find hit songs
and keep cutting hit music. We aren't
trying to reinvent the wheel with our
sound, because it's been good to us
so far."
Although
the group's pop-country sound hasn't
always been a hit with critics,
listeners, especially young women,
love it. "I don't really give a
whole lot of weight to what the
critics say about us," Jay says.
"It is troubling sometimes to
love music as much as we do and want
to be a part of the country music
industry as much as we do and to hear
some of the negativity that is out
there about us."
Jay
says he and his bandmates
"genuinely love country music
and the music that we do. We believe
there's room for all of us," he
says. "If our brand of music is
not what a critic's brand of music
is, that is all well and good, but
you cannot deny success. When you
look at sheer numbers, you can't
dispute what we have been able to do
with country radio and our
fans."
Dierks
Bentley Enjoying Headlining
Dierks
Bentley, currently plowing through
his way through the blizzards of
Canada on his "Locked and
Loaded" tour, is enjoying being
the star of the show for a change.
"It's fun as the
headliner," Dierks told Jeff
DeDekker of the Regina Leader-Post.
"I get a chance to play a little
longer of a show and I have a little
more control over my set list. To
know that the audience is there
mostly because of you is fun. It
feels really good to have that going
on."
When
asked if he felt extra pressure as
the main attraction, Dierks replied:
"Well, only for myself in trying
to top the show we had the night
before. As a headliner you know
there's no one coming on after you to
save the show so you have to close
the deal. I love it. I wouldn't trade
it for anything."
Dierks
also said he still doesn't feel that
he's really made it. "This whole
business is all about starting over
again," he says. "You play
downtown in the bars and clubs and
you finally get a record deal, then
you've got to start all over again,
meeting radio people, getting the
chance to tour and make money and
maybe break even. Then you start all
over again as a headliner and now
we're the underdogs. There's Kenny
and Keith and Brad Paisley and Rascal
Flatts and Tim McGraw. We're at the
bottom of the rung as far as the big
touring acts are concerned. It's
about starting over again and that's
what keeps you fresh and
hungry."
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