Rodney Atkins performed at Win-River Casino in Redding, CA on the 14th of September. I made the journey north to the casino to see the show from the fourth row. Opening the show was local artist, Holly Lena Moore. What a great voice she has. She played a 50 minute set, filled with her original music. The only lone exception was when she sang "Forever and Ever, Amen" to her Great Grandparents, who were celebrating 49 years of marriage.
After a short break to set up the stage for Rodney and his band, the lights went back down, and Rodney kicked off his set with "These Are My People," which is from his brand new album, If You're Going Through Hell.. He followed that up with two more tracks from the new disc, "In the Middle," and then "About the South."
Rodney spoke to the audience about his new album, saying jokingly that the songs are the result of the label not paying attention. The songs are from his life. For example, he took his son to preschool the other day and when he picked him up, the teacher took him aside, saying "We need to talk to you. Your son is singing your song in school." Of course, the song that he was singing was "If You're Going Through Hell," and Rodney had to have a talk with his son about some words he shouldn't be repeating. He said they're cool with it now. This lead into "I'm Watching You," which is Rodney's latest single, in which the son says to the father that he's watching everything he does, and imitating him.
Rodney asked if anyone remembered a song a few years back that was recorded by the Raybon Brothers, called "Butterfly Kisses." He then quipped, "We won't be doing that one... but we'll be doing the country version of "Butterfly Kisses." It's called "Come On In Boy," and we hope you like it." The story of the song is about a guy that goes out with the man's daughter, and the man says to the guy, "I hear you like her daughter. We like her too, and she deserves respect, and that's what she'll get. And, I'll be sitting here waiting up for you to return from your date, cleaning my gun." After it was over, Rodney said, "And it works too."
Asking if anyone loved farmers... not many people responded. He said that the next song is about a man on a tractor, and that's actually the title, too, "A Man on a Tractor." This too is from the new album.
But Rodney played a few other songs that weren't on his latest album. "Honesty" was one, which was his first big hit, and he kidded that someone would always remark, "I thought Collin Raye sang that." He paid tribute to George Jones, singing "Tennessee Whiskey," then ended with "If You're Going Through Hell."
After a minute, he returned for an encore of the Steve Miller classic "Rock 'N Me." Great show! I've only seen Rodney once before, and that was 3 years ago when he was first starting out. He still puts on a heck of a show, but a lot more songs to sing nowadays. :) Be sure to catch him if he comes in your neck of the woods. You're sure to have an enjoyable time.
Set List:
- These Are My People
- In The Middle
- About The South
- I'm Watching You
- Man On a Tractor
- One Life, One Love ?
- Honesty
- Tennessee Whiskey
- If You're Going Through Hell
-
Encore
- Rock 'N Me
