Rodney Atkins has known that he wanted to be a country singer since he was around 6 years old.

“I just didn’t know that it was really possible,” Atkins says.
Then Atkins sang in church in elementary school and it ended up being his first paying gig.

“The woman who played organ at church, Ms. Bebe Campbell, gave me two dollars,” Atkins says. “She said I did a good job, and made good grades on my report card. So I got $2.”

Atkins’s musical journey began as a sick infant. He was adopted twice and was brought back to the orphanage where he once lived because the burden of caring for the sick baby was so great. Then Allan and Margaret Atkins took him in.
“From what I understand, I became more sick than I had ever been during that time,” Atkins says. “But it just never crossed their mind to take me back.”
Atkins grew up to be healthy and learned to play guitar in high school. Soon after he headed off to college, he began making regular trips performing in Nashville.

Atkins credits Garth Brooks as a huge inspiration for him.
“He made me get how music could be magic,” Atkins says. “He really made me see how it could touch folks’ lives.”

Atkins was soon signed to Curb Records and debuted his first album, “Honesty,” in 2003. Atkins had a hit single with the song “Honesty (Write Me a List).”
In 2006, Atkins released his second album, “If You’re Going Through Hell,” and had two hits with “If You’re Going Through Hell (Before the Devil Even Knows),” and “Watching You.”

“I think the songs on the ‘Going Through Hell’ album are life songs,” Atkins says about the success of that album. “They are songs about real life and it wasn’t an attempt for me to be cool or hip. I think there are a lot of folks who live lives pretty similar to mine. I think they are intelligent songs about everyday things. They are songs about celebrating life and the struggles in life – good and the bad.”

On March 31, Atkins released his most recent album, “It’s America.” The album’s title track has already hit the top of the charts.

“We pushed the envelope groove-wise on some of the songs and tried some different things lyrically a little bit, but it’s still pretty consistent with what we did before,” Atkins says of the new album. “That’s part of being an artist. You don’t try to trick people, but you occasionally might color outside the norm of what you do. But this is the territory I sing about and this is what people expect. My family and I are just regular folks, just trying to get through the day and do the best you can and pay the bills, and that’s who we’re singing to.”

Atkins has toured with Brooks & Dunn, Martina McBride, and Brad Paisley, and is currently headlining his own tour taking him coast to coast in 2009.
He has earned the Academy of Country Music’s “Top New Male Vocalist” award, plus five other ACM nominations and two Country Music Association nominations.
Atkins said that he’s looking forward to performing at Sticks.

“It’s always a good time. Everybody just hanging out, singing along – it’s always fun,” he says. “It’s just great to get to come out, with folks camping, hanging out, everybody listening to music all day long.”