Rodney Atkins broke through (after a decade of trying) with “If You’re Goin’ Through Hell (Before The Devil Really Knows)” and while I’ve always thought of Rodney Atkins as another Tim McGraw-like vocalist, I enjoyed the songs he released to radio from his album of the same name. They four singles -which included “Watching You,” “Cleaning This Gun (C’mon Boy) and “These Are My People”- rewarded Rodney with 4 #1 singles in a row and nominations as one of Country’s brightest new stars. After the ballad “Invisibly Shaken” failed to make a dent on the charts, it was inevitable that Curb would follow-up that single with a song that reminded fans and radio of the four previous hits.
And that’s exactly what has happened with “It’s America,” a song that aims to reaffirm what made Rodney Atkins a rising star. It’s a sound that Tim McGraw got famous with and it’s now what Rodney and Curb are trying to brand as his own sound. The lyrical message of “It’s America” is good but the heart of the lyric gets lost in the production mix. This is a song that would work better with acoustic guitar leading the way instead of the amped-up, country-rock for the sake of ‘country-rock sound. In the end the mix drowns out the lyrics and to be frank, Rodney Atkins isn’t a great technical singer and would be better suited with acoustic sounds than with this ‘branded’ image they’re presenting. That being said, I expect this song to be another big hit for Rodney and Curb.
Listen to the single here.
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