"It's America" is a song written by

Brett James Brett James Cornelius (born June 5, 1968) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and record producer based in Nashville. James' compositions have been credited on 494 recordings by a wide variety of artists. Signed to Career Records ( ...

and Angelo Petraglia and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer Rodney Atkins. It was released in November 2008 as the first single and title track from Atkin's 2009 album of the same name.

Content

"It's America" is an up-tempo, backed by

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

, in which the narrator lists off various American images before saying that he is proud to live in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The first verse describes his stopping at a lemonade stand and considering the stand a "picture-perfect postcard", while in the second verse, he describes watching a news story about people voluntary gathering to rebuild their community after a

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

Critical reception

Matt Bjorke of Roughstock gave the song a mixed review. Bjorke called it "a song that aims to reaffirm what made Rodney Atkins a star". He added that although the message was good, the song's production did not fit Atkins' voice and detracted from the lyric.

Chart performance

"It's America" debuted at #57 on the

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart dated November 29, 2008, and entered the Top 40 in its third chart week. The song became his fifth Number One on the chart dated May 2, 2009.

Year-end charts

References

{{authority control 2008 singles 2008 songs Rodney Atkins songs American patriotic songs Songs written by Brett James Songs written by Angelo Petraglia Curb Records singles