Rodney Scott Carrington (born October 19, 1968) is an American

stand-up comedian Stand-up comedy is a comedy, comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of One-line joke ...

, actor,

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, ...

artist and songwriter. He has released six major-label studio albums and a greatest hits package, on

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...

and

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

. His comedy act typically combines stand-up comedy and original songs. Most of his songs are performed in a

neotraditional country Neotraditional country (also known as new traditional country and hardcore country) is a country music style that emphasizes the instrumental background and a traditional country vocal style. Neo-traditional country artists often dress in the fash ...

style, with Carrington handling lead vocals and guitar. Carrington has also starred in the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

sitcom '' Rodney'' and in the 2008 film ''

Beer for My Horses "Beer for My Horses" is a song recorded by American country music artists Toby Keith and Willie Nelson. It was written by Keith and Scotty Emerick for Keith's seventh studio album, '' Unleashed''. The song was released as the album's fourth and f ...

''.

Early life

Rodney Carrington was born in

Longview, Texas Longview is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, and county seat of Gregg County, Texas, Gregg County; a small part of Longview extends into the western portion of neighboring Harrison County, Texas, Harrison County. Longview is located in East Tex ...

in 1968, and lived there until 1990. He worked as a comedian in local venues, gaining exposure through radio programs such as ''

The Bob and Tom Show ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

''.

Career

Carrington's first album, ''Hangin' with Rodney'', was released in 1998 via

Mercury Records Nashville Universal Music Group Nashville is Universal Music Group's country music subsidiary. Some of the labels in this group include MCA Nashville Records, Mercury Nashville Records, Lost Highway Records, Capitol Records Nashville and EMI Records Nashv ...

. This album, consisting of both stand-up comedy and original songs, contained the non-charting single "Letter to My Penis" and peaked at No. 73 on

Top Country Albums Top Country Albums is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The 50-position chart lists the most popular country music albums in the country, calculated weekly by Broadcast Data Systems based on physical sales a ...

. He moved to

Capitol Nashville Capitol Records Nashville is a major United States-based record label located in Nashville, Tennessee operating as part of the Universal Music Group Nashville. From 1991 to 1995, Capitol Nashville was known as Liberty Records, before returning ...

for his next album, 2000's ''Morning Wood''. It was his first Top 20 album on the US Country charts, first Gold-certified recording, and it brought him to the singles charts for the first time with "More of a Man", which reached No. 71 on Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now

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 ...

). After it came the live album ''Live: C'mon Laugh You Bastards'', which did not chart. Carrington's third release for Capitol was 2003's ''Nut Sack''. It mostly consisted of studio-recorded comedy songs and only featured five stand-up sketches. It included the single "Don't Look Now" which reached No. 60. A ''

Greatest Hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...

'' package followed in 2004. This album comprised selections from his Capitol recordings on two discs: stand-up routines on one disc, and songs on the other. It also included two previously unreleased songs: "Put Your Clothes Back On" and his first non-comedy song, "Things We Didn't Know." This compilation album reached No. 3 on the ''Billboard'' Top Comedy Albums chart and No. 11 on the ''Billboard'' Top Country albums chart, becoming Carrington's first Platinum-certified recording. Also in 2004, Carrington made his acting debut in '' Rodney'', a

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

based largely on his own life which aired on

for two seasons. He released ''King of the Mountains'' in 2007. In addition to reaching No. 2 on the US Comedy Albums chart and No. 15 on the US Country chart, ''King of the Mountains'' reached No. 68 on the US ''

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of art ...

'' pop albums chart, the highest-ever peak position for any of his recordings. ''King of the Mountains'' contains his second serious song, "Angel Friend", a tribute to his best friend Barry Martin, who died suddenly in 2003. In 2008 he appeared in the film ''

'', which also starred

Toby Keith Toby Keith Covel (born July 8, 1961), known professionally as Toby Keith, is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and record producer. He released his first four studio albums—1993's ''Toby Keith'', 1994's ''Boomtown'', 1996' ...

. Carrington released his sixth studio album ''El Niño Loco'' in 2009. The album was his final release for Capitol Records. Unlike his previous releases, ''El Niño Loco'' does not feature any stand-up sketches. It also contains his third non-comedy song "Funny Man". Later in 2009, Carrington released his first Christmas album, ''Make It Christmas''. The first single from the album, a non-comedy tribute to soldiers stationed abroad called "Camouflage and Christmas Lights", became his first Top 40 country hit in December 2009. Carrington has released two more comedy albums on the independent label Laughter's Good Records: ''Laughter's Good'' (2014) and ''Here Comes the Truth'' (2017). In between these two, he also released a compilation album of comedy songs, titled ''Rodney Carrington: The Hits'' (2015). He continues to tour as of 2022.

Personal life

Carrington lives in Oklahoma, where his 2004–2006 sitcom was set.John Crook
"'Rodney' has heartland appeal"
''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'', September 19, 2004.

Concert Tour

Here Comes The Truth Tour Rodney Scott Carrington (born October 19, 1968) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, country music artist and songwriter. He has released six major-label studio albums and a greatest hits package, on Mercury Records and Capitol Records. His ...

(2016)

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Holiday albums

Live albums

Singles

Music videos

References

External links

Official Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Carrington, Rodney 1968 births Living people People from Longview, Texas American comedy musicians American country singer-songwriters American stand-up comedians American male television actors Capitol Records artists People from Tulsa, Oklahoma Singer-songwriters from Texas Singer-songwriters from Oklahoma 20th-century American comedians 21st-century American comedians Country musicians from Texas Country musicians from Oklahoma