''It's America'' is the third studio album 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, o ...

artist

Rodney Atkins Rodney Allan Atkins (born March 28, 1969) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Signed to Curb Records in 1996, he charted his first single on the ''Billboard'' country chart in 1997, but did not release an album until 2003's ''H ...

. It was released on March 31, 2009 by

Curb Records Curb Records (also known as Asylum-Curb and formerly known as MCG Curb) is an American record label started by Mike Curb, originally as Sidewalk Records in 1963. From 1969 to 1973, Curb merged with MGM Records where Curb served as President of M ...

. The album's first single, its

title track A title track is a song that has the same name as the album or film in which it appears. In the Korean music industry, the term is used to describe a promoted song on an album, akin to a single, regardless of the song's title. Title track may a ...

, was released on November 24, 2008 and became Atkins' fifth number one hit on the U.S. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Hot Country Songs chart. It was followed by "15 Minutes" (a Top 20 hit) and "Chasin' Girls." The album was re-issued in mid-2010 to include a new single, "

Farmer's Daughter A farmer's daughter is a stock character who is a desirable and naive young woman. The Farmer's Daughter or Farmer's Daughter may also refer to: Movies * ''The Farmer's Daughter'' (1928 film), by scriptwriter Frederica Sagor Maas * ''The Far ...

." The album debuted at No. 15 on ''Billboards album chart selling 34,877 copies. As of August 2010, the album has sold 129,820 copies in the US.

Track listing

# "Diamonds Make Babies" - 3:31 # "Chasin' Girls" - 3:29 # "Got It Good" - 3:33 # "Best Things" - 2:55 # "Friends with Tractors" - 3:31 # " 15 Minutes" - 2:39 # "Simple Things" - 3:18 # " It's America" - 3:31 # "Rockin' of the Cradle" - 3:28 # "When It's My Time" - 3:35 # "The River Just Knows" - 3:39 # "

" - 3:24

Personnel

– lead vocals *Liam Bailey – background vocals *Tim Buppert – background vocals * Larry Franklin – fiddle *Ted Hewitt – 12-string guitar,

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...

, background vocals *Angela Hurt – background vocals *Mike Johnson –

Dobro Dobro is an American brand of resonator guitars, currently owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was origin ...

steel guitar A steel guitar ( haw, kīkākila) is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conve ...

lap steel guitar The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of playing a traditional ...

*Troy Lancaster – electric guitar *

Gordon Mote Gordon James Mote (born October 25, 1970) is an American Christian country/southern gospel singer, piano virtuoso, and worship leader. He was born blind. He has released eight studio albums. His album ''Don't Let Me Miss the Glory'' (2007) was h ...

– keyboards *Larry Paxton –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and s ...

*Gary Prim – keyboards *Kevin Rapillo –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

*Duane Sciacqua – electric guitar *Steve Sheehan – acoustic guitar *J.D. Simo – electric guitar *

Bryan Sutton Bryan Sutton is an American musician. Primarily known as a flatpicking acoustic guitar player, Sutton also plays mandolin, banjo, ukulele, and electric guitar. He also sings and writes songs. Biography Early career Sutton's grandfather and f ...

–

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 ...

, acoustic guitar *

Lonnie Wilson Lonnie Wilson is an American drummer, songwriter, and record producer, known primarily for his work in country music. Born in Monroe, Louisiana, Wilson was originally the lead singer of the band Bandana, which charted ten singles on the Hot C ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

Jonathan Yudkin Jonathan Yudkin is an American multi-instrumentalist who is a proficient player of banjo, violin, mandolin, and other stringed instruments. He is a Nashville-based session musician, record producer, arranger, and band leader. Biography Growin ...

– fiddle

Singles

The album's first single release was its title track, 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 (a ...

and

Angelo Petraglia Angelo Petraglia (born May 5, 1954) is an American record producer and songwriter. He was a member of the new wave band Face to Face and is best known for his work with Kings of Leon. Early life He was born in the Bronx and grew up in Pelham, N ...

. Released in late 2008, the song went on to become the fifth Number One single of his career. It was followed by "15 Minutes" at number 20, and "Chasin' Girls", which failed to make the Top 40. The latter was partially re-written for its radio edit. The song debuted in September 2009 but failed to reach the country Top 40, peaking at No. 48. In March 2010, the album was re-released with "Farmer's Daughter" added to the track list, and the radio edit of "Chasin' Girls" in place of the original recording. "Farmer's Daughter" has reached Top 20 on Hot Country Songs.

Critical reception

Todd Sterling of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

rated the album three stars out of five, saying that Atkins "plays it safe and sticks to the same formula used on ''If You're Going Through Hell''." Also giving it three stars, Roughstock critic Liz Jungers thought that the album was "feel-good through and through" and that it had "killer musicianship," but criticized it for lacking musical variety. Pierce Greenberg of Engine 145 also criticized the album for having too many "frothy feel-good, I-am-blessed" songs, saying that it such songs "would benefit from being on a more diverse album." He rated the album two stars out of five. In his Consumer Guide,

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

gave the album a "dud" rating, calling it "a bad record whose details rarely merit further thought."

Track listing

Personnel

Singles

Critical reception

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Singles

References