Some men are just born to be country singers. It has nothing to do with chart positions, signed deals or marketing plans. It has everything to do with a rowdy Friday night crowd singing along to a song you just wrote because they’ve immediately embraced the words. You’ve written about your life and theirs and the connection has nothing to do with music industry politics and everything to do with honest communication and gut reaction.
Just ask Rhett Akins. The talented singer/songwriter is back with a new collection of songs, People Like Me, that reflect the life he leads on stage and off as a loving father, avid outdoorsman and a quintessential everyman who has much in common with the audiences he’s been singing to for more than a decade.
Akins moved to Nashville in 1992 and landed a songwriting deal with Sony Tree Publishing. Like many other Music Row newcomers, he began writing songs and singing demos. Those demos caught the attention of an executive at Decca Records and Akins was signed to a deal in 1994. From there, the young artist became one of country music’s hottest acts, well known for such hits as “That Ain’t My Truck,” “She Said Yes” and the No. 1 “Don’t Get Me Started.” His boyish good looks, warm evocative voice and energetic stage shows made him a favorite with fans of all ages.
When the Decca label closed its doors, Akins released one project on Audium Records before just deciding to get back to the basics—the road, the music and the fans. “I just love to get out there in front of people,” says Akins. “I love the whole live thing and in my opinion there’s no authority in the world who can tell you when you are a singer and when you are not. It doesn’t have anything to do with having a record deal.”
His new record, People Like Me, encapsulates the things that are most important to the artist. “My whole life seriously is music, the great outdoors and my kids,” says Akins, who is the proud father of an 11-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son. When not spending time with his children, Akins loves the outdoors and is an avid history buff with an impressive knowledge of the Civil War.
It goes without saying though that music is a priority with Akins, and that shows in the quality of songs on, People Like Me. Working with producer Joe Scaife (Gretchen Wilson, Montgomery Gentry) Akins, who co-wrote five of the eleven tracks, has crafted a project that is steeped in songs about life and all its complexities. Among the standouts on the album is the poignant “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away.” “That’s the only song I’ve ever performed in my life that I’ve seen real tears falling down peoples’ faces in the middle of a concert,” says Akins. “No matter if it’s a festival, a bar or a rodeo, people are literally crying and they come up to me after the show when I’m signing autographs and tell me a story that’s similar to that song. They tell me: ‘My granddaddy died last week or I lost my son in Iraq.’ Whether you believe in God or heaven or not, everybody feels the sting of death. I believe they go to heaven, so that’s what the song is about, but no matter where you think they go, you wish you could go see them and visit them and talk to them.”
Alongside such heartfelt songs on People Like Me, there’s also lighter fare. “I Love Women My Mama Can’t Stand,” which Akins co-wrote with Dallas Davidson, is one such track. “‘I Love Women’ is funny and tongue-in-cheek. It is cute and people laugh at it, but at the same time, damn that song is true too,” says Akins with a laugh. “Guys will say ‘That’s true, man. I do like those kinds of girls,’ and then the girls are thinking, ‘That’s me! My boyfriend’s mama can’t stand me.’”
It’s that element of reality coupled with his willingness to be emotionally honest, even vulnerable, that are the hallmarks of the music Rhett Akins is writing today. “These songs right now are about the truest I’ve ever written,” says Akins. “There is no filter in between what I want to say and what goes on paper.”
On People Like Me, Akins says he tried to forge an emotional connection with the listener much like his musical heroes Waylon Jennings, Charlie Daniels and Hank Williams Jr. have done. He recalls the impact listening to Williams had on him as a young boy. “‘Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound’ is the song that changed my life and made me want to do this,” he says. “When I first started getting into Hank, I didn’t drink or smoke and hadn’t been with a girl or nothing, but it was like they were just true songs. I knew somehow at 12 or 13 years old that this guy was telling the truth.”
Akins has felt the impact of an honest song and he’s seen his songs impact others. “I just think that after 10 years I know who I am and I know what I want to do and I’m not a slicked-up, polished artist,” he says. “I wear a hat, T-shirt, boots and ragged blue jeans and I want to sing real songs. People have so many emotions. What I’ve tried to do on People Like Me is just try to tell the truth in many, many different ways.”
