His first Hot Country Songs No. 1 also set up his second chart-topper.
Rodney Atkins performs onstage during the first Academy of Country Music New Artists' Show Party for a Cause, benefiting the ACM Charitable Fund held at the MGM Grand Ballroom, MGM Grand Conference Center on May 14, 2007, in Las Vegas.
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Rodney Atkins had a “Hell” of an accomplishment when he earned his first No. 1 single on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart dated Aug. 12, 2006.
Atkins had signed with Curb nearly a decade earlier and logged five previous chart singles, earning one top five title in 2004. As he assembled his second album, he was clearly “going through” something — his producer, Ted Hewitt, received demos for three different songs with a “going through hell” theme. The best of them was written by Sam Tate (“Moments,” “Shut Up and Drive”), Annie Tate (“Somebody”) and Dave Berg (“Stupid Boy,” “These Are My People”): “If You’re Going Through Hell (Before the Devil Even Knows).”
