Rodney Atkins Returns With First New Album in Seven Years, ‘True South’

by Glenn Sargeant | May 13, 2026

Curb Records multi-platinum artist Rodney Atkins has always known who he is and where he comes from. On ‘True South’, out May 29th, he invites the world to pull up a chair and stay a while. The 12-song collection marks the ACM Award winner’s first new studio project in seven years, following 2019’s ‘Caught Up In The Country’, and delivers the ultimate Southern soundtrack rooted in the red clay and rolling hills of East Tennessee, where Atkins was raised.

Seven years is a long time. Long enough to watch your kids grow up too fast, fall deeper in love with the woman beside you, and find yourself sitting on the porch wondering how it all went by in a blink. That’s exactly the album Rodney Atkins made. Raising a long neck to love, family and memory, the multigenerational hitmaker cements his status as a tried-and-true family man with relatable odes to marriage and parenting, detailing small-town life with wife Rose Falcon and his three sons. ‘True South’ is a document of a life fully lived: a 12-track celebration of everyday moments that make a life.

‘True South’ arrives on the heels of a run of standout singles that have offered fans a taste of what’s to come. Lead single ‘Hole In One’, the barroom crowd-pleaser built on jangly piano and Atkins’ signature playful humour, follows the sentimental ‘The Years Are Short’, which lands like a gut-punch to every parent who has ever blinked and missed a milestone. Fan-favourite ‘Helluvit’ swings in the opposite direction with a grin, spinning the tale of Atkins’ real-life 2 a.m. Las Vegas proposal to wife Rose Falcon. The album also features ‘Watching You 2.0 (feat. Elijah Atkins)’, a reimagining of Atkins’ career-defining 3x-Platinum No. 1 recorded alongside son Elijah, who first inspired the original hit nearly 20 years ago.

Beyond the recent singles, ‘True South’ unfolds as a richly textured portrait of a life in full, from the title track, previously featured in Netflix crime drama The Waterfront, to the intimate penultimate duet ‘Believe Me’, recorded with Falcon herself.

With over 5 billion career streams, six No. 1 radio singles, and 19 million RIAA-certified units across nine singles and three albums, Rodney Atkins has never needed to prove himself. But with ‘True South’, he has made the kind of record that does it anyway, quietly, honestly and without apology. Rodney Atkins remains one of country music’s most enduring voices.

‘True South’ Tracklisting:

‘True South’

‘Helluvit’

‘Toys In The Dirt’

‘Marry Me Again’

‘Small Town After All’

‘Hole In One’

‘The Real Thing’

‘All Y’all’

‘The Years Are Short’

‘Silver Bullets’

‘Believe Me’ (with Rose Falcon)