Rodney Atkins - "Caught Up In The Country"

[justin5545]

Music Video:

[countryisking]

Nice simple video. Hope that means Curb will continue pushing this (hey it could peak next summer knowing Curb)...

Rodney has always been one of my favorite artists for his truth and soul delivered melodically and organically. I know some folks aren't a fan of his voice but Haggard, Bocephus, Jones, Brooks, and McGraw don't have perfect voices either. It's real and it's country.

I have to admit I wish this didn't sound like a club remix of a country song, but it still has plenty of country aspects in the composition. It's a total jam for me whenever I hear it. Hope if he gets an album out that most of the stuff has a more natural sound, though.

[justin5545]

Radio may not be interested in Rodney anymore but fans clearly are. This has over 39 million streams on Spotify despite being barely top 40 on radio. "Take A Back Road" is his only song with more streams.

[.indulgecountry]

Dec 4, 2018 1:21:34 GMT -5 justin5545 said:

Radio may not be interested in Rodney anymore but fans clearly are. This has over 39 million streams on Spotify despite being barely top 40 on radio. "Take A Back Road" is his only song with more streams.

It's interesting because despite the high number of Spotify streams, the streams for it on YouTube are really lackluster by comparison and it's selling very poorly.

[raylatch98]

"Caught Up In The Country" sneaks into the Top 30 on Mediabase at #30.

With this song now Top 30 on one of the charts, I have to imagine Curb will drop this song within the next couple of months at latest. I can't envision this getting Top 20, honestly I am just shocked it has made it up this far.

[justin5545]

Over 42 million streams on Spotify and just now reaching the top 30. Insane.

[raylatch98]

"Caught Up In The Country" moves up 2 spots to #24 this week on Mediabase.

I'm not sure how much higher this song can get, since the song has been promoted for almost a full year. But, kudos to Curb for getting Rodney Atkins another minor hit and getting this song in the Top 25. Maybe they can sneak in a Mediabase Top 20, but I am not 100% sure Curb will pull that off.

I just hope radio does drop this song soon as this is an instant station changer for me now. I did at one point like it, but now the song is just so annoying.

[trustypepper]

This song is still streaming incredibly well given its mediocre position at radio. It’s actually almost shocking.

[zaclord 🌈]

Curb really needs to hire some better radio promo staff. With how well both this and Lee Brice's current single are selling/streaming, they both should be doing a lot better at radio right now. I don't particularly like either song (especially not this one), but there's no denying that there are people out there that really love it.

[sabre14]

Feb 4, 2019 11:18:35 GMT -5 zaclord 🌈 said:

Curb really needs to hire some better radio promo staff. With how well both this and Lee Brice's current single are selling/streaming, they both should be doing a lot better at radio right now. I don't particularly like either song (especially not this one), but there's no denying that there are people out there that really love it.

I agree with the sentiment that Curb is struggling for the most part in the radio game, but they've gone all out promoting this song. The amount of money spent promoting "Caught Up In The Country" has been ungodly. This is one of the times I was wrong -- I thought stations wouldn't convert this past top 40 and it's not got a good shot at top 20 now. Rodney hasn't had a song get this high since early 2012. It's streaming numbers are amazing but sales are average at best. I don't know if I have ever seen a situation like this, where a song has taken +40 weeks to crack the top 25, yet it's streaming numbers are through the roof.

Lee Brice, shouldn't be a 40-week climb guy anymore. If Lee was promoted through UMG, Sony or Warner, I'm confident that wouldn't happen. Mike Curb looooves both Rodney and Lee though and it's why artists stay on Curb for a long time, they're one of the few labels that will still stick with an artist for a long time before dropping them. 

[phil1996]

I normally like Rodney Atkins, but how do people enjoy this song? I’m legitimately curious. The song is horrible and his voice sounds even worse.

[justin5545]

Feb 4, 2019 12:21:41 GMT -5 phil1996 said:

I normally like Rodney Atkins, but how do people enjoy this song? I’m legitimately curious. The song is horrible and his voice sounds even worse.

I'm in the exact same boat, but I was really hoping this would somehow be a real hit just so we could get an album that hopefully would have at least a few good songs on it.

[zaclord 🌈]

Feb 4, 2019 11:59:28 GMT -5 sabre14 said:

Feb 4, 2019 11:18:35 GMT -5 zaclord 🌈 said:

Curb really needs to hire some better radio promo staff. With how well both this and Lee Brice's current single are selling/streaming, they both should be doing a lot better at radio right now. I don't particularly like either song (especially not this one), but there's no denying that there are people out there that really love it.

I agree with the sentiment that Curb is struggling for the most part in the radio game, but they've gone all out promoting this song. The amount of money spent promoting "Caught Up In The Country" has been ungodly. This is one of the times I was wrong -- I thought stations wouldn't convert this past top 40 and it's not got a good shot at top 20 now. Rodney hasn't had a song get this high since early 2012. It's streaming numbers are amazing but sales are average at best. I don't know if I have ever seen a situation like this, where a song has taken +40 weeks to crack the top 25, yet it's streaming numbers are through the roof.

Lee Brice, shouldn't be a 40-week climb guy anymore. If Lee was promoted through UMG, Sony or Warner, I'm confident that wouldn't happen. Mike Curb looooves both Rodney and Lee though and it's why artists stay on Curb for a long time, they're one of the few labels that will still stick with an artist for a long time before dropping them. 

Oh, I have no doubt that Curb is putting their full muscle behind this (because literally all of their eggs are in the baskets of Lee, Rodney, and Dylan), but obviously something still isn't really connecting if they can't establish new artists (still really surprised Dylan Scott happened - it's not like he had great music behind him like Lee had) and can't get radio to move the needle with their established acts. With Rodney, it's a little less surprising since he hasn't had a hit in so long, but he's still a recognizable name and if a song is streaming as well as this is, I'm not sure why radio wouldn't take the plunge with putting that in higher rotation.

Maybe it's less of a radio promo problem and more of a Curb problem overall though. To your point, it is amazing that they've kept Rodney alive for so long that it's streaming numbers have been able to build to where they are and that he's on the cusp of top 20, but in the grand scheme of things, Curb absolutely has one of the least impressive radio successes out of any major label in the game right now. Whether that is due to the promo staff or something else, they still need all the help they can get to have some more radio success than what they have.

Fully agree with Lee though (despite this era not being as good quality wise for him, in my opinion).

[gardyfan]

Curb is notorious for being bad at promotion.

[g8erboi]

I honestly love this and I’m not ashamed. I hope it continues chugging along and at least makes the top 15.

[lady𝓐fan]

Feb 4, 2019 22:37:22 GMT -5 g8erboi said:

I honestly love this and I’m not ashamed. I hope it continues chugging along and at least makes the top 15.

Yup, this is a total jam for me. I love the way it mixes some steel guitar in with the otherwise contemporary production.

[Wackadoodle]

Who distributes Curb? Warner? Can't they just pick up Curb as a fourth division of Warner Music Nashville and divert some of Warner Brothers' resources to promoting these clearly lucrative acts?

[Darkest Hour]

This song is remixed by DJ Sam Feldt and was released last Friday.

[rsmatto]

Feb 4, 2019 23:14:39 GMT -5 Wackadoodle said:

Who distributes Curb? Warner? Can't they just pick up Curb as a fourth division of Warner Music Nashville and divert some of Warner Brothers' resources to promoting these clearly lucrative acts?

Why would they? Curb is an indie label and BOUGHT out Warner’s interest in the Christian label (WORD Entertainment).

[justin5545]

[straitouttanashville]

Is this going to make some noise inside the top 20?

[justin5545]

[raylatch98]

"Caught Up In The Country" moves up 3 spots on Mediabase and lands at #20, becoming his first Top 20 single since "Take A Back Road".

[dajross6]

What is the airplay longevity record? I remember Lee Brice went for 55 weeks earlier in the decade, but I haven't kept up much with it. With this song just now reaching the top 20 on Weeks 51 and 52, is this to be the new record holder? I can't imagine there's a lot of life left in the song, so assuming it even gets to 55 weeks is a bit of a leap.

[sabre14]

Apr 2, 2019 16:30:41 GMT -5 dajross6 said:

What is the airplay longevity record? I remember Lee Brice went for 55 weeks earlier in the decade, but I haven't kept up much with it. With this song just now reaching the top 20 on Weeks 51 and 52, is this to be the new record holder? I can't imagine there's a lot of life left in the song, so assuming it even gets to 55 weeks is a bit of a leap.

The record is 56 weeks, held by both "Love Like Crazy" by Lee Brice from September of 2010 (released in 2009) and "Hooked" by Dylan Scott in October of 2018 (released in 2017). Both took 55 weeks to reach their peak positions and both spent one week on the chart as they fell.

Craig Campbell's "Outta My Head" (2012-2013) and High Valley's "Make You Mine" both spent 54 weeks on the Billboard chart. David Nail's "Let It Rain" (#1 song) spent 49 weeks climbing and 51 total weeks charting. High Valley also spent 50 weeks charting with "She's With Me" from 2017-2018.

Rodney's song has a shot to get to that 54-56 week mark. "Caught Up In The Country" is a song that is rather short and uptempo, plus it's testing decently with what is a surprisingly low burn rate. There's zero chance it can get to the top 10 and slim to none it can reach top 15, so Curb just wants to keep this alive for the fact of perhaps getting the record (which two of their songs currently own) and in labels minds, it's money well spent to keep a song in this high of an airplay with a new album dropping in a month. My guess is they try and keep it alive through April, which would get them to that magic number.

[Wackadoodle]

Apr 2, 2019 17:08:59 GMT -5 sabre14 said:

Apr 2, 2019 16:30:41 GMT -5 dajross6 said:

What is the airplay longevity record? I remember Lee Brice went for 55 weeks earlier in the decade, but I haven't kept up much with it. With this song just now reaching the top 20 on Weeks 51 and 52, is this to be the new record holder? I can't imagine there's a lot of life left in the song, so assuming it even gets to 55 weeks is a bit of a leap.

The record is 56 weeks, held by both "Love Like Crazy" by Lee Brice from September of 2010 (released in 2009) and "Hooked" by Dylan Scott in October of 2018 (released in 2017). Both took 55 weeks to reach their peak positions and both spent one week on the chart as they fell.

Craig Campbell's "Outta My Head" (2012-2013) and High Valley's "Make You Mine" both spent 54 weeks on the Billboard chart. David Nail's "Let It Rain" (#1 song) spent 49 weeks climbing and 51 total weeks charting. High Valley also spent 50 weeks charting with "She's With Me" from 2017-2018.

Rodney's song has a shot to get to that 54-56 week mark. "Caught Up In The Country" is a song that is rather short and uptempo, plus it's testing decently with what is a surprisingly low burn rate. There's zero chance it can get to the top 10 and slim to none it can reach top 15, so Curb just wants to keep this alive for the fact of perhaps getting the record (which two of their songs currently own) and in labels minds, it's money well spent to keep a song in this high of an airplay with a new album dropping in a month. My guess is they try and keep it alive through April, which would get them to that magic number.

All three Curb songs, lol.

[collinkottke]

Apr 2, 2019 17:08:59 GMT -5 sabre14 said:

Rodney's song has a shot to get to that 54-56 week mark. "Caught Up In The Country" is a song that is rather short and uptempo, plus it's testing decently with what is a surprisingly low burn rate. There's zero chance it can get to the top 10 and slim to none it can reach top 15, so Curb just wants to keep this alive for the fact of perhaps getting the record (which two of their songs currently own) and in labels minds, it's money well spent to keep a song in this high of an airplay with a new album dropping in a month. My guess is they try and keep it alive through April, which would get them to that magic number.

I was burned out on this song 3/4 of the way through the first listen of it. People are weird.

[sabre14]

Apr 3, 2019 14:23:12 GMT -5 collinkottke said:

Apr 2, 2019 17:08:59 GMT -5 sabre14 said:

Rodney's song has a shot to get to that 54-56 week mark. "Caught Up In The Country" is a song that is rather short and uptempo, plus it's testing decently with what is a surprisingly low burn rate. There's zero chance it can get to the top 10 and slim to none it can reach top 15, so Curb just wants to keep this alive for the fact of perhaps getting the record (which two of their songs currently own) and in labels minds, it's money well spent to keep a song in this high of an airplay with a new album dropping in a month. My guess is they try and keep it alive through April, which would get them to that magic number.

I was burned out on this song 3/4 of the way through the first listen of it. People are weird.

Some people are definitely burnt out on this one by now, but many stations didn't add this until halfway into its chart run or even further along...with some of those choosing to allocate it to overnight spins and then converting it to daytime after some time...so conceivably, there is a large number of people who didn't hear this regularly on their station until 2019. If the label is fully invested and the research comes back as above average to good, there's a chance you have these ridiculous chart runs, especially if it's a well-known male artist with a trendy style, uptempo song.

[House Lannister]

Apr 3, 2019 14:23:12 GMT -5 collinkottke said:

Apr 2, 2019 17:08:59 GMT -5 sabre14 said:

Rodney's song has a shot to get to that 54-56 week mark. "Caught Up In The Country" is a song that is rather short and uptempo, plus it's testing decently with what is a surprisingly low burn rate. There's zero chance it can get to the top 10 and slim to none it can reach top 15, so Curb just wants to keep this alive for the fact of perhaps getting the record (which two of their songs currently own) and in labels minds, it's money well spent to keep a song in this high of an airplay with a new album dropping in a month. My guess is they try and keep it alive through April, which would get them to that magic number.

I was burned out on this song 3/4 of the way through the first listen of it. People are weird.

You had more patience with that one than I did.  I think I was done maybe a third of the way in while listening for the Country rankdown.

[collinkottke]

Apr 3, 2019 14:42:59 GMT -5 sabre14 said:

Apr 3, 2019 14:23:12 GMT -5 collinkottke said:

I was burned out on this song 3/4 of the way through the first listen of it. People are weird.

Some people are definitely burnt out on this one by now, but many stations didn't add this until halfway into its chart run or even further along...with some of those choosing to allocate it to overnight spins and then converting it to daytime after some time...so conceivably, there is a large number of people who didn't hear this regularly on their station until 2019. If the label is fully invested and the research comes back as above average to good, there's a chance you have these ridiculous chart runs, especially if it's a well-known male artist with a trendy style, uptempo song.

True. I can think of a good handful of rural stations here in Minnesota that don't add anything until it's in the top 20 regions of the chart, so it's fairly fresh to listeners in that way. The iHeart station in the Twin Cities was on this thing right away so it has been a radio song in my head for the entire chart run.