\u201cMan, we talked every week at least, sometimes more. He was the biggest music mentor I\u2019ve ever had.\u201d<\/p>\n
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In 2007: Phil Gernhard, left, Rodney Atkins and label boss Mike Curb. Photo: Curb Records.<\/p>\n
It was Gernhard who encouraged Atkins to re-invent himself, from the Stetson-sporting balladeer of his first album into an everyday \u201cworking man.\u201d Wearing a ball cap.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d sung live a lot, in the corner of a bar, playing for tips with a real shitty sound system, or no sound system,\u201d Atkins said. \u201cI didn\u2019t know how to sing on a microphone. He explained to me about actors: \u2018Somebody that\u2019s on Broadway, they have to do big movements, move their hands to send emotions out, move their body in big ways. Some people can\u2019t make the transition to a camera because it\u2019s so sensitive it picks up just raising an eyebrow.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said \u2018You\u2019re behind the camera now. The microphone is so sensitive, you have to learn that you don\u2019t have to work quite as hard.\u2019 And that was eye-opening. Or ear-opening! He encouraged me to forget the rules, forget everything I\u2019d heard or been told and just figure it out. So I started working at home.\u201d<\/p>\n
The first song recorded for Atkins\u2019 second Curb album was a hardscrabble country rocker, \u201cIf You\u2019re Going Through Hell.\u201d Atkins and producer Ted Hewitt proudly played the finished cut for Gernhard\u2019s approval.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe turned the song into Phil and he said \u2018I like this, I like your vocal. I need you guys to go put bagpipes on it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Bagpipes.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we\u2019re going \u2018This guy\u2019s crazy! He\u2019s f\u2013kin\u2019 crazy!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Gernhard knew what he was talking about. \u201cWe went in and put bagpipes on it,\u201d said Atkins, \u201cand it really became an anthem. It\u2019s crazy. It changed that record and gave it an almost church feel.\u201d<\/p>\n
It became Atkins\u2019 first chart-topper. \u201cWhen we finished the album,\u201d reflected Atkins, \u201che called me and said \u2018Congratulations. You\u2019ve got an album that\u2019s gonna change your life.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf You\u2019re Going Through Hell,\u201d \u201cWatching You\u201d and \u201cThese Are My People\u201d went to the top, and Gernhard pushed for a fourth single. \u201cCleaning This Gun (Come on in Boy)\u201d was released in October 2007. \u201cA lot of people at the label at the time thought it was too risky, because it was about kids and guns,\u201d Atkins said. \u201cBut I\u2019d been playing it out in the real world, and so Phil and I talked about it. He asked me about some of the responses I got. Then he went after it with radio, testing the waters and stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
In February, \u201cCleaning This Gun\u201d hit No. 1.<\/p>\n
A few days after the announcement, Phil Gernhard committed suicide. With a gun.<\/p>\n
Few people knew about the record man\u2019s longtime struggles with alcohol and drug addiction.<\/p>\n
Atkins remembers every word of their last conversation, when Phil had called to tell him the good news. \u201cHe told me he was proud of me. He told me to make sure I keep writing. He said if you don\u2019t stay creative, you get sick. And he actually told me he loved me.\u201d<\/p>\n