Rodney Atkins walks the red carpet with his son, Elijah, at the City of Hope Celebrity Softball Challenge at Nashville's Greer Stadium during the 2007 CMA Music Festival. Photo by David Vespie.
Oct. 14, 2008 — Rodney Atkins cancelled a concert last week in Jackson, Miss., the first time he’s ever done that. And given the family tone of his hits "Watching You" and "Cleaning This Gun (Come On In Boy)," it should come as no surprise that he took that step because of a family emergency.
Rodney’s dad, Allan, had double-bypass heart surgery, and Rodney thought it was important to show support for his father.
"My dad tried his best to convince me not to cancel the show," Rodney wrote on his website. "Then he said later it brought him great peace of mind to have me there with him."
It didn’t necessarily bring physical peace. The surgery was complicated by a second painful reality.
"He also found out a week ago that he has a kidney stone," Rodney wrote. "Open-heart double-bypass and trying to pass a kidney stone — now that’s being tougher than Tarzan’s feet. He’s in pain to say the least, but looks great. So he’s off the respirator, they removed the balloon from his heart, and he’s making progress. Now if they could just slip some beans and cornbread in his I.V., I think his recovery time would be sped up."
Rodney has shows scheduled this week with Brooks & Dunn and ZZ Top in Philadelphia and Chicago, and it appears he’ll be making both of those dates.
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