Story Behind the Song: Rodney Atkins, ‘Farmer’s Daughter’
Rodney Atkins released "Farmer's Daughter," written by Rhett Akins, Marv Green and Ben Hayslip, in March of 2010, as the fourth single from his It's America album; the song is both a bonus track on the re-release of that record and an album cut on Atkins' Take a Back Road disc, released in 2011. The tune reached the Top 5 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart (No. 5) and the Top 50 on the Billboard Hot 100 (No. 47); it has also been certified platinum. Below, Akins tells The Boot about how "Farmer's Daughter" came to be.
This was the first time the three of us had ever gotten together to write. Marv came in with the idea; all he really had was the hook of the song: "Just when I thought it couldn't get no hotter / I caught a glimpse of the farmer's daughter."
Ben and I jumped all over it; we thought it was awesome. It's a farming and real rural farm scene about this guy who took this job on a farm. He hated it because it was so hot outside, and it's really hard work. He was thinking about quitting until he saw the farmer's daughter! [Laughs] Then suddenly he liked his job and stuck it out. He's glad he didn't quit.
The second verse, they got closer, and we came up with "Just when I thought it couldn't get no hotter / I fell in love with the farmer's daughter." Then they got married, and he's still farming. Then we thought of "Just when I think it can't get no hotter / I come home to the farmer's daughter."
It's a real cute song. It's real rural. We're talking about feeding hogs, hauling hay and it being hot and hard work, but it was all worth it because "I fell in love with the farmer's daughter."
Rodney heard it and loved it. He said, "That's my wife's favorite song, and I've got to cut it!" He's awesome.
This story was originally written by Alanna Conaway, and revised by Angela Stefano.