Q: What’s more real than a cowboy-hat-wearing country singer?

He even played Radio City Music Hall wearing a ball cap, country singer Rodney Atkins admits to Xpress. There’s a note of unapologetic everyman to his confession.

Rough beginnings add to Rodney Atkins’ “realness.”

“More people in country music wear cowboy hats,” he says. “But more real people wear ball caps.”

Not that he’s always kept it quite so real.

“When I started out, I was wearing the leather pants and completely not being myself,” he divulges. Ironically, that was for Atkins’ debut album, Honesty. “It’s hard to pull that stuff off. When I met with my manager, his question was, ‘Do you wear this stuff, this gooed hair and leather pants, to Wal-Mart?’”

The answer was no. So the singer went back to his battered jeans and cap, and focused on writing songs about the things he knew, like tractors and family.

Audiences (even the Radio City Music Hall crowd) approve. Plus, Atkins has won industry acclaim with his recent win for Best New Male Vocalist from the Academy of Country Music. He’s now touring with Martina McBride, which brings him to Asheville this week.

Family man: no, really

“People tell me how they feel,” Atkins said in a 2004 interview with The Associated Press. “Just a couple of weeks ago I had a lady come up and she just grabbed me. I could feel the tears rolling down my neck and she was just hugging me. She said, ‘My husband had an affair and your song saved our marriage.’”

While the anecdote smacks of a PR ploy, it’s not a story one expects to hear about, say, Madonna. Would a fan dare to weep on the shoulder of the Material Girl? Doubtful. However, country musicians have long been known for their accessibility, both through their lyrics and their commitment to meet and greet their public.

In fact, Atkins says he has a hard time even saying the word “fan.”

“It’s the listeners who support you—you wouldn’t have a career without them. You try to think of every way possible you can let them get to know you.”

But beyond signing autographs and shaking hands, the musician banks his success on relatable songs. “I love all kinds of music,” he says, predictably. (His band does play Allman Brothers and Steve Miller covers.) “But I don’t think you’d hear a pop singer say, ‘My 4-year-old said a four-letter word.’”

He’s referring to his current hit, “Watching You,” about fathering a particularly precocious boy. Pre-schooler Elijah appears in his father’s video and rides along on the tour bus whenever possible.

“[Elijah] is the exact age where he’s just kickin’ it walking down Fifth Avenue, completely fearless of anything,” Atkins says of their recent New York City stop. “He’s been on a bus so many times he just hops on, puts on his pajamas and he’s ready to go.”

For some stars, separating stage life from real life is a chronic feat of spin. Like when audiences are looking for a glamorous persona far removed from school lunches and potty training—or else buy the hype of the perceived down-home singer who’s only really home once a year.

But Atkins has less trouble melding career and family.

Because, at six months, the singer was a sick infant living in a children’s home. He was fostered by three families before he was finally adopted. And it’s all still with him: Atkins frequently plays benefit shows for kids’ homes—including the one where he spent his babyhood.

“I think it’s important,” he says. “As a human being.”

Rodney Atkins opens for Martina McBride at the Asheville Civic Center on Sunday, June 3.  Little Big Town also plays. 7 p.m. $51.75. 259-5544.