{{Infobox song | name = These Are My People | cover = | type = single | artist = Rodney Atkins | album = If You're Going Through Hell | released = March 19, 2007 | recorded = | studio = | venue = | genre = Country | length = 3:34 | label = Curb | writer = Dave Berg<br>Rivers Rutherford | producer = Rodney Atkins<br>Ted Hewitt | prev_title = Watching You | prev_year = 2006 | next_title = Cleaning This Gun (Come On In Boy) | next_year = 2007 }}
"'''These Are My People'''" is a song written by Dave Berg and Rivers Rutherford, and recorded by American country music artist Rodney Atkins. It was released in March 2007 as the third single from his platinum album ''If You're Going Through Hell'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gactv.com/gac/nw_headlines/article/0,,GAC_26063_5677808,00.html |title=Rodney Atkins Closes in on Another No. 1 |accessdate=2007-08-23 |date=2007-08-20 |work=GAC.com}}</ref> as well as the third straight Number One single from that album.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thetennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071026/SPECIAL09/710260373 |title=Rodney Atkins celebrates "My People" success |accessdate=2007-12-28 |last=Watts |first=Cindy |date=2007-10-26 |work=The Tennessean}}</ref>
==Content== The song is an up-tempo which is introduced by a fiddle solo, with guitar also accompanying. The lyrics are the narrator's description of his rural lifestyle: specifically, the friends with whom he plays church league softball and drinks beer at a bar. The first verse references three Lynyrd Skynyrd songs: "Gimme Three Steps", "Simple Man", and "The Ballad of Curtis Loew". "Lovin' and laughin' and bustin' our asses", a line from the first verse, was changed to "…bustin' our backs" in the radio edit.
==Critical reception== J. Poet of Allmusic described the song favorably, saying that "It's a string of clichés, the kind of song that can sink under its own sentimental weight, but Atkins delivers it with a sly humor that makes it believable."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/if-youre-going-through-hell-r841592/review|title=''If You're Going Through Hell'' review|last=Poet|first=J|work=Allmusic|accessdate=March 7, 2012}}</ref>
==Music video== The music video was directed by Eric Welch and premiered in May 17, 2007.
The music video reached number 1 on CMT's ''Top Twenty Countdown'' for the week of August 30, 2007.
==Chart performance== "These Are My People" debuted at number 57 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs for the week of March 24, 2007. {|class="wikitable sortable" !align="left"|Chart (2007) !align="center"|Peak<br />position |- {{single chart|Billboardcanadacountry|11|artist=Rodney Atkins|}} |- {{single chart|Billboardhot100|42|artist=Rodney Atkins||accessdate=February 10, 2011}} |- {{single chart|Billboardcountrysongs|1|artist=Rodney Atkins||accessdate=February 10, 2011}} |}
===Year-end charts=== {| class="wikitable sortable" |- !scope="col"|Chart (2007) !scope="col"|Position |- | US Country Songs (''Billboard'')<ref>{{Cite magazine | url=http://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2007/hot-country-songs| title=Best of 2007: Country Songs | magazine=Billboard | publisher=Prometheus Global Media | date=2007| accessdate=December 13, 2007}}</ref> | align="center" | 4 |}
==Certifications== {{certification Table Top}} {{certification Table Entry|type=single|region=United States|artist=Rodney Atkins|title=These Are My People|award=Platinum|certyear=2021|relyear=2006|accessdate=30 October 2021}} {{Certification Table Bottom|noshipments=true|nosales=true|streaming=true}}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Rodney Atkins}}
Category:2007 singles Category:2006 songs Category:Rodney Atkins songs Category:Songs written by Rivers Rutherford Category:Songs written by Dave Berg (songwriter) Category:Curb Records singles