"Poison Picks You" — the new single from Rose Falcon (Nashville Singer-songwriter and wife of country star Rodney Atkins)

Laurel Moore

Aug 13

5 min read

We’ve all heard the expression, “pick your poison.” Sometimes though, Rose Falcon says, the POISON PICKS YOU.

That idea is at the heart of Rose’s newest single, “Poison Picks You,” a song that takes the familiar phrase “pick your poison” and turns it on its head. Written with Reid Haughton and Joseph Patton, the song explores addiction, vulnerability, and the ways people can lose themselves in various struggles.

“It’s specifically about a relationship,” Rose tells 615 Notes at her farm on the outskirts of Nashville, “but I also feel like it can be about depression or anything that you struggle with that when it comes around, you indulge in it and lose yourself.”

Rose remembers walking into the writing session with the title and concept in the form of a poem. “Co-writes are so cool because sometimes you're giving gifts and sometimes you're accepting them. And you have to learn to do both if you're going to be a great songwriter.” They all tossed around some ideas that didn’t pan out, and then Falcon mentioned, “I have something a little bit weird.” That “weird” concept turned into her newest single, “Poison Picks You.”

Rose has written songs for other artists as well as soundtracks for TV shows and ad campaigns.

Rose in front of father Billy and Jon Bon Jovi

Her path to becoming a songwriter was forged in the footsteps of her musician father — Billy Falcon — who toured in the 70’s and 80’s and co-wrote songs for artists like Bon Jovi, Stevie Nicks, and Cher. Rose’s mom passed away when she was four, leaving Rose and her dad to navigate life together. They moved from New Jersey to Nashville when Rose was nine, and she spent her childhood around Music Row, tagging along with her dad to recording studios and writing sessions. “If I was going to hang out, I was going to learn how to do what he did.”

As a pre-teen struggling with depression and fitting in at school, Rose started writing poetry as an outlet for her feelings. Her father eventually suggested they turn some of those poems into songs. One of the first people to hear those early songs was Jon Bon Jovi.

Rose's childhood home in Nashville (Bellevue)

Billy Falcon had co-written several songs with Bon Jovi, and Rose remembers that “back in the day when Jon first started coming to Nashville, he would stay at our house.” She laughs as she continues to tell the story. “So our house is like a — can I cuss? Our house is a shithole. Just imagine Bon Jovi staying at a ranch house in Bellevue with practically no furniture.”

On one of those visits, as Bon Jovi sat at their kitchen table, Rose sang a song she wrote called “Looks Are Everything”—a title she quickly points out was sarcastic. Bon Jovi was apparently impressed by the teenager’s songwriting, and he invited her to record a 4-song demo at his studio in New Jersey. After meeting with several labels, Rose signed with Columbia Records when she was just 14. “I never had the conscious thought, ‘I want to get a record deal.’ I just love to write music. Singing is secondary. I sing because I write songs.”

Rose looks back on those early opportunities with some perspective. She acknowledges that people might call her a “nepo baby” because of her father’s career and connections, but she says her family was hardly living a privileged life. “My dad was a single parent. We were completely broke,” she says. “But we were songwriters.”

What her father did give her was an understanding of songwriting, perseverance and faith. Those lessons have remained central to Rose, who says she has learned that the music business doesn’t always follow a predictable path.

That lesson became particularly meaningful with “Friday Night,” a song Rose co-wrote with Eric Paslay and Rob Crosby. The trio wrote the song and recorded a rough demo with acoustic guitars on a cell phone. They got their hopes up when Lady Antebellum (Lady A) recorded the song. “We were like, ‘oh my gosh, it's gonna be a number one song!’ We kept waiting for them to release it as a single, but they never did.” Their hopes were dashed.

Then, two years later, Eric Paslay decided to record the song as his third single as a country artist, and “Friday Night” became a hit. “You think things are gonna go one way,” Falcon says, “and then I think sometimes God has a different plan, and often I find that it’s better than whatever I thought the best-case scenario could be.

Rose remembers the excitement of the moment when she learned that “Friday Night” went to No. 1. She was on a tour bus with her husband (country star Rodney Atkins), parked in the middle of Manhattan. “I got off the bus, and I went to Bloomingdale's and bought a pair of red-bottom shoes [by French designer Christian Louboutin] to celebrate.” (Note: Rose still has the designer shoes and loans them out to friends.)

These days, Rose’s life is a blend of songwriting, performing, content creation, family and motherhood — all built on a foundation of the family’s Christian faith.

She frequently tours with her husband and plays acoustic guitar in his band. Rose says touring is what brought her and Rodney together. They were both on the 2011 Country Throwdown Tour but hadn’t met until the last night of the tour. Rodney got called away mid-conversation, so Rose wrote a note for him inside a copy of the Joyce Meyer book she had been reading (Battlefield of the Mind).

“I left a note with my phone number and suggested we should write sometime. I knocked on his bus door, and his tour manager came out. I handed him the book and said ‘please give this to Rodney.’” To her surprise, Rodney called Rose later that night. Two years later, they were married.

Rose and Rodney have two sons together, as well as another son from Rodney’s first marriage. Rose says music is so intertwined with their family life that there is little separation between her work and home.

Later this year or in early 2027, Rose plans to release an EP with some of her favorite original songs that haven’t been cut by other artists. Rose says, “I’m doing it on my own terms” and releasing the EP independently. After two record deals, this time she wants the project to be about the music rather than the fanfare surrounding it.

At this point in her life, that seems fitting. Rose Falcon has spent much of her career learning that songs rarely travel the road you expect them to take. Sometimes another artist records them. Sometimes they become a No. 1 hit. Sometimes they sit waiting until the songwriter finally decides to give them a voice.

And sometimes, as “Poison Picks You” suggests, you don’t choose the story at all.

The story chooses you.