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Trace Adkins pops up everywhere these days
By John Benson
Over the past few years, Trace Adkins has become a renaissance man of country music.
When he’s not cutting Nashville hits, the 49-year-old honky-tonk singer has been dabbling in everything from reality television (“Celebrity Apprentice” and “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”) to television-film acting (“The Young and the Restless,” “An American Carol” and “The Lincoln Lawyer”) and writing (“A Personal Stand: Observations and Opinions from a Freethinking Roughneck”).
Now the Grammy Award-nominated artist, known for hits such as “I’m Tryin’,” “Hot Mama,” “Songs About Me,” “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk,” “Ladies Love Country Boys,” “You’re Going to Miss This,” “Just Fishin’” and more returns to the Buckeye State for a Friday show at Covelli Centre.
But that’s not all. Readers of Country Weekly Magazine have voted him Country’s Sexiest Man. He’ll appear on the weekly’s cover, on stands Friday.
Next up, Adkins will co-host the American Country Awards (ACA) with Kristin Chenoweth live on Fox on Dec. 5. He’ll also give a performance on the show.
Q. Looking back over the years, what kind of a market has Northeast Ohio been to Trace Adkins?
A. Really good. I’ve always said it’s just true that the Rust Belt has always been one of my strongest markets in the entire country. Probably more members of my fan club per capita come from those states — Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. I didn’t know why for a while, but then it dawned on me — during the early part of my career, that’s where I mostly played. I played every county fair in Ohio.
Q. The connection between your music and the Rust Belt means your tunes are uplifting or commiserate with our area’s economic downtown.
A. I always wanted to assume that it was kind of a blue-collar background that I have, and that’s the approach that I take for the music I do and the way I perform. It’s not a lot of bells and whistles and pyro and laser lights. I get up there and do my thing and sing my songs and let the chips fall where they may.
Q. What’s interesting about your career is you continue to break the mold of who we think Trace Adkins is. Why are you so active in other venues such as reality television, film and more?
A. All I do is just continue to challenge myself and try to get outside my comfort zone. I feel that’s really the way you continue to grow, just by putting yourself in situations where it’s not something that you’re totally comfortable with. If you just stay where you’re comfortable all of the time, you’re just going to become lax and fat and lazy. I just put myself in situations where I don’t really know if I know what I’m doing. The acting stuff and hosting award shows and television shows, that’s stuff that really challenges me, and I get a rush from that. I find it invigorating. Also, being on the set with those incredibly talented people is just an atmosphere that I enjoy. So I’m going to continue to do that stuff.
Q. What song on the new album truly epitomizes the spirit of the project?
A. I think the title track. The lyric of that song, it’s really an ode to guardian angels. It’s pretty well documented the close calls I’ve had in my life and more, so than that the song almost is a double entendre because I look back in retrospect in my career, and most artists don’t have 15-year runs. They just don’t. You’ve really outlived your life expectancy when you get to 15 years in this business. I’m just proud to still be relevant and still be around.