Trace Adkins is a very interesting artist.  His huge baritone voice with incredible presence seems on the surface more fitting for a far more classic kind of music.  But with that said, his demeanor, song choices and who he is made him a natural for a great run on the country charts for a good long while.  He may be one of the most underrated artists we have had.  Without question he had great success, but his talent, image and song choices were all right on the money with 90's and early 2000's country.

 First Real Hit Song

His career has been filled with ups and downs, good times and bad.  Music, and a world outside of music, he is one of these artists that has done it all.  Music, tons of TV, movies, voice over work, TV commercials, and charity work too. In fact, his list of movies and TV is far more extensive than you may think, he has made a nice career for himself with that outside of country music.  He has an incredibly loyal fan base that love HIM as much as his music. When I first came to WQMX there was this woman listener that would call in and tell us where she was going that weekend to see him perform, and the list was extensive and many venues a great distance away.  Plus she was part of a large group that was doing the same thing - weekly.

First Number One - Made Him a Star

Adkins is not hard to like. That big, warm voice that sounds good singing about any song you throw at him.  I featured him in my Vocalist Supreme Series here a few months ago.  Adkins has the amazing ability to make the song his own. I remember years ago I heard him sing in person, Hank Williams Sr's,  Your Cheatin' Heart at a tribute and he made it sound like the song was written by him, and of course it wasn't.

That Voice  -  #4 Hit

His first album, Dreamin' Out Loud in 1996 was as good of a debut album as you can have.  It had a bunch of hit songs on it, was sung with extreme confidence and sold a ton.  As a result he was named the ACM Top New Male Vocalist of 1997.  He has won a few major awards including a couple for Hillbilly Bone with Blake Shelton, a song that I love and I'm not real big on duets.  During the course of his chart run there were some great albums and singles and there were some that didn't catch on.  He has been with a few different record companies and had some well documented personal setbacks that didn't derail his career, just made it a bit more challenging in the long run.

This Is The Stuff He Does Best

But in the end, he sold about 12 million albums, had 4 number one songs and for many years was a staple on the country charts. His live stage shows were also very popular with his fans and always seemed to be in the midst of other great artists in touring.  Adkins showed up in the middle of a very competitive decade for country music, and it was tough to get noticed for many, But Adkins did and had a great run.

Amazing Song - Will Be Played Forever  #1

It's that voice.  That incredibly big, warm, distinctive voice that could sing the most fun and funny songs you can imagine. Or the most touching, and powerful ballads of life you can think of.  His vocal versatility is hard to match, still is  -  and so was his pure speaking and singing voice.

 Big Song - #1