“I never would have allowed myself to think that this career could have been possible, and I’ve loved every minute of it. “It’s been a dream and one that I would have never allowed myself to dream,” he says. He scored his first hit on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart with the top 20-peaking “There’s a Girl in Texas.” In the years that followed, the 6’ 6” Sarepta, Louisiana, native has gone on to populate country radio with such hits as “Every Light in the House,” “The Rest of Mine,” “This Ain’t No Thinkin’ Thing,” “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk,” “Ladies Love Country Boys,” “You’re Gonna Miss This” and more. This year marks the 25th anniversary of Adkins’ debut album, Dreamin’ Out Loud, which was released in 1996. Indeed, once Adkins’ career took off, the towering entertainer has never had much time for rest. I’m coming in the studio doing these vocals with literally weeks of vocal rest…’ I’ve never had that opportunity before.”

“And I said, ‘Well, it’s because I’m rested. This is the best you’ve ever sounded,’ Adkins shares. “I’ve been working with Mickey for a long time, and while we were making this record, he said, ‘I’ve never heard your vocal this strong.

In addition to assembling a collection of songs he’s proud of, Adkins also feels his vocals are better than ever. It says everything that I want to say - and that’s the reason it’s the title cut.” I’m going to finish this ride when I want to get off…’ When I think about it, I actually choke up a little bit, because if this was the last song that I ever got to record, that would be okay. You can chisel this one on my tombstone,” he says. “It just killed me, and I thought, ‘Oh my God! Those boys somehow got inside my head and wrote this song. The title track, penned by Barry Dean, Troy Verges and Brothers Osborne’s John and T.J., sounds as if Adkins himself wrote it, and he had a strong reaction the first time he heard it. This is my 25th anniversary record and there are some songs that I’ve been wanting to record for years and nobody would let me.’ So there are three or four on here like that the thing with Blake, the thing by Kerry Kurt and ‘Honey Child.'” “There are a few songs on this record that I absolutely put my foot down and said, ‘I’m putting this song on this record. I’ve had that song cut for 20 years and nobody would ever let me put it on a record,” he says of “It’s a Good Thing I Don’t Drink,” which Phillips wrote with Jamie Teachenor. “Kerry Kurt Phillips wrote a funny song on this record. We had a blast.”Īdkins says several of the songs on the new album were ones he had been wanting to record for a long time. We cleaned it up as much as we possibly could. Most of the stuff we were saying, the banter back and forth, we couldn’t put on a record. “I wrote that years ago with Kenny Beard, Jeff Bates and Sherrié Austin - and I specifically set out to write a song that I could do with Blake,” Adkins says of “If I Was a Woman.” “I wished somebody would have videoed that day in the studio, because it’s amazing that we actually got a vocal track that wasn’t just covered up with laughter - because we laughed the whole time.

305: “That was Mickey and Derek reaching out to Pitbull’s people, because they thought that he would lend something to this,” he explains.Īdkins is also happy to be singing again with his longtime pal Shelton, with whom he’s currently touring on the Friends and Heroes Tour. We don’t get to see each other enough, so we had a lot of fun.” The country star was less immediately familiar with the rapper known as Mr. “We hung out in the studio that day and just laughed a lot. “Luke is a friend of mine and I played songs for him and said, ‘I want you to sing one of these songs,’ and he’s just like, ‘Yeah!’ We just had a blast doing it,” Adkins says. Produced by Mickey Jack Cones and Derek George, the 25-song collection features a variety of special guests, including Melissa Etheridge on “Love Walks Through the Rain,” Keb’ Mo’ and Stevie Wonder on “Memory to Memphis,” Blake Shelton on “If I Was a Woman,” Snoop Dogg on “So Do the Neighbors” and Luke Bryan and Pitbull, who join Adkins on the single “Where the Country Girls At.” 27, Adkins’ 13th studio album, The Way I Wanna Go, is a creative tour de force that serves up the lyrical and stylistic diversity that would make his hero Milsap proud.

Blake shelton and trace adkins