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Welcome to Pop Culture Weekly with Kyle McMahon, your pop
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culture news, views, reviews, and celebrity interviews on all the movies,
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TV music and pop culture u CRABE Weekly. Here's Kyle McMahon.
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All right, Well, first of all, thank you so much,
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Trace for speaking with me again, and welcome to oop
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Culture Weekly. You we're going to talk about PBS as
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a Capital fourth and your new single, But I'd like
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to you know, kind of look at as you're celebrating
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thirty years. You know, it's a long time in any career,
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let alone in the music industry. When you look back,
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you know, to ninety six, you release Dreaming out Loud.
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What is the biggest surprise? You know that you would
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say Trace back then would say to Trace today or
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the opposite.
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Well, uh, when Dreaming out Loud came out, my first
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single I think got in the teams in. My second
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single went top five, my third single went number one,
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my fourth single one number one. The album went platinum,
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and I thought, Wow, this is going to be easy,
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you know, and then thing and then reality, you know,
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sets in and it's not always going to be like that,
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you know, the sophomore slump and all that kind of stuff,
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and and uh, you know, I would just say to
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myself back then, just be patient. It's all going to
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be all right, you know, and everything's going to work
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itself out. But I you know, thirty years, I wouldn't
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have even allowed myself to dream that I would still
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be relevant after thirty years. You know, that's that's a
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long time. And I'm very grateful, and you know, it's
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it's been a dream come true, and dreams do come true.
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I love that.
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And you're you're on tour right now. Is there a
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particular moment, you know, where it really hit you that
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you've been doing this for three decades.
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Yeah. I think it was that first weekend that we
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went out on tour this year and I started setting
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up the first single that came out in ninety six,
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which was There's a Girl in Texas, and I was
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telling the story about it before I sang the song,
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and I started setting it up and it started to
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hit me. It was like, wow, you know, this was it,
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you know, this was the and it just happened to
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be a song that I wrote, and the president of
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the record label said, this is the one that I
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think will introduce you to everybody and the way that
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you should be introduced, and let's go with this one.
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And because it was personal to me and it still is.
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The lyrically that song it it means more to me
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now than it did when I wrote it. It means now,
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But but the lyrics really hit me hard, you know
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now when I do it. So Yeah, it was that
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first weekend out that it was. They dawned on me
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what this all meant.
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When you're putting I'm sorry, when you're putting together, you know,
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a set list that's looking over your entire career thus far.
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How do you.
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Balance playing you know, the hits and the songs that
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people want to see versus the songs that mean the
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most to you personally as an artist, or you know,
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have some specific you know reason that you want to
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do this song for this tour. How do you kind
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of balance that?
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Yeah, well, I do the greatest hits show. You know,
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I know what the fans want. They want to hear
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what they've heard on the radio. But since it is
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a little different, you know, thirty year anniversary tour, I
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do slip two or three in there, four mile gratification.
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You know, these deep album cuts that meant a lot
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to me. And uh, I don't do many of them.
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I do two or three, but I am putting two
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or three of those in there this year. That's great.
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And you've watched, you know, over your career thus far,
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you've watched the music music itself and the music industry change,
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you know, so much over the last thirty years. What's
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one thing today in the country music scene that excite
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excites you and what's the what's one thing that you
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hope never changes in the industry.
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Gosh, that's a loaded question. You're trying to get me intro.
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I would I would hope that vocal ability and that
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kind of talent never go was away. I don't. I
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don't care how much you can digitally massage things and
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make them sound right. I don't think that's what this
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business should be about. You know, it should be straight up,
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you know, just sing it and and it is what
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it is. But you know that's that's not the world
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we live in. Yeah. But the thing that I hope
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never goes away is just how big country music still
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is as a genre. I mean, there are more country
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music stations than any other genre in this country. That
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was true when I started and is still true thirty
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years later. And I think that's great.
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Do you have a new song that you know you're
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releasing American Made and you're gonna be debuting it live
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on a capital fourth. What is it about this song
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that made you say this is the one for this time?
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Well, I was thinking two fifty, you know when I
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wrote this, and I and I thought, you know, I'm
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going to personalize this. You know, this is how my
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family came here, and how long ago my family came here.
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I was fortunate enough a few years ago to receive
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an award from the Daughters of the American Revolution, but
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I didn't deserve but they gave it to me anyway,
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and they gave me my family tree, my genealogy, and
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was on a big board and I'd never seen that before.
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And they went all the way back to the Revolution,
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because that's what they're about. And if you had verifiable
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patriots in your family tree, they had a little American
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flag by each one of them. And on both sides
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of my family, you have to go back more than
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eight generations to find somebody that wasn't born in this country.
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And I just I wanted to celebrate that and So
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that's that's why I wrote this song, you know. And
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it's not to diminish anybody else's heritage or how long
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they've been here. This is just me. Yeah, You're a story. Yeah,
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and so that that's why I wrote it the way
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I did, and I celebrated that that's what American made.
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That's what this song means to me.
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It's a great it's a great song, and I can't
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wait to see you perform it live at a Capitol fourth.
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But you've recorded, you know, a number of songs about
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America and every day you know, everyday Americans and you know,
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blue collar people, hardworking people. Why has that been a
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theme for you?
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That's that's country music, I think, you know, it's just
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that goutry music was, you know, for the everyday guy,
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the working man. You know, That's how it was when
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it started, and it's still that way, and that's cool,
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and I'm happy about that. But I've I've always there's
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always been a spot or two or three on my
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albums for those kinds of songs, uh, patriotic, celebrating working
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man woman. You know, I've always had room on my
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albums for songs like that. And I've always had a
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deep appreciation for the men and women to serve in
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the military, and I've on just about every album I've
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done a song that pay tribute to them, at least
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in some small way. And I'm proud of.
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That, well, as you should be. When you're introducing a
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brand new song like you are with American Maid, you know,
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you have audiences that have known your catalog for decades. Uh,
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but you're putting a new kind of baby, if you will,
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out into the world. Does that Is that still nerve
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wracking for you too?
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Yeah? Yeah, oh gosh, And that's exactly what that's That's
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the analogy that I've used over the years too. People
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don't understand. You go into the studio and you have
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this raw piece of material and you try to turn
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it into a beautiful butterfly, you know, and you hope
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that it's going to going to speak to people the
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way it speaks to you. And and it's like having
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a baby and you think it's the most beautiful baby
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in the world, and the last thing you want is
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somebody to come up to you and say, oh my,
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what an ugly baby. You know, you just don't want
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to hear that, you know, Uh, and it's it's always
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been that way for me. I hate it when people
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tell me I've got an ugly baby. Smile them what
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I was?
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You know, lucky enough, you guys sent over the track
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so I could listen to it, and it really is
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a beautiful song. What do you hope people? And I
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love that I got to listen to it in my headphones,
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you know, I got to focus on it for four minutes.
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What do you hope people take away from it the
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first time they hear American?
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Mate? I just hope that they puff up a little
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bit and be proud, you know, be proud that you're
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in American. This is our two hundred and fiftieth of
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this grand experiment, you know, this democracy that we've tried
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so hard to keep for two hundred and fifty years.
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And we've been through rough times. And some people think
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we're going through rough times now, but we have the
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spine to get through it. We have the tenacity. We've
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proven it for two hundred and fifty years, and I
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think every now and then we should beat our chest
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little bit and be proud of it.
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That's great, and you will be performing this live on
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PBS as a Capital fourth, which is always such an
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incredible show, such a great celebration of America. You've performed,
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you know, a number of times for them. Why do
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you keep coming back.
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It's just it's almost just an overwhelming experience when you
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walk out on that stage facing the capital and there's
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a hundred piece orchestra behind you. It's that is something
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that as a singer, those opportunities don't come around very often,
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and you'd be a fool to not take that opportunity.
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And anybody out there that has ever had the chance
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to do it and maybe turned it down for whatever reason,
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I would suggest if they offer you the chance to
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do it again, you should go, just for selfish reasons.
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It's awesome.
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Yeah, yeah, it really is.
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You know.
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I've been lucky enough to go the last probably eight
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or nine years, and every single time, whether it's rehearsals
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or during the live show, I get chills, you know,
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at one point or another, or multiple points, because it
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really is a sacred space. And then you have these
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incredible artists like yourself that are you know, either celebrating
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the troops or remembering our troops or the country or whatever,
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and it's very you know, and then for the live show.
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You have one hundred thousand people watching you on the
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lawn and around the Capitol and millions on television and online.
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You know, it really is something special, you know, it
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really truly is.
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Yeah. And the production, you know, I tipped my hat
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to the Capital fourth people. The production is always stellar,
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just incredible, and it's is it really is an overwhelming
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experience to go out on that stage with all the
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production and the orchestra is always just insanely perfect. And
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so it's a lifetime opportunity and I always enjoy it.
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I'm looking forward to seeing you. Of course, you have
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built a very impressive kind of I don't want to
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say side career, but you know, aside from your main gig,
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if you will, with acting right alongside your music career,
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what does acting.
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Do for you?
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You know what it's does it scratch that music may not?
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Well, I don't know that it scratches an itch that
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music can't. It's just what I've likened it to is
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when my favorite times in the music business really the
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times that you get most inspired and creative. It's when
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you're in the studio with some of the finest musicians
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in the world, which is the pool we have to
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draw from here in Nashville, the finest musicians in the
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world that can play anything that you can imagine. Those
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days in the studio are just magical and the creativity. Everybody
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in there is on top of their game. And that's
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the way I feel when I'm on a movie set
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or a television set. Everybody around you is a professional,
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and they're very good at what they do, and they're
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very talented, or they wouldn't be there. And I just
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find that environment stimulating and I just I enjoy it.
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It's just like being in the studio. You're surrounded by
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these incredibly talented and creative people and I just I
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get a kick out of it.
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And you've worked in everything from you know, in faith
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based to action to television. Is there a role that
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you've done that has surprised you? How much has fuck
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with you?
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I generally like playing surly gunfighters, but you know, and
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you know people know that, you know they when they
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want me, I'm probably gonna I have two two acting methods.
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One's on a motorcycle and the other one's on a horse,
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and those are my acting methods. And they pretty much
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know that. Every now and then they'll throw me a
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bone and let me do something else that I'm not
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supposed to do. But most of the time it's horses
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and motorcycles.
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I love that. What was the moment in your acting
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career that you realize like, okay, like I can do
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this too.
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I have never felt that. Really. I always said that
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my best acting job that I do is convincing the
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director that I know what I'm doing, because I don't.
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I haven't had any training. I don't know what I'm doing.
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You know, I'm saying, okay, you want me to say
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these words. Okay, that's about the depth of it for me.
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You know, I'm not you know, whoever you want to
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name that's an incredible actor that's not me.
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Has there been any dream roles or genres that you
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haven't tackled yet that you want to.
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No, I think I know what lane I'm supposed to
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be in, and I should probably stay there.
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Okay, So no no trace as a as a scream
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king in a horror or.
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A lawyer or a surgeon or nothing like that. It's
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probably gonna work. You know, they don't want me going
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in there going all right, what we're gonna do saw
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top your head off of dig get tumor out. They
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don't want to hear that.
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You performed at the Opry one hundred earlier this year,
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and you know you were obviously inducted or is that
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is that the word inductive?
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They make you a member. Yes, in the mob of guess.
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You were previously you know, had been made a member.
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What did that moment mean to you? At the Opry
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one hundred performing like that?
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It was just I wouldn't have been anywhere else on
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this planet that night. Yeah, it means that much to me.
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People ask me, you know, what's the biggest achievement that
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you think you've you've what's the biggest thing you've achieved
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in your career? And and I say, it's something that
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I don't even feel like I achieved. It's just for
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some reason, they decided to make me a member of
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the Grand Ole Opry. And and on my list of achievements,
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that's top five, that's the ta hole, that's one through five,
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and then everything else comes after that. You know, grew
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up as a kid. You could hear it on Saturday
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nights and on the radio even in Louisiana, and it
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was just something really really special, and it's such an
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historic institution. I have such reverence and respect for it,
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and I've never had a bad experience when I sang
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at the Opry, and I've been doing it now for
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thirty plus years.
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I guess that's incredible. You know. What's interesting to me
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is that you have earned You have had over a
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billion streams with your music on Pandora alone, which is incredibly,
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in my opinion, remarkable considering your career started when you
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had to go to Walmart or best Buy or whatever
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and buy an album. You know, to me, that really
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says something about your music and how it doesn't matter
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that the time frame that we are in, how we
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consume music, people still relate to that. What does that
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mean to you?
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Uh? Nothing. I don't even know if that's a lot.
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I don't know anything about the stream and stuff. I
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don't know, you know, is that a lot? I guess?
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I you know, I you know, I can't stream anything.
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I don't know. It's not my thing. I don't, I don't.
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I don't get into that world very often. So yeah,
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I'm grateful, and it's and I'm honored that that there's
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even a hundred that have streamed it. That's great and
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moren I thought they would.
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What does that say, you know to you as an
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artist as you see the way or maybe don't see
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the way.
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Uh.
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People's consumption of music has changed over your career.
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Yeah, and that has completely changed, it does. It's not
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even in the A zip code anymore the way it
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was when I first came out. I mean, my first
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album came out on a cassette. You know, how long
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has it mentioned? She saw one of those? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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So things have definitely changed the way people get music.
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It's a lot easier to get music to people these days.
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And I'm really grateful, you know that, that I've been
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able to take advantage of that. And I've got a
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team of people that make sure that my music is
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available and the places that it should be, and you know,
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our Heart Radio being one of the many. And I
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still I'm so grateful and thankful that people are still
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playing it.
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What, you know, kind of winding down thirty years. What
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gets you excited day after day in this in your.
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Career, Well, there's still there's nothing like getting up there
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and singing a song and hearing the crowds singing it
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back to you. You know, that's just so special, you know,
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and they have to have been or they have to
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have familiarized themselves with your music. To do that, they
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have to know you, and they've heard that song countless
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times and then they just sing it with you. I mean,
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that's a really special thing, and I'm I'm glad that
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they still do that.
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When we're tall all in ten years, for your fortieth
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anniversary tour, what do you think, what do you think
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people will be saying about your legacy?
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Then for my fortieth, if I'm still doing this, they'll
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probably say, boy, I hope he gets the urs paid off,
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you know, because I don't expect to still be doing
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this ten years from now. To be honest with you,
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you know, I look at it like an old jock.
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You know. This is a muscle, just like everything else.
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And I quit playing bolved whenever I couldn't play at
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one hundred percent anymore. You know, I had to walk
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away from the game of football because I couldn't go.
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I wasn't even ninety percent anymore. If I was so
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banged up. And once this doesn't perform the way that
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I want to be able to perform every night, I'm
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gonna walk away from it. I don't know when that's
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going to happen. So far, I can still sing every
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song that I recorded in the same key that I
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recorded them in. I'd actually like the sound of my
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voice better now. I think it's smoother. I listen to
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that first record and I think, man, that sounds kind
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of thin, you know. Now, I think my voice sounds warmer,
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and the high is still there and the bottom's gotten
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even better. So, you know, as long as I can
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still perform, I'll keep doing it. But I just don't
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know how much longer that's gonna hold up.
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Well, hopefully for us. You know, we are discussing this
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in ten more years selling.
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If we are, that's great.
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Finally, what does success mean to Trace Adkins?
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It happened twenty years ago. You know, I'm content. I'm
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happy with the way my career turned out. I wouldn't
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change a thing. Everything's been great, man. I mean, even
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the ones that didn't work at radio or whatever, those
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were all it didn't matter, you know. Yeah, people aren't
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always going to lack everything you do, you know, but
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I can't complain about anything. I know how fortunate and
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how blessed I am to be where I am, and
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it's because I've had a lot of very competent people
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working with me over the years have steered this ship
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and made it into port when I was just floundering.
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But you know, it's been great. I'm just I'm very
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pleased with all of it.
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Trace, Thank you so much for taking the time with me.
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You are a legend. You're an incredible artist, an incredible guy.
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I can't wait for everybody to hear American Maid, and
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I can't wait to see you on PBS as a
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capital fourth.
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Thank you man, I've enjoyed it.
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Thank you, cal, thank you, thank you very much.
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Thank you for listening to pop Culture Weekly. You're all
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the latest at pop culturewekly dot com.
