Trace Adkins

Fire up Trace Adkins’ ode to bodacious backsides (“Honky Tonk Badonkadonk”) or reel to the Western swing of his tongue-in-cheek table-turner (“Marry for Money”), and you get a blast of the man’s genius for good-time music done up country-style. Adkins’ booming buzz of a baritone and honest love for traditional roadhouse sounds suits a party tune just right, but that’s not all he can cook up. For every saucy song — like his down-and-dirty duet with Blake Shelton, “Hillbilly Bone” — there’s a truly tender heart-tugger, like “Just Fishin’,” which lays bare his Louisiana boy’s heart.

We travel deeper into the glories of Trace Adkins country in Next Steps.

Look to the heart of pretty much any Trace Adkins tune, and what you’ll find is an appreciation for what it means to be a man living and loving in America. The trials, tribulations, and triumphs of everyday guys living in the heartland are his stock-in-trade, whether he’s offering up a tongue-tripping portrait of a “Rough & Ready” roustabout or a sad song about pulling through heartbreak on the walking-wounded “I’m Tryin’.” From the survivor who’s simply “Proud to Be Here” to the fallen sons and brothers of “Arlington,” they’re the people who populate Adkins’ cherished, real-deal country.

“More,” pleads Adkins’ love-struck everyman. So we say give the man what he wants, with more Trace Adkins country, in Deep Cuts.

Compare the romantic roughnecks of Trace Adkins’ boy-meets-girl showdown “Ala-Freakin-Bama” to the dressed-up dope of the Western swinger “All Hat, No Cattle,” and the deep-piped star’s position on what counts as authentic country sounds out loud and clear. After all, the genuine article is what Adkins does best, marrying a full-bodied drawl to a dedicated feel for tradition, and coming away with powerhouse ballads like his stand-tall tribute to everyday heroes, “Semper Fi”; smart-aleck story-songs like the big brawler “Hold My Beer”; and stunning, spur-of-the-moment proposals like “Find Me a Preacher.”

Which Trace Adkins are you partial to? Is it the swaggering man’s man of “Songs About Me” or the wistful dad of “Then They Do,” drawling out a time-flies tearjerker? Is it the heart-baring lover of “There’s a Girl In Texas” or the winking honky-tonker of “I Left Something Turned On at Home”? All of the above? Yeah, that’s our choice too. Lucky thing our Trace Adkins Essentials packs ’em all into one hard-partying, good-lovin’ playlist. With everything from slick, sonic hot-rodders (“Chrome”) to home-is-where-the-heart-is love songs (“Hot Mama”) to rowdy tunes of livin’ large (“Big Time”), we make it easy to get down or sit back to only the best of Adkins’ rumble-throated, true-blue country.