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Amber Alderman, 13, of Fort Pierce, drove down to see Trace Adkins at Roger Dean Chevrolet in West Palm Beach today with her brother, Austin, 14. Adkins, whose commercials for the deadership have been airing regularly on local TV, agreed to spend two hours signing autographs for fans.
So many showed up that by the time Amber got to the front of line, they were limiting autographs to one per person so Adkins could see everyone.
Amber asked Adkins to sign her poster to Miss Adams, her science teacher at St. Andrews Episcopal Academy in Fort Pierce. “She’s his biggest fan, ” Amber said. “And she couldn’t come because she works on Saturday.”
When Adkins learned about Amber’s kind-heareted jesture, he signed her phone too in big silver letters, just Trace. Like they’re on a first name basis!
In all Adkins probably signed his name close to a thousand times today for fans from 5 to 95.
Parked right in front of the desk where he greeted his fans was the Trace Adkins Chevy Silverado LT pickup, a glossy black behemoth with leather interior, chrome detailing and Adkins signature in three places.
But Adkins didn’t just slap his name on the truck. He collaborated with designers on just how much chrome there should be. He wanted it “understated,“ like the red top-stitching on the black leather seats. At just about $40,000, this four-door beauty reportedly gets 15 mpg in the city and 24 highway. It’s go something called “active fuel management” that allows the engine to sort of turn off some of the cylinders when they’re not needed, taking it from a V8 and a V4 and conserving fuel.
Patti Dean, owner of the dealership was on hand, too, since it’s her connection to Adkins that is at the heart of this partnership. Dean is friends with Adkins’ keyboard player, and the relationship just evolved over the last two years or so. Dean, a fan of all kinds of music, says of Adkins, “I like his older stuff, like Every Light in the House Is On best. And of course You’re Gonna Miss This,“ his huge hit from 2008.
I have to say, though, sure, that truck is nice, but for my money, I’d rather have one of those new Camaros! Ms. Dean agrees. Her first car was a Camaro (as was mine) and I love the whole retro feel. It’s a baby boomer’s dream. And tThe new Chevy Cruz is nice too, especially for those who worry about their car’s carbon footprint and safety (It’s got 10 airbags!)
“It’s a competitive market, and I feel like GM is really listening to the consumers,” Dean said.
One of today’s most enthusiastic fans was Beverly Nadal, 41, of Loxahatchee. She’d already been in line about 90 minutes when we met, but she said she was willing to wait as long as it took to meet the gentle giant.
“He’s got a spell on me,” she said. And it’s true: Adkins simply has a way with women, even young girls!
BFFs Megan Alioto, 8, and Laura Brannon, 9, came down with their moms from Jupiter Farms. It took them about an hour and a half to get through the line. When they finally did, Megan — who loves Adkins “deep voice” — was so excited she could barely speak. Megan and Laura both love Honky Tonk Badonkadonk, but Megan’s mom, Charleen says Megan’s favorite song is really You’re Gonna Miss This, “but it makes her cry so she can’t listen to it.”
Scott Linton, 33, of Royal Palm Beach came out to see Adkins because he’d never met a famous person before. Dressed in a blue button down shirt and a black hat, Linton said, “I’ve never been to a. I just thought it was cool he’d be here. When I got up there, I was too nervous to ask him any questions.”
Samantha Bryant of West Palm Beach left her two boys at home so she could meet her idol. She arrived super-early, just after 10 a.m. “Wow, he’s a big man,” Bryant said afterwards. Her favorite song, she says, is One Hot Mama, which is what her boys call her when they want to tease her.
Mother and daughter Helen Reed and Nicole Scheurer of North Palm Beach said Adkins is the “total package. An amazing artist who takes the moral high ground.”
I sat down with the Rough and Ready singer in a conference room after the last autograph had been signed. He took off his signature black hat, and swept the sweat from his brow with a hand the size of a dinner plate. His long hair was pulled back in a regular rubber band and I wanted to tell him he was damaging his hair, but he’s about the most macho guy in country music so I didin’t think he’d care. His tight black T-shirt hugged those massive bicceps. At one point he drapped one long leg over the edge of the table.
Me: I was happy to hear your texting and driving PSA.
Adkins: Well, it was the folks at Dean, their idea, and I just took it and expanded on it. I mean that’s just crazy. Talking on the phone is one thing. Some of us should be albe to talk and drive at the same time, but none of us can text and drive at the same time.
Me: I love the truck. I hear you were active in designing it.
Adkins: Yeah, that was fun. I’m not a huge chrome guy (despite the song) so subltey was the key. We wanted it to be understated.
Me: I saw you on CMT’s Next Superstar.
Adkins: I just went in for one night and listened to the guys and girls sing, and went back and taped the finale. The only advice I gave them was the advice I gave them on the show. Some of it they cut out.
Me: So what advice would you give somebody starting out in the music business?
Adkins: Don’t spend your own money. There’s a reason for that though. I see people come to Nashville all the time and they get taken advantage of by those scumbags that have these studios and they do what they call ‘custom projects.’ Some guy meets them down at Shoneys or someplace and tells them. ‘Hey, I’ll record a record and I’ll get it to these people and get it played on the radio and all you have to do is put up 25 grand and so many people buy into that and do it and it’s always a scam and they end up losing their money and they go home and they’re bitter. One of the best pieces of advice I ever got in this business was, ‘If you’re a legitimate artist, if you have talent, you won’t have to spend your own money. Someone else will spend the money.’ And to me, that’s kind of what you should use as a barometer. If no one is willing to put up the money to make a record on you, you probably shouldn’t quit your day job.
Me: Have you seen the Lincoln Lawyer? (Adkins plays plays Eddie Vogel, the leader of a motorcycle gang that keeps crossing paths with charismatic defense lawyer Mick Haller (Matthew McConaughey).
Adkins: I’ve seen it once. I got to go that one night when it was free, at the premier, and I haven’t been back. I thought it was a good movie. I’m tough on movies. The story, the plot, it’s moving and it keeps you involved. And it’s good to see McConaughey get back to doing that kind of role, get away from some of those goofy surfer dude things.
Me: What did you think about the government shutdown?
Adkins: We almost made it. I’m so sick of all those people up there right now. I’ve lost all patience and tolerance for that group of morons up there screwing everything up.
Me: What’s the biggest stumbling block?
Adkins: Parties. No one seems to be able to go up there and do what needs to be done because they have to tow the party line and if they don’t, they don’t get funding for the next election. They all have other groups behind them that are lobbying for the special interest groups that keep everything so screwed up. We’re not going to do anything about the problems that we have until it gets to that breaking point where it’s painful, it’s bloody….
Me: You mean we have to hit rock bottom?
Adkins: We do. We do. I heard somebody saying the other day, the sad thing is, you know when the housing bubble burst, nobody saw that coming except for a few really smart people, but most people didn’t see that coming and unfortunately this is different. We see it coming. It’s coming and we’re going broke and nobody’s willing to do anything about it. Somebody’s got to stand up and say, ‘Hey!’
Me: Maybe your buddy Donald Trump….
Adkins: Hey, you know what, he’s got the guts to stand up and say it.
Me: So would you support him?
Adkins: Well, I said to somebody the other day, if we’re going to hell we might as well go laughing. And he would be entertaining. Somebody called from CNN and asked me for a statement on Donald Trump running for president and I said, ‘I believe the most cocksure man on the planet should be the President of the United States. The President of the United States should conduct himself in that manner. When meeting heads of state of other countries, you don’t bow. The President of the United States bows to no one. I don’t care what your culture or tradition is. I’m the President of the United States and I’m not going to bow to you. I am the head of the most powerful country on this globe, and I’ll bow to no man. I represent the American people and they don’t deserve to have a leader that bows to anybody. I won’t do it and if that offends you, leave, and that’s Trump and by God that’s the way we need to be.
If you’re looking for a moral leader, Trump’s probably not your guy, but that’s not the point. If we don’t get our financial house in order we’re not going to get around to the other stuff. We’ve got to deal with this or we will cease to exist as a sovereign nation. We’ll be owned by somebody esel and if we don’t deal with that the rest of the stuff’s not even going to matter. We need a businessman. Not some slick-ass say-whatever-the-group-he’s-talking- to- wants- to-hear.
And we’ve had really moral guys. Jimmy Carter’s one of the most moral human beings ever but the worst president, possibly, that we’ve ever had. Being a good guy is not going to make you a good president.
Me: Would you consider running for public office.
Adkins: Yeah, someday. I won’t ever say I won’t do that, but I don’t think I could do it at a federal level, becasuse I don’t believe you can really change anything at a federal level, unless you’re the president. It’s practically impossible to do. I’d rather stay at the state level, or even municipality. The city and state level is where you can really make changes.
Me: Do you think if they ran the country more like a business…..
Adkins: It is a business! The United States Federal government is the biggest business on this planet and you might as well run it like one.
Me: How do you define success?
Adkins: Success is wherever you’re happy with it.
Me: I heard a quote, ‘Success is not a goal, it’s a by-product,’ and I wonder if people focus too much on ‘success.’
Adkins: I think so. I’ve been very lucky and blessed and fortunate and all those adjectives that describe my journey, but you just have to find a place in your life to be content and it really doesn’t matter what rung of the ladder somebody else perceives you to be on. It’s just the one that you’re confortable with and that’s success.
You know sometimes I’m envious. I used to have real jobs before I got a record deal, real labor intensive blue collar jobs and sometimes I miss the 9 to 5, when I go to work at this time and I’m off at this time and I know exactly what my gig is and very little else is expected of me. All I have to do is take care of my immediate responsiblities and my family and the people that I love and beyond that….
Sometimes I think back and yearn for that simplicity that I don’t have anymore.
And then I snap out of it. And go,’ Forget that. Being poor sucks.’ I’ve been both. Somebody said, you can’t relate… and I said, What??? You know what, I understand being down and not having a nickel and I could tell you hard luck stories too, but I did what every self-respecting man does: I went to my old man and asked him to borrow money. You should do that too.
Me: And did he say no?
Adkins: Sometimes! And you know what. That’s what I think too. The government these days has taken the opportunity away from fathers to teach life lessons when their idiot son comes to borrow money because they’ve blown their money on something stupid, the father has the right and the responsibility and the enjoyment of calling his son an idiot and then chaistizing him and wearing him out. And the government shouldn’t take that enjoyment away.
Me: It’s different, though, because you have daughters.
Adkins: I’m not as hard on girls as I would be on boys. You just have to treat girls different. I don’t have a son, so I can only imagine I would be rougher on a boy.
Me: Your dad was a good dad.
Adkins: My dad was a no-nonsence guy. He didn’t tolerate any silliness, any foolishness. He really gave me a good compass to go by. I’m sure he did all those things that other guys did but I never saw him do it. I never saw him drink, I never heard him cuss.
He’s still around, still ornery. He’s enjoying retirement, he’s doing things I never would have dreamed my old man would do. He’s getting on the blue hair busses and doing those tours. In a million years, I wouldn’t have thought my old man would do that. The first time my mother told me they were going on one of those tour things, I was like, You’re lying.
Me: What do you think character is?
Adkins: Characater is that old definition, what you do when nobody’s looking. I think that that is the simpliest, purest defintion of what character is. It’s how you conduct yourself when you don’t have to conduct yourself with integrity. It’s the way you act when nobody’s watching.
