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.

Photos: Toby Keith and Trace Adkins at Cruzan Amphitheatre

There were fewer kids in the audience this year at Cruzan Amphitheatre when Toby Keith’s American Ride Tour rolled in.

I guess people learned from last year’s performance, which was criticized for being R-rated, and they left the kids at home.

Well, Keith’s not going to apologize for being too adult. And he’s not going to apologize for being patriotic either. In fact, you can buy a T-shirt that has a red, white and blue hand with one particular finger extended and the words “Never apologize for being patriotic” written below.

Apologies aside, Keith is no bait-and-switch act. It’s a like what Vince Gill once said about Alan Jackson: Like McDonald’s you always know what you’re going to get. What we got was a brash, bold, sarcastic smart guy who happens to sing okay. But if you’re showing up to at Toby Keith concert for the vocals, well, you’re missing the point. Keith’s act is two-thirds music, one-third comedy. And sometimes you just want to laugh.
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Trace Adkins called yesterday on his way to perform in Moline, Ill., as part of Toby Keith’s American Ride Tour. It’s their second year out on the road together. The tour stops at Cruzan Amphitheatre in suburban West Palm Beach next Saturday.

Be on the lookout for a tall man with a goatee next weekend with a gaggle of girls in tow.
“My kids are coming with me and we’re going to spend an extra day in West Palm, enjoying the city. But thank God for their mother. She keeps them all corralled.”

He also told me that he’ll no longer be the lone male in his family: “I have a grandson coming at the end of October. We’re all excited about it.”

The little guy will join Adkins’ five daughters, and a granddaughter.

Watch for my story in TGIF next Friday, and online here and see what Adkins has to say about his new album, having Toby Keith for a boss, and how important the crowd is to him when he performs.

His 11th album, Cowboy’s Back In Town, entered the Billboard Country Album Chart this week at No. 1 and landed at No. 5 on the Top 200.  

A kinder, gentler Toby Keith?

No drinking, fighting or political songs?

It’s true he’s released three consecutive love songs (“She Never Cried in Front of Me”, “God Love Her” and “Lost You Anyway”) to country radio, but don’t worry.

He says “America’s Toughest Tour” with Trace Adkins, coming to Cruzan Amphitheatre on Saturday, will live up to its name.

“We’re back on track,” Keith said from his tour bus. “My next single, American Ride, is an up-tempo hard and heavy hitter,” but fans will have to wait until October for the new album.

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If Trace Adkins is remembered for “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk”, his tribute to the female derriere, that’s OK, he says.

“Hey, I just hope they remember me for something.”

But that would be a tremendous oversimplification of an artist who has more layers than a wedding cake.

His 10th album, X, released in November, may be his best work. It shows his depth, musically, emotionally, lyrically and vocally.

From “Muddy Water”, the gospel-tinged up-tempo first single, to the hilarious “Marry for Money”, to the super-serious ballad “Till the Last Shot’s Fired,” where he’s joined by the West Point Cadet Glee Club, it’s a rocky ride.

Listen to Janis’ interview with Trace Adkins:

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Last night’s CMT Awards were fun but predictable, with the usual names taking home buckles: Rascal Flatts, Brad Paisley, Sugarland and of course Taylor Swift.

Truthfully, I was a little bit overwhelmed by Taylor Swift’s domination of the 2009 CMT Music Awards show last night. I fully agree that her video “Love Story” earned its position as Video of the Year, but did we really need to see three performances from her?

Don’t get me wrong: I love Taylor. Always have. But I find some of her antics contrived, and it seems like no one wants to question Taylor’s judgment. Like the bathrobe behind the fake window during “You Belong To Me”? Did we really need all this overly-orchestrated stuff?

And I was dreading the rap I’d heard about and the Def Leppard number, “Pour Some Sugar On Me”, but I have to say, her rap with T-Pain was cute. And you have to love someone who can make fun of herself.

It also shows Swift’s open-mindedness to other genres and her depth as a musician that she can morph so easily with rap and rock. And the preamble to the pre-taped rap had Swift in Vulcan ears on the bridge of the USS Enterprise and then in NFL gear. “It’s my dream,” was the hook. I doubt Swift dreamed that she’d become the face and name of country music in 2008-09.

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The 2009 concert season! Now with 100 percent more Green Day!

The social season might be over, but the South Florida summer concert season is in full and sweaty swing, and steaming up a venue near you. From big reunions to kick-butt festivals and living legends, at tiny clubs and massive arenas, there’s something for every musical taste, budget and preferred number of fellow rabid music fans.

1. No Doubt with Paramore, Wednesday, Cruzan Amphitheatre: No longer Just A Girl, Gwen Stefani’s stepped back from her hot solo career and busy fashionista/power-couple duties to get the band back together. She and the rest of No Doubt are bringing it, O.C.-style, along with Paramore and The Sounds, their descendants in the girl-lead rock band game.

Watch the band at their show in Phoenix on May 23, playing a cover of the Adam Ant song “Stand and Deliver”:

2. Wanda Sykes, June 6, The Fillmore, Miami Beach: It’s hard to say what we love the most about Sykes – the dry delivery, the helium voice, the kooky take on everything from politics (dig her hilariously pointed set at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner) to racist dolphins. Heck, we love all of it.

3. Steely Dan, June 13, Centre for the Arts at Mizner Park: Jazz fusion curmudgeons Donald Fagen and Walter Becker return with the “Rent Party Tour,” featuring the good old stuff (Do It Again, Reelin’ In The Years,) and the good new stuff (Two Against Nature, Everything Must Go).

4. Bad Company, June 19, Seminole Hard Rock: Paul Rodgers takes a break from fronting Queen – leaving room for Adam Lambert, maybe? — to reunite with the British rockers he gave soulful voice to. Feel Like Makin’ Love, Bad Company, Can’t Get Enough — all the hits are there to sing along and relive the ’70s to.

5. Kid Rock and Lynyrd Skynyrd, June 26, Cruzan Amphitheatre: It’s a pairing so perfect, we’re sorry we didn’t think of it and could claim some financial stake in it. The original Southern rock bad boys and their Detroit-bred acolyte, who inducted them into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2006, barrel into the South Florida Fairgrounds for a night of down-to-earth rock. Go ahead. Yell Free Bird. For once, you’ll actually hear it when you yell it.

Here’s Skynyrd playing their classic “Sweet Home Alabama”:

6. An Evening with Il Divo, June 26, BankAtlantic Center: The classy-cute international opera-pop supergroup brings those perfect harmonies and perfect cheekbones back to the area. Years ago, they actually emerged from a set that looked like the Colosseum in Rome, and an entrance that nervy can be followed only by shamelessly big vocals.

7. Toby Keith and Trace Adkins, June 27, Cruzan Amphitheatre: The country auteurs of How Do You Like Me Now and Honky Tonk Badonkadonk unite for “America’s Toughest Tour.”

8. Beyoncé, June 29, BankAtlantic Center: She sings. She dances. She beats up crazed would-be husband stealers in delightfully bad B movies. She’s Beyoncé Knowles, y’all, and whether or not you like her music, you can’t dispute her work ethic. Or her voice. Or her legs.

9. Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo, July 2, Seminole Hard Rock: Their 27-year marriage is pretty much unheard of in the entertainment world, and their musical marriage isn’t too shabby, either, yielding, among others, Love Is A Battlefield, Shadows of the Night, and the still-stirring ballad We Belong.

10. John Legend and india.arie, July 9, Seminole Hard Rock: Two distinct flavors of soul — Legend’s retro lover-man R&B romanticism and arie’s hippie acoustic deep thoughts, combine for something deliciously cool.

11. Aerosmith/ZZ Top, July 13, BankAtlantic Center: We haven’t seen the union of Boston’s ambassadors of screaming guitar and winkingly inappropriate lyrical content and Texas’ lords of bluesy crunchiness, but we know this — there will be a lot of hits, a lot of hair (on Steven Tyler’s head and on ZZ Top’s faces), sunglasses worn at night and more billowy scarves than usual.

12. Paul Potts, July 14, Seminole Hard Rock: He was Susan Boyle before Susan Boyle! The first winner of Britain’s Got Talent, the aria-singing Potts brings his song stylings and YouTube-honed chops to South Florida.

13. Gavin DeGraw and Collective Soul, July 15, Fillmore Miami Beach: Hot off their high-energy SunFest set, Georgia’s Collective Soul returns, with DeGraw and his Stevie Wonder-esque piano soul pop.

14. Rascal Flatts with Darius Rucker, July 24, Cruzan Amphitheatre: Supergroup (and Jamie Foxx BFFs) Rascal Flatts come south as part of Cruzan’s popular Country MegaTicket, with brand new country star Darius Rucker, who, last time he was around these parts, was fronting acoustic pop’s Hootie and The Blowfish.

15. Vans Warped Tour, July 25, Cruzan Amphitheatre: This year’s raucous collection of the footwear-sponsored tour includes Senses Fail, Scary Kids Scaring Kids, Madina Lake, Bad Religion, All Time Low and Aiden.

16. American Idols Live, July 29, BankAtlantic Center: Going into withdrawal after months of intensive Adam Lambert/Kris Allen exposure? Cheer up, Idol fans! The screamer, the strummer and their friends will be in town to sing your favorites from the Fox show’s eighth season.

17. Tori Amos, July 29, Fillmore Miami Beach: The part-time Stuart resident and full-time musical conduit of fanciful fairy song, Tori’s back with Abnormally Attracted To Sin, another lengthy collection of songs that examine religion, sex and the strength of women.

18. Green Day, August 4, AmericanAirlines Arena. Sixteen years ago, they were snarling punk upstarts barreling through MTV in straight jackets and singing about giving themselves the creeps. Now, the Grammy-winning trio Green Day are the elder statesmen of pop punk, hot off the the release of 21st Century Breakdown. What a difference a decade and a half of solid, smart blamming rock and roll makes!

19. Rockstar Mayhem Festival featuring Marilyn Manson and Slayer, Aug. 12, Cruzan Amphitheatre: The amped-up energy drink sponsors the scarily amped-up pairing of Manson, everybody’s favorite possibly demonic dual eye-colored rocker and thrash medal gods Slayer. Something tells me you won’t really need that Rockstar energy drink.

20. Def Leppard with Poison and Cheap Trick, Aug. 13, Cruzan Amphitheatre: You got the peaches, they got the cream, and the hits. It’s been more than 20 years since Pyromania and Hysteria cemented Def Leppard’s place in the metal pantheon. And they haven’t stopped rocking since, which can be said for Poison and still-looking-for-”love” lead singer Bret Michaels, and Cheap Trick, who still want you to want them.

21. Dave Matthews Band, Aug. 14-15, Cruzan Amphitheatre: There are at least two things you an count on in West Palm Beach every summer – hot, steamy days that make you want to melt, and a visit from Virginia’s favorite jammy rock sons. Celebrate the release of their new album, Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King, and celebrate the legacy of saxophonist LeRoi Moore, who died last year after an ATV accident.

22. Judas Priest and Whitesnake, Aug. 17, Seminole Hard Rock: Judas Priest celebrates the 30th anniversary of the album British Steel by touring with Whitesnake. We have to ask: Is leather the traditional 30th anniversary gift? Well, it should be.

23. Counting Crows, Aug. 18, Bayfront Park: The eternally jangly L.A. rockers, along with Augustana and Michael Franti and Spearhead, inaugurate the refurbished Bayfront Park Amphitheater.

24. Jonas Brothers, Aug. 19, BankAtlantic Center: Miss their IMAX concert movie run earlier this year? See the real thing, up close and screamy, at BankAtlantic, right after the release of their new album Lines, Vines and Trying Times.

25. Crüe Fest 2, Aug. 27, Cruzan Amphitheatre: 2008′s inaugural Crüe Fest featured the veteran bad-boy rockers, a selection of younger, like-minded bands and a segment where Tommy Lee led the crowd in a spirited round of flashing. I wouldn’t be surprised if this year’s edition, with Godsmack, Drowning Pool and Theory of a Deadman, provides an encore.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Sugarland leads all the nominees announced Tuesday for Country Music Television‘s awards show next month with five nominations.

Brad Paisley and Taylor Swift are next with four each, followed by Rascal Flatts and newcomers Lady Antebellum with three fan-voted nominations apiece.

Kelly Pickler and CMT personality Lance Smith announced the finalists on air Tuesday morning.

Sugarland is nominated twice for duo video of the year — for “All I Want to Do” and “Already Gone.” They also received two for “Life in a Northern Town” with Little Big Town and Jake Owen: collaborative video and performance of the year.

Their final nod is video of the year for “All I Want to Do.”

Paisley’s “Waitin’ On a Woman” is nominated for video of the year and male video of the year. He’s also up for collaborative video for his duet with Keith Urban, “Start a Band,” and for performance of the year for “Country Boy” with Alan Jackson, George Strait and Dierks Bentley.

Swift’s “Love Story” is nominated for video of the year and female video of the year, and her performance of “Photograph” with British rockers Def Leppard is nominated for performance of the year and wide open country video of the year.

Viewers cast more than 2.5 million votes to decide four finalists in most categories. Fans can vote online at CMT.com through June 15 to determine the winners.

The video of the year competition is being handled a little differently. CMT has identified 10 nominees so far, and it will announce the finalists at the beginning of the June 16 awards show in Nashville. Fans can vote for their favorites throughout the show.

The cable network will air the awards live at 8 p.m. Eastern, and the show will feature musical performances by Trace Adkins, Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, Toby Keith, Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts, Sugarland, Taylor Swift, Keith Urban and Def Leppard.