Grand Ole Opry Praises Muddy Water With Ovation

When Trace sang "Muddy Water" live on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry July 29th he received a standing ovation for his performance.  It had to a be a real highlight among all the recent highlights that Trace has experienced in the past year.  We don't begrudge him a few highs for a change, because he has worked extremely hard to get where he is now.  From what I am reading in his book, Trace has traveled some pretty deep ravines on his way to a standing ovation at the Opry.

You can listen to the new release by visiting Trace's website and I am including a link to the radio version that will begin airing in just 4 days.  August 4th is on all his fans' calendars with a note to call in a request - often.

As much as I love the song, I was not impressed with the studio version about to be released.  It just doesn't have the soul that Trace puts in his live performance.  In fact, I've never heard a studio cut of a Trace song that could compare to his live performance.  Okay, Trace, I'm hinting here for a live album in the future.  Somehow his record producers seem to be taming the rawness out of his songs and I think that is a mistake.  Trace's voice should not be tamed. 

Radio "Muddy Water"

Fan Site

My goal is to make this the ultimate fan site in the history of the world.  Okay, really it is my project for staying sane during extremely boring moments between spurts of intense work.



I have substanitally completed the unauthorized biography page, and a photo page, and my next goal is the one I'm most excited about, but delayed because it will be most difficult - the band page.  I will be creating a page dedicated solely to Trace's band and hope that some of you fans will pass along any information you would like included.  Please send emails to: mailbox@traceadkinsblog.com.

Trace's New Album To Be Released Nov. 25

CMT announced today that ..... A title hasn't been chosen, but Trace Adkins' new album will be released on Nov. 25. The project's first single, "Muddy Water," written by Monty Criswell and Rick Huckaby, will be released to country radio on Aug. 4. The emotional song about the power of redemption is already becoming a key performance during Adkins' summer concert tour.

Vote for Trace's New Release Before the Release

     Tony Thomas of Seattle's KMPS 94.1 has included Trace's new song, "Muddy Water", in his "5 O'CLOCK TEST TRACK" songs (with audio for you to stream or download). You can Listen to a sample of the song and vote for "Muddy Water" on their website at Vote.

    CMT recently released the following tidbit about the upcoming album: Trace is currently putting the finishing touches on his eighth album for Capitol Nashville. Well, actually his producer, Frank Rogers is. Trace says that once his part of the studio recording process is done, he likes to leave the mixing of the songs up to his producer before giving the project a final listen. "I don't like that part of it," Trace says. "I don't ever mess with the producers. I let ‘em do their thing, and when they're done, they bring it to me and I listen to it. If I hear something I don't like, I'll tell him to fix it, but that very seldom happens." The first single from Trace's next CD is called "Muddy Water," and it'll be hitting the airwaves in the coming weeks. There isn't a final release date yet for Trace's next CD, but it's currently slated for sometime in the fall.

Muddy Water Debuts August 4th!!! Can I Get A Amen?

According to Music Row News, Capital Records will debut Trace's new single "Muddy Water" on August 4th. Let us inundate the local radio stations with requests!!!!!!

Continuing Review of Trace's Book: A Personal Stand
Trace begins his book, A Personal Stand, with the events of September 11th. Which, I believe, is a perfect place to begin a book that has, at its core, commentary on today's politics. Reading Chapter One, I was taken back to that day - I bet you can remember what you did on 9-11?
Personally, I was at work in my office in the heart of one of the most historic cities in the United States, Charleston, SC. My boss, after hearing about the airplane slamming into the first of the Twin Towers came running down the stairs from the second floor and tripped, ending up halfway between floors in a heep shouting the news. Which made me laugh out loud because the guy is an attorney.
I logged onto the net and began watching the events of that morning enfold and eventhough I saw the reports, they did not sink into reality because I could not emotionally comprehend the hundreds of firefighters and policemen who stood on Ground Zero, surrounding the second tower when it fell. I just couldn't. I had spent 20 years of my life working with men like those and knew that they could overcome everything, anything, all things. How could they be at the bottom of millions of tons of rubble?
The truth and the enormity of 9-11 didn't sink in until the reports came over the internet that the Pentagon had been hit. Our Pentagon. The seat of our military, hit by the enemy. My God. We were at war, attacked by an enemy we hardly conceived could be so victorious against us on our own soil.
Charleston is an old city. It has been occupied twice by the enemy. It has seen war after war. And so, when my lunch hour came I decided to walk through the streets of old Charleston to see for myself what those streets were like on that day of battle, the same streest scarred by seige during the Revolution, scarred by seige during the War of Northern Aggression. The people were few, they walked as if in a daze, yet each responded in the usual courteous pleasantries people of our town exchange.
My husband worked that day as a historical guide on the carriage tours that take tourists about our great city. And he said that the tours were somber, yet they found some comfort in returning to the history of the past. Still each carriage that arrived back at the barn unloaded tourists asking me for updates, what had happened in the hour they had been oblivious to the news.
I remember President Bush's speach not long after that day in which he said that we were now in a war against terrorism, a war that would take many years to fight, and would require much resolve on our part to see it through. We all applauded and we all said that we would remain resolved.
But we haven't.
Did you know that we, as Americans, won our freedom from the British, not by being a more superior force, but by staying in the field until the British citizens tired of the war? Today, the terrorists who killed so many of our loved ones are winning the war, because we tire of fighting. Read about our American Hero Francis Marion and then contemplate Iraq and Afganistan!
You forget, but I will not.

Trace's Book Speaks For All Of Us

The entire time I read Trace's book, I was saying, "Amen Brother T". Trace has spoken when the rest of us have not, he has put forward our feelings, while we remain silent and push him to write, to put his thoughts in print. So, when I finished the book, I realized that Brother Trace was preaching to the choir. The person who really needed to read what Trace's book had to say were the politicians who supposedlhy represent me in the Senate and Congress. Trace's book is the Manifesto of Middle America, so I forwarded my copy to the Senator representing my area of South Carolina with a copy of my voter registration card and a note that if he has any question of how to vote to represent me he should refer to this book.Trace put it all out there on the line to speak for us, let's not let his effort go to waste. I am prepared to send 100 copies of [i]A Personal Stand [/i] but they may not be read unless they are accompanied by letters from their constiuency. Please PM me if you are willing to take up the effort to send a copy of our manifesto to every Senator in the U.S. mailto:%20laura@traceadkinsblog.com.

Trace's Muddy Water Is Already a Hit

If you want to hear a song that is so good it will send chill bumps all up and down your arms, click the link below to UTube for a preview of Trace's new song, Muddy Water. When he debuted the song at a concert in Lansong, Michigan, it was such a hit that a fan has posted it to UTube to share with the rest of us. It is a song he said has been haunting him for a long time and is rumored to be on his new album. Thanks for the song Trace, I'm afraid your fans are going to be wearing that link out until the recording comes out.

Link to Muddy Water Video



Trace Releases Tour Dates With Alan Jackson

Twice so far in 2008, I've bought tickets to a Trace concert and gave them away because I had to do things like travel out of state to my grandma's funeral. So, today when I found out that Trace is joining Alan Jackson this fall for the Good Time Tour, which travels through the south in October, a glimmer of hope began to flicker that I might actually make it to his concert after all. Three is charm, right? Am I jinxing anyone if I buy a ticket for Greenville, SC, on October 3rd? We'll see. Tickets go on sale August 2nd and I am buying one. On the other hand, we could look at it from the bright side - so far everytime I've bought a ticket some lucky person got one free!

A Personal Stand Gives More Than Expected

Amazon.com has a great deal on the ebook version of Trace's, A Personal Stand, Observations and Opinions from a Freethinking Roughneck. I have downloaded it to my computer and listen to it to survive doing mindless tasks at my work desk.

To me, A Personal Stand is two books entertwined; an editorial that voices the opinions of the average American, or at least the average American who is old enough to shave, and the autobiography of a man whose strength of mind and body are inspirational. There are few voices in the media, on television, the radio, or in print who speak for us and Trace does. He speaks the words others are afraid to voice because they are contrary to the opinions of ultra liberal owners of those media.

My favorite parts of his book though, are the stories of his life. Trace has been beaten and battered, yet each time he is knocked down he has come back better and stronger than before.

Believe the publisher's note: "Brash, ballsy, persuasive, and controversial, A Personal Stand isn’t just the story of Trace Adkins’s life; it’s the story of what life can teach all of us."

A teaser for all the Trace fans who haven't read the book. In it you will find out...

what happened in Trace's youth that made his decision to wear his hair long, so important to him...what he did to keep himself calm during a hurricane while trapped miles out at sea and hundreds of feet in the air on an oil derrick....the cause of him getting the worse beating of his life.....the real reason why he didn't press charges against the person who shot him through the heart.

Okay, if that doesn't make you want to read it, I don't know what will.

Trace sings new gospel song in Atlanta show

Hey ya'll,

First, the picture at left is Trace in Atlanta taken by a fan. Can a sweaty man look any sexier? Maybe I should have blown it up a little more?



Now for the comments.... I want to know how Mike Hughes of the Lansing State Journal got Trace to open up with all the personal info in his July 12th article, "Country Superstar Trace Adkins Finds Sucess Beyond the Concert Stage". It is the most open and personal interview I've read to date. Most of the time, when you read a Trace interview it is the same stuff we've read in news releases from his label.



Ooopps, I'm sorry, on a re-read Mr. Hughes takes a lot of those quotes from Trace's book. Too much credit to the interviewer. I only know that as an ex-journalist, because Mike contributes the quotes to Trace "writes", not Trace "said".



The moral to that... buy Trace's book if you want to know his deepest thoughts. It comes out in paperback on December 30th 2008 for all of us hit by high gas prices.



I couldn't resist including this review of Trace's Concert in Atlanta from "Denise in GA" a big fan of Trace.



"Trace was awesome after having been at the lake for the whole week. He Let us know that was the first day he had had clothes on that week. He was a very hot and humid night and he was in black jeans and a brown T shirt.

We also got to be the first people to hear his brand new gospel song " Baptize me in the muddy Waters". It was a fantastic song. I can't wait for everyone to hear it. He also told us that him and the Boys will be headed overseas to IRAQ and AFghanistan in Sept or October. The audience loved it."

New Access To Trace You Will Love

Trace has a new communication tool that is giving fans all access to Trace behind the scenes, up close and personal. It's called Gig-Vid and hosted by U-Tube.



Gig-Vid videos catch Trace in his shorts and golfing shoes, lounging in the shade with the guys, and follow him from the stage after a show onto his bus/home away from home. My favorite scenes are those of Trace interacting with the band and the support people who travel with him in concert. He has very talented musicians and technicians who keep his shows at the top of concert entertainment. Which gives me the idea to add a web page just for the band. Please forward any information you would like me to add to it at mailbox@traceadkinsblog.com.



The lastest gossip about Trace's future albums came from his June fan club party. Trace told fans that a gospel album is on his list, after the current CD, but a Christmas CD might precede it. Current CD being the one he started last fall, but put on the back burner to do Celebrity Apprentice, and reportedly finished this Spring. Mind you, both the gospel and Christmas CDs will be a couple/few years down the road, which is okay with the fans, just more to dream about.



Speaking of new songs, I loved the promo song Trace wrote and sang for Black Gold, it has a fast tempo and comes across exciting and gritty. Unfortunately, I don't think the show is going to live up to the caliber of the song.