Trace Adkins Doesn’t Feel Pressure to Drink
Trace Adkins has a past relationship with alcohol, but the singer doesn't feel any pressure to drink these days. After two stints in rehab in 2001 and 2014, Adkins is sober and says his drinking days are behind him.
"I'm not one of those guys that says that there are any outside circumstances, or influences, or powers that can make me do anything. If I drink, it'll be because I want to drink," Adkins tells Rolling Stone Country in an interview to promote his new album, Something's Going On. "It wasn't because I felt tempted or pressured."
Nashville is often described as being a drinking town with a music problem, but Adkins won't fall into the trap. The singer reveals that for him, it's a conscious choice to stay away from alcohol.
"I don't feel the need to [drink] because of the industry or the business I'm in. It's got nothing to do with that," he says. "That's all on me."
Adkins faced a PR nightmare in the summer of 2016, when he appeared drunk at a live concert fundraiser for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. He struggled to get through his performance and left the stage early, later donating his appearance fee to the charity.
"Watered Down" is Adkins' new single, written by Old Dominion's Trevor Rosen, Matt Jenkins and Shane McAnally. An introspective song about growing older and dealing with life's ups and downs, the 55-year-old says the lyric of being near the "backside of 40" instantly resonated with him.
"I couldn't say backside of 50, because it didn't rhyme," he jokes. "It's true, I'm on the backside of 40, but, hell, man, I'm not going to hide it. Someone asked me the other day if I felt like maybe I was moving into an elder statesman role and, yeah, I dig it. I'm glad I've been around enough that someone might look at me like that."
Adkins' Something's Going On is out now.
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