Trace Adkins has appeared in plenty of movies and TV shows, but he still doesn’t consider himself a real actor. The 63-year-old, who appears in the current film, Day of Reckoning, makes it clear that it’s still just a hobby, at least in his mind.
“I don’t really have an acting career,” Adkins tells the CMA. “I get to do it, some. But it’s not my career. It’s just something I do for fun. Well, I do this for fun too, really. But I’m very fortunate and blessed to get to do those things, and I really enjoy doing that stuff. I get a kick out of it. Whether I’m any good at it or not, I don’t know. I don’t worry about it.”
Adkins returned to CMA Fest earlier this month to sing both his hit, “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk,” along with “Hilbilly Bone,” the latter a duet with his good friend, Blake Shelton.
“He called me and said that somebody mentioned the 20th anniversary of ‘Honky Tonk Badonkadonk,'” Adkins recalls. “I had been touring with Blake earlier this year, and I’d go out and I’d do that song, and then we’d do a couple together. Somebody saw it and said, ‘Hey, would you do that at CMA Fest?’ Sure. We always know the song. Let’s do it.”
Adkins considers Shelton his close friend, even if Shelton does have one habit that bothers him.
View this post on Instagram
“With Blake, to have a close friend that’s in the same business that you’re in, and we can talk about that with each other.” Adkins tells CMT. “Blake, he shares a little too much, a lot. [He’s a] horrible over-sharer … He shares too much to everybody.”
Adkins is still making music, almost 30 years after his Dreamin’ Out Loud album was released in 1996. Earlier this year, Adkins dropped a new song, “What Color’s Your Wild,” and is still touring. He also plays the Grand Ole Opry as much as he can, after becoming a member in 2003.
“I’ve never had a bad experience when I’ve come to the Grand Ole Opry, ever,” Adkins tells Everything Nash. “Whether we were here, whether we were at the Ryman, it doesn’t matter. It’s always been a positive experience for me, and I’ve always just loved the family reunion kind of atmosphere and environment backstage.
“Everybody’s dressing room is open, everybody’s just hanging out with each other,” he continues. “No other genre of music has anything like it. I don’t think people really understand that, how special this is to country music. It’s something that nobody else has.”
Adkins’ “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” and his “Hillbilly Bone” duet with Shelton are part of the CMA Fest TV special. The three-hour show is streaming now on Hulu.
Find “What Color’s Your Wild,” and all of Adkins’ music and upcoming shows at TraceAdkins.com.