{"id":158895,"date":"2022-10-11T21:40:52","date_gmt":"2022-10-12T02:40:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=158895"},"modified":"2022-10-11T21:40:53","modified_gmt":"2022-10-12T02:40:53","slug":"158895","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2022\/10\/11\/158895\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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County Monarch coming to VW…<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

From the big screen to stages around the world, country’s Trace Adkins has blazed a trail of unconventional career success with his own brand of “I did it my way.” Trace returns to Van Wert on Saturday, October 22, at the Niswonger Performing Arts Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got to the point where it\u2019s all up to me now,\u201d the multi-platinum star said. \u201cI can do whatever I want \u2026 and that\u2019s a beautiful place to be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In truth, he\u2019s been doing that all along, fusing a booming baritone and commanding stage presence with sounds from all across the Country spectrum \u2013 sometimes with a mischievous wink. But on his 13th studio album, The Way I Wanna Go, Adkins takes the idea to heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since his debut in 1996, the larger-than-life star has sold over 11 million albums and charted 20 songs on Billboard\u2019s all genre Hot 100, while catapulting 15 singles into the Top 10 on Billboard\u2019s Hot Country Songs chart. He\u2019s also racked up two billion streams and boasts a reputation for fiery live performance \u2013 not to mention his multiple Grammy nominations, awards from the ACM and CMT, and a willingness to think outside the box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, with 25 all-new tracks to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his Dreamin\u2019 Out Loud debut, Adkins brings it all together. Steeped in the cultural melting-pot of his Louisiana upbringing, The Way I Wanna Go finds him leaning in to a lone-wolf spirit, and continuing down the road which made him a shapeshifting member of the Grand Ole Opry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Produced by Mickey Jack Cones and Derek George and to be released by Verge Records, it touches on all aspects of Adkins\u2019 hit-making career \u2013 from profound traditional balladry to clever-Country party anthems. And with a sound that ranges from timeless twang to beat-driven bravado, it brings a who\u2019s who of unpredictable guests along for the ride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All-star collaborators include Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan, Stevie Wonder on harmonica, Snoop Dogg, Pitbull, Keb\u2019 Mo\u2019, and Melissa Etheridge. And Adkins\u2019 creative craftsmanship is sharper than ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am at the top of my game right now,\u201d he says with conviction. \u201cI\u2019m better at this than I\u2019ve ever been in my life, and I like the way my voice sounds better now than 25 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Trace Adkins is coming to the Niswonger Performing Arts Center Saturday, October 22. Photo submitted <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Our red-white-and-blue ideals remain intact with \u201cSomewhere In America.\u201d And in \u201cEmpty Chair,\u201d Adkins salutes the quiet sacrifice of U.S. service members, tapping the raw emotion that also drove big-picture anthems like \u201cYou\u2019re Gonna Miss This.\u201d But the tunesmith also made his name on irreverent knee-slappers, carving a good-timing niche with hits like 2004\u2019s \u201cHonky Tonk Badonkadonk,\u201d and 2010\u2019s \u201cHillbilly Bone\u201d (with Blake Shelton).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here, he revisits the friendship with Shelton on \u201cIf I Was a Woman,\u201d sharing a few laughs with his 2021 tour mate. He weaves a rom-com-worthy plot in \u201cIt\u2019s a Good Thing I Don\u2019t Drink,\u201d while \u201cWhere The Country Girls At\u201d combines the party-starting prowess of Luke Bryan and Pitbull. And in what\u2019s sure to be an instant favorite, \u201cSo Do the Neighbors\u201d cranks up the volume with rap legend, Snoop Dogg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just remember it was almost the same reaction to the first time I heard \u2018Badonkadonk,\u2019\u201d Adkins says of the hip-hop honky tonker. \u201cIt made me laugh out loud!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adkins further shares, \u201cNever in a million years would I have imagined that I would collaborate on songs with Luke Bryan, Melissa Etheridge, Snoop Dog, Keb\u2019 Mo\u2019, Pitbull, and Blake Shelton\u2026on one album! I even have a song that Stevie Wonder plays harmonica on. So, to have performances by these iconic superstars, from different musical genres, on my 25th-anniversary album is incredibly humbling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s \u201cThe Way I Wanna Go\u201d which best shows where he\u2019s at, 25 years into his career and still going strong. Delivered with pride and a sense of against-the-odds determination, Adkins cautions that he\u2019s not done yet \u2013 he\u2019s loving this chapter of life too much to quit. But when he does bow out, he\u2019ll do it just like he does everything else. On his own terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love where I\u2019m at, I really do,\u201d Adkins says. \u201cI\u2019ve had the perfect career, and I don\u2019t know where my place is gonna be when the history of what I did is written. But 90 percent of the time, I said what I wanted to say and stuck to my guns, and did what I wanted to do. \u2026 And I\u2019m gonna go out the way I wanna go out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the stage, Trace has also made several appearances on television, including as a panelist on the game shows Hollywood Squares and Pyramid, as a 2008 finalist, and as the 2013 winner on The All Star Celebrity Apprentice, as the voice for recurring character Elvin on King of the Hill, and the main role of Albie Roman on Monarch, as well as in television commercial voice-overs for KFC and Firestone. He has written an autobiography titled A Personal Stand: Observations and Opinions from a Free-Thinking Roughneck, which was released in late 2007. He has appeared in numerous films, including The Lincoln Lawyer, Moms’ Night Out, and I Can Only Imagine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The multi-faceted Monarch of Country arrives in Van Wert, Ohio’s little music city, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, October 22. Only a few tickets remain for his concert at the Niswonger that is part of The Way I Wanna Go Tour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

County Monarch coming to VW… From the big screen to stages around the world, country’s Trace Adkins has blazed a trail of unconventional career success with his own brand of “I did it my way.” Trace returns to Van Wert on Saturday, October 22, at the Niswonger Performing Arts Center. \u201cI\u2019ve got to the point […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-158895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-26 04:15:26","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158895"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":158897,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158895\/revisions\/158897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}