Every Tuesday night, Friday night, Saturday night, it's a family reunion backstage. Yeah.ĮISENBERG: And then when you return, you know, now that - when you go there, it's like a home, I'm sure.ĪDKINS: Oh, yeah. But, still, the first time you walk out on that stage, if you're human, you're petrified.ĪDKINS: You know? And I was, certainly. Did you rehearse like crazy?ĪDKINS: But, I mean, I was terrified when I went out on stage, even though I knew what I was - I felt comfortable about doing the songs I was doing. You've performed there are a lot in your career, but your first appearance - that's a big deal. history, dedicated to honoring country music and its history. It is the longest-running radio broadcast in U.S. The Opry, of course, is a big deal in the country music world. That's the warm-up.ĮISENBERG: Now, you were asked to be a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 2003. Yeah.ĮISENBERG: And what do you do to maintain it?ĮISENBERG: Just put down the drink and get on stage. I was like, OK.ĮISENBERG: So I guess your voice has pretty much always been like this if it was in your 20s?ĪDKINS: No, that would have been weird, you know?ĮISENBERG: If you're talking to this guy in your 20s when you moved to Nashville and he comments on your voice, your voice is already - has this quality.ĪDKINS: Yeah, I started singing bass in a gospel quartet when I was 17. And he walked up on stage and he said, I'll give you a record deal. And I did my - the first set, and I turned around and put my guitar down on the stand. He was like, can you sing? I was like, a little bit, you know? And I invited him to come out and hear me sing in a little club I was playing at, so - and I didn't expect him to come out, but he did. I was introduced to him at the baggage claim at the airport. He met me at the baggage claim at the airport and.ĪDKINS: Yeah. And he said that he signed you because you have the voice of a bass that cuts like a tenor.ĪDKINS: I don't know. UNIDENTIFIED AUDIENCE MEMBER: Not always.ĮISENBERG: And a producer by the name of Scott Hendricks found you. But it truly - I say this all the time, this is nothing but a hobby that got horribly out of control, you know? It's just.ĮISENBERG: But there was some intention behind it because you moved to Nashville in your 20s, and you moved to pursue music.ĪDKINS: No, I moved to get away from my ex-wife.ĪDKINS: I figured 500 miles would do the trick. And I enjoyed that.ĮISENBERG: And then after college you are working on the oil rigs.ĮISENBERG: So around that time, you were playing, though - music - still.ĪDKINS: Yeah, it was just my hobby, you know? And I'm one of those blessed people that, something that I love to do, now I get to make a living doing it. After I tore my knee up the second time, it was over - you know, had a really cool orthopedic surgeon that told me that my career was over, you know?ĪDKINS: And that was not something that a 19-year-old kid wanted to hear.ĪDKINS: He said, well, get away from the game while you can still walk, you know? So, yeah, I went to Louisiana Tech and studied petroleum engineering and was studying music on the side, too. And what happened with the football?ĪDKINS: Yeah. I'd never asked him why he did that either.ĮISENBERG: But you did go to college to pursue music and football. Is that right?ĪDKINS: Well, Santa brought it when I was 10.ĪDKINS: And then my dad paid this guy to give me guitar lessons. Please welcome Trace Adkins.ĮISENBERG: Trace, when you were a kid, your dad taught you how to play guitar. Our first guest is a country music superstar and a member of the Grand Ole Opry. JONATHAN COULTON: This is ASK ME ANOTHER, NPR's hour of puzzles, word games and trivia coming to you from Nashville, Tenn.
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