After years of waiting, Trace Adkins announced to his fans on January 24 that he would be releasing a new album in a few months. That album was Something’s Going On, which made its debut on March 31.
There was a great deal of buildup leading to the release of Something’s Going On. Adkins dropped several songs off of the album during that time, including the single “Watered Down” and the patriotic tribute “Still a Soldier.”
Now that Adkins’ new album is out there in the world, fans can’t seem to get enough. It climbed to the 5th spot on the Top Country Albums Chart, and is still one of the top-performing albums in country music right now.
You can tell that many of the songs on Something’s Going On are personal to Adkins. In fact, he’s admitted exactly that during various interviews. Since it’s such an important album in the span of his career, it’s our duty to teach you as much about it as we can!
Go ahead and click the button below to go through five fast facts about Something’s Going On. Once you’re done, be sure to download a copy of the album here if you don’t have one already!
1. There’s A Nod To Buck Owens In One Song
Credited as one of the main pioneers of the Bakersfield Sound, Buck Owens was a true country legend. Owens managed to score 21 number one hits over the course of his career, including “Act Naturally” and “I’ve Got a Tiger by the Tail.”
Although they’re from two completely different eras in terms of country music history, Owens inspired Adkins’ performance in one of the songs on Something’s Going On. That song is the emotional “Whippoorwills and Freight Trains,” which showcases the lowest end of Adkins’ range.
“That was for Buck Owens,”Adkins said during an interview with Billboard. “Buck took me under his wing early on in my career. He told me one day, ‘Trace, that low note you sang, you need to do that in every song. That’s really all you got going for you.‘”
Of course Owens was kidding, but Adkins’ ability to sing way down low is what sets him apart from everyone else!
2. A Rhyming Issue Influenced A Lyric In “Watered Down”
Adkins’ new single “Watered Down” is all about slowing down the pace as you grow older. This is something that is best referenced in one lyric in the middle of the song, as Adkins sings, “The back side of forty ain’t near as crazy. And Sunday morning ain’t near as hazy anymore.”
But as any of Adkins’ devoted fans know, he is 55 years old. While speaking to Rolling Stone, Adkins referenced the fact that he could have said “backside of fifty,” but it just didn’t rhyme like the songwriters wanted it to.
“I couldn’t say backside of 50, because it didn’t rhyme,” he said. “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.”
3. The Emotions Of One Song Really Got To Adkins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4T3v3bTjzQ
Adkins has recorded his fair share of emotional tunes over the years, from “You’re Gonna Miss This” to “Arlington.” After all this time, Adkins realized that songs still have the power to move him when he began recording “Whippoorwills and Freight Trains.”
Speaking to USA Today, Adkins revealed he had to stop in the middle of recording the song and take a step back. It was an unexpected reaction, but one that he’s appreciative of.
“I’m really glad that a song like that can still stop me in my tracks and tear me up,” he said. “I guess that’s because I don’t stress out anymore about a single coming out and becoming a hit, because it’s out of my hands. All I want to do now is make the best records I can, trust everyone else will do their jobs…and let it go.”
4. Adkins’ Daughters Are Big Fans Of “Watered Down”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cec-1opse7U
As proof that people of all ages can relate to a song, two of Adkins’ daughters reached out to him to express how much they love “Watered Down.” He explained his daughters’ reactions during an interview with radio.com.
“My 29-year-old reached out to me and told me that she really loved the song,” he said. “My oldest daughter [also] likes the song.“
But when it comes to his younger girls, they aren’t old enough yet to fully connect to the message of “Watered Down.” As Adkins confessed, “My younger ones, I don’t think it speaks to them so much.”
5. Adkins Rewrote One Song To Name Check Taylor Swift
In the same interview with radio.com, Adkins revealed that he made a last-minute change to one of the songs on the record. That song was “Gonna Make You Miss Me,” which Adkins was hesitant about at first.
“I said, ‘Dude, I can’t sing this song. I can’t sing this song.’ It’s a pop-sounding thing,” Adkins said. But his producer Mickey Jack Cones convinced him to move forward with it, so he did.
In the end, Adkins ended up liking “Gonna Make You Miss Me,” and called it one of his favorite songs on Something’s Going On. Maybe it’s because he got the chance to rework a small portion of the song all thanks to an improvised line.
“It was kind of a tip of the hat to some of those Taylor Swift things,” he said. “I even said her name in the song, and that was a total rewrite on my part. I was singing the song, and I just threw that in there, and Mickey goes, ‘Oh, that’s funny.’ So we left it in there.”
Listen to the song above to see if you can catch the line! Then when you’re done, order Something’s Going On here so you can listen to it again and again!