Trace Adkins Reflects on ‘Surreal’ House Fire, Shares Family’s Progress
It’s been nearly a year since Trace Adkins‘ Brentwood, Tenn., home was destroyed by an electrical fire. And even though the tragedy lies many months behind Adkins, his wife Rhonda, and their five daughters, the patriotic country singer still vividly remembers the day he and his family lost everything.
Of course ‘everything’ only applies to the Adkins family’s material possessions. The ‘Just Fishin” singer is quick to point out in a recent interview with the Tennesseean that he’s never been a material guy, and losing his entire home in a fire affirmed that.
“It wasn’t as traumatic as it could have been,” Adkins says. “And I think the best thing that came out of the whole thing for me, and it’s an affirmation of something that I already suspected, that I wasn’t that much of a material guy. I’m not a slave to material things. I always kind of thought that, but after that I knew it. I’m not.”
The day the the home caught fire, two of Adkins daughters youngest were inside the home with their nanny. Luckily, the nanny acted quickly to pull the girls from the burning house, and a kind neighbor helped save their animals. When Rhonda Adkins returned home from her errands, it was obvious the house was going to burn to the ground.
The country star was en route to Alaska when his home engulfed in flames. By the time his seven-hour flight landed and he turned his phone on, his wife and family had informed him via text and voice messages that everything was already gone. Not one to get his feathers ruffled about much, Adkins canceled his fishing trip and scheduled performances in Alaska and returned home right away.
Just one week after the blaze, Adkins was interviewed about the incident by a radio station. “I was going to shave a couple of days ago, and I don’t even have a razor; there’s something that always comes up,” he said. “I got two hats left, a pair of boots, I got a guitar, truck and a great job, and my family is healthy, so I am good.”
In the 11 months since the fire took place, Adkins and his family have moved into a rental home and they have finalized the blueprints for their next house. The singer — who just turned 50 and hasn’t slowed down a bit — has been working like a mad man.
Currently, he’s in the midst of his intimate Songs and Stories theater tour, which will take him all over the U.S. During stops in a few select cities, he’ll be taping his new GAC TV series ‘Great American Hero.’ The series will highlight organizations and individuals who are making small towns a better place to live.
“You can’t help but be moved by the things these people are doing. Everybody ends up crying,” he says, in reference to the series. “You get older and you mature a little bit and you start slowing down and you pay a little more attention to what’s going on around you, and maybe you just want to savor all the good that you can find, especially in this world today. Everything seems to be so crazy; we need a little bit of kindness to alleviate some of it.”
Despite a major tragedy, it seems like Trace Adkins is doing just fine.