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Trace Adkins: "Music Will Still Do That to Me"

Talks “Watered Down” and the Music That Moves Him

If there is one artist who is not afraid to speak the truth, it's Trace Adkins.

He gets real about the past, present and his inner demons in his deeply nostalgic and honest new single "Watered Down," a song about growing older and wiser, all while still retaining a spark of youth.

That fire never really goes out, does it?

It's a battle Adkins identifies with, as many of us do. He told CMT.com that many of the songs on his new album Something's Going On (out March 31) are autobiographical.

"I think a lot of the songs on this record tell a story of where I find myself in my journey through life right now, my position and my headspace," he said.

Adkins added it was quite an emotional experience to see these songs come to life, and in a way, help him fight his own inner demons.

"It's cathartic to express that, whatever medium you can find to express it," he said. "There were three times making this record when I was in the studio singing, and it was just [my producer] Mickey Jack Cones, the engineer and myself, and like I knew when I was going in that day what I was going to sing."

It got very real for Adkins with "Watered Down" and two other tracks, "If Only You Were Lonely" and especially "Whippoorwills and Freight Trains."

"There were a couple times I was singing that song that I just told them, I said, 'I gotta stop and just have to take a little time to compose myself' because that song was just killing me," he revealed. "It was just tearing me apart. And it's cool that music will still do that to me. I like that. But that's the storytelling part of it."

Adkins admitted he didn't necessarily know if he could say these new songs brought out the best in him as a storyteller -- but we'd have to respectfully disagree on that one. One listen to this performance of "Watered Down" will break you down with his emotive and rich baritone voice.

It's a story, alright, and one we all need to hear.

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