Trace Adkins photo courtesy of Show Dog-Universal Music.

Trace Adkins has repeatedly made a point in interviews about upping the fun quotient in his career, and it shows on his new Cowboy’s Back In Town album.

It’s particularly evident in the second track, “Hold My Beer,” which is a rather irreverent story that involves a reverend. The song is essentially about a redneck wedding in which the groom tries to hang on to his brew all the way down the aisle. And the minister… well, he’s not a by-the-book kind of guy either.

“Dearly beloved,” Trace deadpans in the preacher’s role, “we are gathered up in here today to join in holy monogamony this old feller and this ol’ gal he brought with him.”

Trace didn’t write the song, but he did create the minister’s dialogue.

“I just thought, ‘You know, if I did a video for this, I’m gonna be the preacher. And we’ll find somebody else to get married or whatever,’” Trace remembers.

He built the character around a fictitious pastor, the Rev. I.M. Madd, that was developed by the late Tommy Collins, who wrote Merle Haggard’s “Carolyn” and George Strait’s “If You Ain’t Lovin’ (You Ain’t Livin’).”

“The preacher was always kind of half in the bag every mornin’ when he’d deliver a sermon,” Trace notes. “There was no tellin’ what he was gonna say, so that’s kinda how I did it.”

Then, of course, there was another preacher for Trace to draw upon. This one came from his own wedding experience.

“My second marriage, the guy that married us in Tahoe was drunk — I’ll never forget that,” Trace laughs. “He called me Julie, pointed right at me, ‘Do you, Julie…?’ you know. So I was channelin’ that guy, and when I started the song I just went, ‘Aaaaah, dearly beloved we’re gathered up in here today to join in holy monogamony’ — I made that word up, I thought it was funny though!”

Just as funny was his ultra-Southern way of completing the task: “I now pronounce you… y’all.”

For more on Trace’s unusual second wedding, watch this clip:

Trace’s Cowboy’s Back In Town album is released today. A deluxe edition contains four bonus tracks, including his duet with Blake Shelton, “Hillbilly Bone.”

Visit Trace’s official GAC artist section to  listen to all the tracks on the album, watch exclusive interview clips and register in GAC’s sweepstakes for a chance to win an autographed guitar, hat and copy of the album.

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