Trace Adkins (center) with Nashville Mayor Karl Dean and his wife, Anne, at the Nashville Chapter of the Recording Academy® Grammy Nominee party. Photo courtesy of The Recording Academy® 2009. Photograph by Rick Diamond/WireImage.com.

A year ago, Trace Adkins picked up his first-ever Grammy nomination for “You’re Gonna Miss This,” and he made a big deal out of it, heading off to Los Angeles to be part of the festivities surrounding the night.

As a first-timer, he hadn’t counted on the sheer volume of the event, and it wasn’t quite what he expected. The Country Music Association annually gives out 14 awards — most of them on its live telecast. But the Grammys, with more than 100 categories, distributes the bulk of its trophies in the hours leading up to the broadcast. A lot of the nominees — particularly those will be featured on TV — don’t even bother to attend the pre-telecast ceremony. Trace discovered that he’d gotten all dressed up for an event that didn’t feel quite so eventful.

This year, he picked up a second Grammy nomination, for “All I Ask For Anymore.” But if he should win on Sunday, someone will have to call him to let him know about it. He’ll be performing that night in Fairfax, Va., with Martina McBride and Sarah Buxton on the Shine All Night Tour.

“[I’ll] make some money instead of spendin’ it,” he laughs. “[I’d] have to buy another new suit, spend a lot of money to go out for the Grammys.”

Even if he’s not at the ceremony, the recognition given “All I Ask For Anymore” — which got a Best Country Song nomination for authors Casey Beathard and Tim James — is meaningful to Trace. It’s a song with a positive take on the world at a time when it looks bleak to many Americans. But the song’s message transcends whatever economic or political stuff is dominating headlines.

“It was,” Trace says, “the ultimate song about priorities, and how our priority list — what order it should be in. It didn’t really go through the whole litany, but it did say there are a couple of things that are very important and then everything else is really [not]. And I thought that was the gyst of the song, and it really struck a chord with me and I think that’s what we all try to focus on. Yeah, times are tough, times are hard, but are you healthy? Is your family healthy? Do you still have your freedom? Yeah, so let’s keep things in perspective.”

Trace’s personal perspective is a little mellower now than it was when the Grammys rolled around last year. At that time, he told GAC he’d quit smoking seven weeks earlier, and he was admittedly irritable.

This year, his demeanor’s a lot more relaxed, though he’s quick to pop a little sarcasm into the mix.

“[I still] haven’t had a cigarette,” he beams. “I’ve killed four people, but I haven’t had a cigarette!”

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Toby Keith (l) signed Trace Adkins to his label, Show Dog-Universal Music, on Jan. 12, 2010. Photo courtesy of Show Dog-Universal Music.

Trace Adkins celebrated his 48th birthday Wednesday in a manner he’d never done before: He whipped out a pen in front of a roomful of journalists and signed a recording contract with Toby Keith’s Show Dog-Universal Music label at BMI’s Nashville offices.

“You don’t have to read that,” Toby joked.

“Read it!?” Trace shot back. “Hell, I wrote it!”

If anyone doubted Toby’s dedication to his label, opened when he left DreamWorks in 2005, signing Trace as he merged with what was formerly Universal South shows he means business. And Trace is off and running already. He’s recorded eight songs with producer Michael Knox, best known for his work with Jason Aldean. As it currently stands, the album is sonically reflecting the excitement Trace said he’s feeling about the new deal.

“Some of the other stuff that I’ve done, I’ve gone pretty deep and pretty dark with some of it,” Trace noted. “That’s not on this record, and I think it’s a reflection of where I’m at right now. I feel good, I feel upbeat, I feel healthy and happy, and I think it’s reflected in the stuff that I’m cuttin’.”

Trace’s Capitol deal was up for renewal, but he declined the option, he said. He left with no hard feelings, saying he holds “great affection” for the crew he leaves behind. Mike Dungan, Capitol chief, later said he “still love[s] the guy.” In moving on, Trace leaves a 14-year Capitol legacy that includes such hits as “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk,” “You’re Gonna Miss This” and “All I Ask For Anymore,” currently nominated for a Grammy Award.

Perhaps a sign of how much his relationship with his new record company will be different, Trace initially offered to fly to Oklahoma City to play the music he’s been making in the studio for Toby. Instead, Toby gave him the freedom to do whatever he wants without creative interference.

“I didn’t need to hear his music,” Toby said. “I don’t have to tell him or any artist what to play or what to do… Trace is gonna do what I did. He’s gonna come in, bring his music in and we’re gonna put it out there. If the first [single] works, fine, we’ll put one [out] right behind it. If the first one don’t work, we’ll put one right behind it.”

Having just put the ink on the new deal, Toby and Trace planned to discuss what his first single for the label will be after the press conference. An album is expected some time in 2010.

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Trace Adkins photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville.

It’s a good time to be Trace Adkins. He sang with Toby Keith during their concert dates this year; he’s currently touring with Martina McBride in the Shine All Night Tour; he’s got a role in “Tough Trade,” a new series for the video-on-demand and online service EPIX; and he’s the inspiration for the Luke McBain comic book.

Distributors sold out the first McBain issue in a mere 48 hours. The second in the four-issue series comes out Dec. 16.

The Martina tour is taking a holiday break before resuming in January, but Trace will still be out at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on Saturday performing on the Grand Ole Opry along with Little Jimmy Dickens, Marty Stuart, Connie Smith, Bill Anderson and Vince Gill.

And if all that activity isn’t enough, Trace has plenty going on in his recording life, too. On Monday, he released a new single — a novelty song called “Ala-Freakin-Bama” — at the same time he already has two other titles in country’s Top 30: the Blake Shelton collaboration “Hillbilly Bone” and the ballad “All I Ask For Anymore.”

The latter song picked up two Grammy nominations last week. Trace is a finalist for Best Male Country Vocal, while songwriters Casey Beathard and Tim James are in the running for Best Country Song. Whether they win or not, the acknowledgement is one that will live forever in the history books. The sentiment that drove the song in the first place now has a sense of permanence, too. Tim authored it in appreciation of his wife and two daughters, and Trace — who similarly touched on the family as subject matter in “You’re Gonna Miss This” — was obviously moved by the song, too.

“It is a true-to-life situation in the sense that I was praying one night, asking God for the things I needed in life when I realized that I really didn’t need those things at all,” Tim told The Tennessean, explaining the “All I Ask For” origins. “From that moment on, all I was going to ask for was that God watch over my wife and kids. I figured I could handle most anything in life as long as they were safe and sound.”

The Grammys will be presented in Los Angeles Jan. 31. By then, the second issue of Luke McBain might be sold out all over the U.S. — not just in Ala-Freakin-Bama.

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Martina McBride and Trace Adkins will join forces for the 2009-2010 Shine All Night Tour.

Martina McBride and Trace Adkins are in the midst of the 40-city Shine All Night Tour, and they make a joint stop to chat with host Nan Kelley on this weekend’s edition of GAC’s Top 20 Country Countdown.

The concert package earned its name from Martina’s current album, Shine, which introduced a couple new hits: the breezy “Ride” and her ballad “I Just Call You Mine.” The latter title is currently at No. 14 on this week’s countdown.

Trace has two songs ranked back to back on the Top 20 this week. His solo single “All I Ask For Anymore” hangs in at No. 7 while the Blake Shelton collaboration “Hillbilly Bone” checks in at No. 6. And the guy who shows up with Martina on the countdown is the real Trace, not the Luke McBain character that’s the hero in a comic book inspired by Trace’s life.

Top 20 Country Countdown counts down the week’s top country videos from No. 20 to No. 1 as voted by viewers on each week on GACTV.com. A new countdown premieres every Friday at 8 p.m. ET on GAC and airs again Saturdays at 10 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. ET; Sundays at 1 p.m. ET; and Mondays at 10 a.m. ET. Viewers can vote for their favorite videos, as well as purchase Top 20 artists’ albums and ringtones at GACTV.com.

THIS WEEK’S CHART:

1. Carrie Underwood “Cowboy Casanova”
2. Taylor Swift “Fifteen”
3. Lady Antebellum “Need You Now”
4. Kellie Pickler “Didn’t You Know How Much I Loved You”
5. Miranda Lambert “White Liar”
6. Blake Shelton featuring Trace Adkins “Hillbilly Bone”
7. Trace Adkins “All I Ask For Anymore”
8. Reba McEntire “Consider Me Gone”
9. Luke Bryan “Do I”
10. Keith Urban “Only You Can Love Me This Way”
11. Chris Young “Gettin’ You Home”
12. Toby Keith “Cryin’ For Me”
13. Josh Turner “Why Don’t We Just Dance”
14. Martina McBride “I Just Call You Mine”
15. Tim McGraw “Southern Voice”
16. George Strait “Living For The Night”
17. Billy Currington “People Are Crazy”
18. Sugarland “Keep You”
19. Toby Keith “American Ride”
20. Bucky Covington “Gotta Be Somebody”

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