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X

Trace Adkins

The tenth album from this self-described roughneck is one of those emotional buffets that try to be all things to all country fans. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll get bored. You'll make a beer run. You'll get home just in time for "Sometimes a Man Takes a Drink" and wonder how a guy who introduced the world to the term "honky tonk badonkadonk" just shamed you into dumping a six-pack down the kitchen sink.

"Life didn't turn out like he planned," Adkins laments as curlicues of lap steel guitar moan along in the background. "Sometimes a man takes a drink, but sometimes a drink takes the man."

It's a heartbreaker of a hook -- not to mention the complete emotional opposite of "Badonkadonk," perhaps the definitive Adkins hit. Since then, he has written a book, appeared on "Hollywood Squares," come mighty close to winning "The Celebrity Apprentice" and lent his voice to a KFC ad campaign.

This is clearly a man who likes to spread himself around, but the incessant emotional gear-shifting on "X" proves to be as exhausting as it is impressive. The album's second half kicks off with "Marry for Money," a roadhouse-ready romp in which Adkins sets his sights on a "sweet sugar mama with a whole lotta zeros and commas." Hilarious. But up next is "Til the Last Shot's Fired," cataloguing the ravages of war. The song's coda unfurls an arresting choral arrangement performed by the West Point Cadet Glee Club. Heavy. And back and forth Adkins goes, toggling between melancholy and mirth.

You have to wonder if Adkins actually likes singing the sillier songs. Elsewhere his voice is deep and robust, as on "I Can't Outrun You," a gorgeous ballad about an unflagging romance. It makes you wish this renaissance roughneck would just stay put for a while.

-- Chris Richards

DOWNLOAD THESE: "I Can't Outrun You," "Marry for Money," "Til the Last Shot's Fired"

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