Trace Adkins Trades ‘Chicken’ for ‘Fishin”

Next week, Trace Adkins will release a new single, 'Just Fishin'.' The song comes just a week after Trace "apologized" to radio programmers at Country Radio Seminar (CRS) for asking them to play his risque tune, 'Brown Chicken Brown Cow,' which he's abandoning after nine short weeks at radio.

"'Just Fishin',' sounds like it's some redneck thing, but it's a song about a father going fishing with his little girl, and she thinks it's just fishin', but it's about much more than that," Trace tells The Boot. "As a father of daughters, it hit all the right buttons. I've taught all my girls to fish, and it's about the lessons that you learn from teaching your children to fish. It's the time that you spend together doing it. That's what's really important."

The single is also the first tune from Trace's next album, expected later this year. "Fishin' was actually recorded for this last album, 'Cowboy's Back in Town,'" he explains about the Casey Beathard, Monty Criswell and Ed Hill-penned tune. "The folks at [my label] Show Dog-Universal wanted it to be the first single, and I said no."

There was a good reason for Trace's refusal: "I had just come off of 'You're Gonna Miss This,' and this song is very much in the same vein," he continues. "I said, 'I don't want those songs that close together. We need to spread them out.' I knew that if I put that song on this album, they would really want to release it too early. So I kept it."

It's rare to hear of an artist with that much control over their work, but maybe it has something to do with the 'Honky Tonk Badonkadonk' singer's 6'6'' stature. "I've always had that veto power throughout my career," he assures. "I always have the ultimate say in what the singles are."

What made him realize it was finally time to share this song with the fans? "Now we've released a couple of singles off this album and it's time to move on in the cycle and go to the next album," Trace says. "I'm true to my word; I told them this would be the first single off the next album, so here it is."

In addition to a new single, Trace can be seen in a new movie next week. 'The Lincoln Lawyer,' starring Matthew McConaughey, comes out March 18.