Trace Adkins Wants His Fire-Damaged Home Torn Down

Trace Adkins and his family have been living in a cabin ever since a fire on June 4 destroyed their Nashville home. While the Louisiana native is grateful they have another place to stay, he admits the entire ordeal has been a challenging one.

"The insurance company declared it a total loss, and now they have to figure out what that means and assign a value to it," Trace acknowledges to CMT. "It takes ridiculously long. I just want to get what's left of that house torn down. It looks sad. It's the eyesore of the neighborhood. We all want to get it gone."

Trace has expressed gratitude that his daughters were able to get out of the house safely (thanks to the help of an experienced nanny), but he still mourns the loss of the home they lived in for more than a decade. "Just over the last week, it's falling in on me, like a delayed reaction," notes the multi-platinum-selling singer. "Every day, you think of something else you lost, and those things just keep popping up, like someone smacking you again."

One of his most-beloved possessions lost in the blaze was a guitar, with an autographed pick guard, given to him by the legendary Buck Owens. "That's gone," he says. "Things like that. Pictures of me with my heroes. Portraits of my kids. That's the stuff you miss the most. There's that saying about how you stand outside what used to be your home after something like this, and you say, 'The family's OK, and that's all that matters.' But until it's actually happened to you, that's when the weight of those words takes on a significance you never even imagined. Everything pales after that."

Still, the 49-year-old insists his gratitude over having his wife and children safe far surpasses any other emotion. "Some things I wish I still had, but then you think of what it could've been," he adds, "and you can't even let your mind go there."

Trace isn't letting his house woes keep him down. His debut single, 'Just Fishin' from his upcoming CD, 'Proud to Be Here,' is already in the Top 20 and climbing. The proud dad of five daughters says the tune is one of the most important singles of his career.

"'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."

Trace will spend much of the next few months on the road, including stops in Minnesota, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Keep track of his schedule here.

'Proud to Be Here' hits shelves on Tuesday, August 2.