New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Trace Adkins is back with "Jesus and Jones," a song about walking the line between temptation and good intentions. It's Adkins' first single with Wheelhouse Records, part of the BBR
Music Group, and was written by Jim McCormick, Casey Beathard and Tyler Farr. The official lyric video is now live and the song will be available across all digital retailers and streaming partners this Friday, January 8th.
Prior to the holidays, a live recording of the song appeared online and TasteofCountry.com observed, "Adkins' return hardly comes hat in hand. Physically and sonically he's a leaner version of the singer that returned to rehab in 2014, but no less aggressive. With "Jesus and Jones" he's doubled-down on roughneck with no promises that he won't cross that line again."
In a special email to fans with a limited-time free download of the new song, Trace stated, "this is our first single off a new album that'll come out later this year. This is a song that's auto-biographical. The first thing I ever did behind a microphone was singing bass in a gospel quartet. At the same time, I was playing guitar and singing in honky tonks, so, that's when the struggle began…the wrestling match between 'Jesus' and 'Jones' and I still struggle with that."
Like its subject matter, the uptempo, hard-driving song juxtaposes Adkins' rich baritone with Gospel choirs, electric guitars and lyrics both pious and risqué. The song opens with a confession: "I'm the last one standing every Saturday night, all the rights feel wrong and the wrongs feel right but every Sunday morning I see the light again." Later, it struggles with walking the line: "I need to find some middle ground between let 'er rip and settling down, but I go from dry to drowned, lost to found, stone cold sober to just plain stoned."
ABOUT TRACE ADKINS:
Trace Adkins' trademark baritone has powered countless hits to the top of the charts and sold over 10 million albums, cumulatively. His hit list includes "You're Gonna Miss This," "Ladies Love Country Boys," "Songs About Me," "Every Light In The House," "Hillbilly Bone (Blake Shelton & Trace Adkins)," and "Just Fishin'," to name a few. Trace kicked off 2016 with the release of "Jesus and Jones," his first single with BBR
Music Group's Wheelhouse Records. The Grammy-nominated member of the Grand Ole Opry is a TV personality, actor, author, spokesman for the Wounded
Warrior Project and the American Red Cross, for whom he raised over $1.5 million dollars as winner of NBC's All-Star Celebrity Apprentice. Thus far, Adkins has performed 11 USO Tours.
In his 2007 autobiography, A Personal Stand: Observations and Opinions from a Freethinking Roughneck, the former oil-rigger recounted his rise to fame, brushes with death, and battles with personal demons. Trace has played a tough as nails biker in The Lincoln Lawyer (starring Matthew McConaughey) and a wise tattoo artist in the family-friendly Moms' Night Out (starring
Patricia Heaton, Sean Astin,
Sarah Drew).
