Everything That Happened At Trace Adkins' Album Release Party

Trace Adkins released his 12th studio album Something's Going On on March 31st via Wheelhouse Records, and celebrated a few days later during his iHeartCountry Album Release Party, where he performed a lot of his new music live for the first time in front of an intimate group of fans, in addition to some fan favorites.

Something's Going On is the followup to 2013's Love Will..., and features twelve new songs, including its title track, and his single "Watered Down." Adkins kicked off his tour in support of the new record on April 6th, but it all started during his iHeartCountry Album Release Party.

[Buy Something's Going On on iTunes]

During his iHeartCountry Album Release Party, Trace performed an hour-long set, including songs from his new album including "Watered Down," "Still A Soldier," the title track "Something's Going On," and "Jesus and Jones," which he dedicated to the late great George Jones. But Trace also performed songs from his previous albums, including some fan favorites like "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk" and "Just Fishin'" and closed the show with his very first single released in 1996, "There's A Girl In Texas."

Check out some of the performances from Trace's iHeartCountry Album release Party:

"Watered Down"

"Still A Soldier"

"Something's Going On"

iHeartCountry Album Release Party with Trace Adkins Set List:

"Ladies Love Country Boys" (Dangerous Man)

"You're Gonna Miss This" (American Man: Greatest Hits Volume II)

"Honky Tonk Badonkadonk" (Songs About Me)

"Just Fishin'" (Proud To Be Here)

"Watered Down" (Something's Going On)

"Songs About Me" (Songs About Me)

"Still a Soldier" (Something's Going On)

"Something's Going On" (Something's Going On)

"Jesus and Jones" (Something's Going On) -- for George Jones

"There's A Girl In Texas" (Dreamin' Out Loud)

In addition to his performance, Trace talked about a number of different topics during the album release party, including why there were four years in between his new album and his last album, what's like having five daughters, the touching story behind his single "You're Gonna Miss This," being involved in the USO, what it's like being kissed by Blake Shelton, and of course, what it was like being on "Celebrity Apprentice" with our now Present Donald Trump. Check it out below:

On why it there's four years in between Something's Going On and Love Will...:

"I don't know, I didn't mean for that to happen. I started working on this record, and I didn't have anybody pushing me, I didn't have a record label breathing down my neck, saying 'hurry up.' So I just took my time with it, enjoyed it, cut stuff that I wanted to cut, the way I wanted to cut it, and had fun with it, just took my time. I didn't mean for it to take that long. It just kind of played out that way."

On what it's like having five daughters: 

"I have guys ask me all the time for advice if they have a daughter, and since I have five, they think that I know something that they don't know. And I just say, 'it just means that I'm five times more confused than you are about what's going on."

On the story behind his song "You're Gonna Miss This":

"I recorded this song, because I needed a track to sing to at my oldest daughter's wedding. So, I recorded the song, and I thought, alright I got a good track to sing to at her wedding, and I never intended for it to be a single, and Mike Dungan at Capitol Records said, 'we're gonna put that out as a single.' And I said, 'nobody's gonna play that, it's so sappy,' and they played it a good bit."

On being involved with the USO & the advice he got from Wayne Newton:

"It was early in my career, and somebody suggested that go do a USO thing, and I had an opportunity to ask Wayne Newton what to expect. After Bob Hope, Wayne Newton kinda took over as USO guy, and I had a chance to ask him, 'What should I expect?' And he said, 'Expect to feel guilty when you come home.' And he was right. But, also I learned that's the most appreciative audience that you'll ever play for. They just appreciate the fact that you came over there to see them, and come play for them, and no matter how hard you try, no matter how much you try to give them, you leave feeling like they gave you more. And that's one of the reasons you feel guilty when you come home. The others, they had to stay, and you got to come home. And after that first trip, it was something that I had to keep doing, and I said as long as we have people deployed, we'll keep going."

On what it's like being kissed by Blake Shelton: 

"It's gross. He does that. Blake's always going for the shock value of whatever he can do. You should see some of the pictures that he sends me. I can't ever share any of that." 

On filming the "Just Fishin'" video with his daughter:

"That was Trinity, my baby. She was six, I think, when we did that video. Trey Fanjoy, who directed the video, she told Trinity and I to go out there and practice until they were ready to shoot the stuff, and they already had everything set up. So, we went out and started fishing, just practicing until they were ready to shoot the video, and Trey was filming all of it. She thought we were just fishing, but we were actually making the video."

On how he came to record his single "Watered Down": 

"I listened to the first couple of lines of it, and then just stopped it, and my producer Mickey Jack Cones was in the room, and Benny Brown was there, the president of Broken Bow Records. And the first two lines went by, and I said, let's stop. I don't know what's coming next, but if it's not right I'll fix it, because those first two lines just hit me right between the eyes. But the rest of it was perfect. And it's autobiographical, and it's a reflection of where I think I'm at in my career and my life right now. It meant a lot to me, and still does, and I messed up and said it was my favorite song on this album, and I've never done that before, because I don't think you ought to pick a favorite song on an album. It's like picking your favorite kid, you're not supposed to do that. But this is my favorite song."

On Donald Trump and being on Celebrity Apprentice:

"He's like he is, what you see on television. He's like that all the time, he doesn't turn it on and off for the camera. That's what he's like, so I got a kick out of him"