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TRACE ADKINS continues to conquer new worlds. He has long been country music’s alpha male, a man whose commanding presence and once-in-a-generation baritone have made him a pillar of the contemporary Nashville sound. But such are his other gifts—a restless intellect, wide-ranging interests, great ability as a communicator — that it was perhaps inevitable that his influence would spread well beyond the bounds of the genre.
When an artist looks back on his or her own career, there are always moments he or she can point to where there was a shift to another level. Those defining moments tend to be easy to spot with the benefit of hindsight but more difficult to see without the passage of time. Yet Chris Young has a sense that something is happening.
Inheriting a cross-pollinated love of country and rock & roll from their parents,
