It’s been a big week for country music stars. First, Remember Her Name singer, Mickey Guyton, brought the nation to tears with her rendition of the national anthem at Super Bowl LVI last Sunday. And today, it was Trace Adkins‘ turn, who gave his version of the anthem at the legendary NASCAR race, the Daytona 500.
Adkins has been open about his love for not only NASCAR itself but its fans well. In an interview with Fox News, the “You’re Gonna Miss This” singer said, “It’s the fans. These are mostly just good hard-working folks that love fast cars. And they like to drive too fast themselves, probably.” With that kind of passion for NASCAR and those who watch it, NASCAR couldn’t have picked a better man to perform for the 100,000 fans at the sold-out race.
After Mickey Guyton’s moving performance of the national anthem at Super Bowl LVI, Trace Adkins had his work cut out for him. And because he’s so passionate about the anthem, he wasn’t shy to admit that he felt the pressure beforehand. Ahead of his performance, Adkins said, “Singing the anthem is the only thing that still makes me nervous. It doesn’t really matter how big the crowd is, it’s just the fact that you can’t play around with the lyrics on that one. If you mess it up, you’re on YouTube forever.”
As expected, however, the country music pioneer absolutely knocked it out of the park. Trace Adkins’ rousing rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner was just what NASCAR fans needed to kick off what’s sure to be an exciting event.
Trace Adkins Calls Honoring Veterans the ‘Greatest Privilege’
As one of the world’s biggest country music stars, Trace Adkins gets to do some pretty cool stuff. There have only been 62 Daytona 500s, after all. Being picked to perform at one is just a little awesome.
The country star is incredibly grateful for these experiences. However, he maintains that his greatest privilege as a famous musician is the ability to give back to the country’s veterans. In an interview with Fox News, Adkins was asked if any moments left a lasting mark on his life. For Trace Adkins, the answer was easy.
“Oh, there’ve been so many, so many,” Adkins says. “I cherish all the work that I’ve done with the veterans’ organizations that I’ve worked with over the years. I always feel like I’m better for it when I can give back to our veterans.”
In Adkins’ opinion, nothing even comes close to his work with veterans. “Any kind of encounter where I’m associating with veterans, I always feel like they do more for me than I did for them. Nothing compares to that – nothing. It’s been the great privilege of my career to be able to work with those people. And there have just been so many times that I’ve been so deeply affected that there’s just too many to count.”
