Trace Adkins

Forget about midlife crises: Adkins focuses on midlife romance and does so with the vigor of a man in love for the first time. Soulful backing singers accompany his buttery baritone growl on an album that dips deep in twang and rocks out roadhouse-style. This one is honest and heartfelt.

The problem isn't that they don't make country the way they used to. The problem is that
they do. On his fifth album, Adkins earnestly but unspectacularly delivers oodles of the
generic platitudes that have sustained Nashville for years. The lone spark is "Hot Mama," a
savvy, warm love song to a middle-aged mom that's as salacious as mainstream country gets
these days. JON CARAMANICA (RS 940, January 22, 2004)