Five things about ... singer and big dude, Trace Adkins

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- There's only one person that sounds as intimidating as a stock car and that is Trace Adkins. His deep, commanding voice is undeniably unique and makes his singing voice "God like."

At least that's how Gene Simmons described the country star's tone on Celebrity Apprentice, the reality show Adkins refused to join but did so last season in the name of charity.

Now and then you'll catch the roughneck from Louisiana doing nice things for people, but don't dare cross him. You'll have a case, not a can, of whoop ass coming your way from a man who stands 6 feet 6 inches tall and can pummel a drunk, mouthy cowboy quicker than you can say badonkadonk.

And what exactly is a badonkadonk, you ask?

We'll let Adkins explain this and a few other telling details about the man who spent his Sunday afternoon in NASCAR country as grand marshal for the Goody's Fast Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

Getty Images

Trace Adkins prepares to wave the green flag at Martinsville.

1. Definition of a badonkadonk ...

By definition a badonkadonk is a very curvaceous female backside but if you're familiar with Adkins 2005 smash hit, Honky Tonk Badonkadonk, you know very well what it already is. But the real question remains: What does Adkins consider to be a nice badonkadonk?

"Badonkadonks are a matter of personal taste, not one size fits all. I could tell you what my favorite kind is but I'm not going to do that. The first time I heard badonkadonk was when [singer/songwriter] Jamey Johnson told me. And then he said that he heard it from [hip-hop artist] Missy Elliott, so we shamelessly stole that term from her. She hadn't sued me yet so maybe it's coming ... hope not."

(Editor's note: After this question was posed Adkins asked the reporter the motivation of her question. "Young lady was it because you wanted to know if you had a nice badonkadonk?" Adkins asked.)

American Idol, good or bad for country music? Would you go on the show or be a mentor for the contestants like singer Randy Travis did recently?

"No, not really. I never have been a fan of those talent shows to be honest with you. You can win a talent show because you're the best singer but then what? What else you got for me? You got a story, you got any character, any soul? What else you got, you got nothing. You're 14 and you can sing good but that's not going to make it for me. My kids like that but I don't, I need something a little more substantial, I'm afraid."

Listening to your lyrics, it's obvious you've lived a colorful and very real life. You tell believable stories and you were even shot by your second wife. Is this the "more substantial" of which you speak?

"When I first came out and would sing about heartache, it was not based on the feeling you get when a girl gives you your senior ring back. You know I'm talking about as serious as it gets. Divorce with kids involved, the ugliness and nastiness and pain of that. I've been through that a couple of times and it just comes with living."

"Yeah, my second wife ... she's still in Louisiana. I went into detail about that in my book, Personal Stand: Observations and Opinions of a Freethinking Roughneck, but I don't really talk about that much. It is something that happened, but I don't think about it anymore.

In the early part of your career, you played a lot of rough bars and did some major brawling. Did you ever get stabbed?

"I've gotten into a few but that comes with the territory when you're playing honky tonks. I played the Southwest bar circuit for about five years, you're going to get into that stuff when cowboys get tanked and aren't able to go to sleep until they've had their brains bashed in. I never did get stabbed, I'm happy about that. I don't like knives too much. I'd rather someone shoot me than cut me, I think."

You were a roughneck on an oil rig and temporarily lost the pinky on your left hand. What did you ask the doctor to do with it?

"When I cut if off I knew immediately my guitar-playing days were over. But I had the doctor reattach it so it was curved so that I could at least suspend a D chord, I think that's the way I put it. He fused the joints together and pinned it together so I can do that but I can't reach up the neck with it anymore, but luckily I don't make a living being a great guitar player."

Getty Images

Trace Adkins congratulates Martinsville winner Jimmie Johnson.