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>> COUNTRY VETERAN GARNERS MAINSTREAM APPROVAL ADKINS HAS ACTIVE LIFE AS A CELEB

March 13, 2008 12:15 am

BY BEN SELLERS

A look at Trace Adkins' page on "The Celebrity Apprentice" Web site says it all: "Status--Active."

Adkins' star truly shines among the B-list ranks on the popular reality TV show. In a pool of washed-up performers and athletes past their prime, the singer of country hits including "Every Light in the House" and "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk" has been extremely active recently.

He's currently touring to support his second greatest-hits album, "American Man," and will visit the Patriot Center on Sunday with blue-collar funnyman Bill Engvall.

Before the show, Adkins will be at the Borders bookstore in Fairfax, signing copies of his new book, "A Personal Stand: Observations and Opinions from a Freethinking Roughneck."

Twelve years since the release of his first album, "Dreamin' Out Loud," Adkins--whose resume includes stints hauling hay and working on an oil field--approaches his job as a celebrity with the same back-breaking intensity.

"I don't sit around going 'Well, you know, I've made it, so I can just relax now.' That's not how I feel," he said in a recent phone interview. "I know that this career is finite and it's not gonna last forever, and you've just gotta bale hay while the sun's shining."

In April, Adkins will return to the studio to finish work on his next album.

"We've already got eight songs done, so we're just gonna go in and finish this next album, and we've got a few other things going on that I really can't talk about too much--some movie kind of stuff," he said.

Then, of course, there's The Donald.

Adkins signed on to this season's "Celebrity Apprentice" to raise money for the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network. His daughter Brianna (one of five girls from two marriages) is severely allergic to peanuts, eggs and milk.

Adkins' courtly behavior on the show--in contrast with the cutthroat tactics of the recently fired Omarosa and others--has carried him into the final five of 14 original contestants leading up to tonight's episode.

"I was constantly reminding myself that I was there representing a charity," he said. (All of the episodes except for the live season finale were taped in advance, he noted.)

"I wasn't just there representing myself, so that's the way that I conducted myself--I didn't want to do anything that might bring shame on those people that I was there representing."

Even when "America's Got Talent" judge Piers Morgan affronted his cowboy machismo with a boardroom peck-on-the-cheek last week, Adkins stayed calm.

Yet, when the time came for asserting himself, he wasn't afraid to take a stand.

"I spoke out when I had an opinion about things," Adkins said. "I'm just saying I tried to stay above the fray and tried to stay out of the catfight it wasn't my game plan."

This should come as no surprise to cable news viewers. Though Adkins keeps his opinions and politics to himself onstage, he's been known to speak his mind on programs like "The Glenn Beck Show," "Hannity & Colmes" and "Real Time with Bill Maher."

As long as he keeps his venues separate, Adkins said, he's not worried about people confusing his talk of ballots and badonkadonks.

All in all, he added, he favors a lighthearted approach to life.

"I always try to let whoever I'm having a conversation with know that I don't take myself that seriously--so if you're gonna be offended by something that I say, then you're the one that's taking stuff too seriously let's keep that in perspective."

Ben Sellers: 540/374-5423
Email: bsellers@freelancestar.com