TRACE ADKINS' "TOUGH PEOPLE DO" BECOMES POLITICAL ANTHEM

By Brian Mansfield, Special for USA TODAY

 

Trace Adkins thought his new song Tough People Do would go over well at a conservative event. And he was right.

Trace Adkins says his song 'Tough People Do' reminds Americans that "We still have the wherewithal, still have the muscle to straighten out this incredibly twisted frame that we're driving on."

"It was a stacked deck," says the 50-year-old country singer, who sang the song Tuesday night at an hour-long Citizens United event outside the Republican National Convention in Tampa. After Adkins' performance, some commentators started calling the song, which includes the line "Tough times don't last, but tough people do," a GOP anthem.

While Adkins' political views admittedly take a conservative bent, that's not at all what he had in mind, he says. In fact, he introduced the number by saying, "This is for all of us."

Adkins recorded Tough People Do — written by Chris DuBois, Jason Matthews and Joel Shewmake — for his next album and gave the song its live premiere at a New York concert a few days before his Tampa performance.

The song's three verses look at economic difficulties from historical, national and personal perspectives. In the song's first verse, a woman raises four kids through the Great Depression, then outlasts that era by 60 years. The depiction reminded Adkins of his grandmother, who died at age 92.

"My grandma was the toughest old woman that I ever saw in my life," he says. "She'd still work in the garden with an old push-plow until she was in her late 70s. Just the toughest old woman that I ever knew and, at the same time, the godliest creature that I ever knew.

"That's the point of this song. That's what we have in our DNA. That's what we come from. That's who we are. That's what this country needs to be reminded of. We still have the wherewithal, still have the muscle to straighten out this incredibly twisted frame that we're driving on."

Unlike several musicians, who have asked publicly that Republican candidates refrain from playing their songs, Adkins wouldn't have a problem with Tough People Do being played at a campaign rally. Nobody associated with the GOP has approached him about using the song in any kind of official capacity, he says, but "somebody needs to tell that message. If they want to use a song to get that message across, knock yourself out, hoss. Go ahead."

That goes for Democrats, too, Adkins says.

"If a liberal politician is OK with the line, 'Tough people pull themselves up by the bootstraps when they hit hard luck/And they stay strong and keep fighting like they don't know how to lose,' if he believes that, then by all means, man, play the song.