Trace Adkins Leaves Capitol Nashville for Show Dog Universal

In a move that took many by surprise, Trace Adkins has left his longtime label, Capitol Nashville, and signed with Toby Keith's new label Show Dog Universal. Adkins is the first artist signed to the new label, which was formed after the recent merger between Keith's label, Show Dog Nashville, and Universal South Records.

Adkins had been with Capitol Nashville since his 1996 platinum debut album, Dreamin' Out Loud. Over the last 14 years, he has released eight studio albums with Capitol Nashville, the most recent being X, which was released in November of 2008 and spawned three hit singles, including "Marry for Money" and "All I Ask for Anyone." Both songs peaked at No. 14 on Billboard's Country Songs chart.

Adkins and Keith toured together in the summer of 2009 on the America's Toughest Tour, and that experience was the catalyst for this new deal. Keith loved what he saw from Adkins and really got to know him and see what he was capable of in front of large audiences.

Adkins had nothing but praise for his many years at Capitol Nashville, saying that he respected and admired all the folks he worked with over there for the past fifteen years. He went on to say he was very excited about the new direction. Apparently, he even offered to fly out to Keith's home in Oklahoma to play him a bunch of new material he'd cut, and Keith told him not to bother. He already knew what kind of music Adkins made, and that was good enough for him.

In addition to the eight studio albums Adkins released on Capitol Nashville (four platinum, two gold), he was a part of three compilation albums. He leaves with 21 top 20 singles, including three No. 1 hits.

Photo © Capitol Nashville