What do you bring to the table?

That's a picture of country music star Trace Adkins. I've had the chance to meet him on a couple occasions and he's always been very pleasant and nice to me. He also has some very catchy songs like Honky Tonk Badonkadonk and Hot Mama, just to name a couple. I have no personal issue with the man (especially because he's a giant human being) but something he said recently made my ears perk up.

Trace is not a fan of American Idol(CLICK HERE to read the article). To be honest, neither am I. I've never seen an episode because I, like Trace, think that getting a recording contract and becoming a star needs to involve more than just being able to sing. There are a lot of people out there with beautiful voices that struggle in the business by playing seedy bars and coffee shops. Is American Idol an incredible opportunity for people? Absolutely, however, I've always enjoyed hearing stories about how an artist got their start and listening to how they stood in line for 6 hours and then won a million dollars just isn't that exciting.

Where Trace and I disagree is when he says, "You've got a great voice. OK, you can sing all the licks. What else you got? That other part, what else you have, is really what makes stars." Well, I'm not exactly sure what Trace brings to the table besides his voice. I've seen him perform, and while he sounds great, he has no energy and no stage presence at all. He strolls from side to side without showing any emotion and sings his songs. From time to time, he'll thrust his pelvis out to give the ladies a thrill but that's about the most excitement you can get from a Trace Adkins performance. I also happened to notice that he hasn't written a single song on any of his last 5 albums (that is according to allmusic.com). There was one song on his record "Chrome" that he co-wrote but that's it.

Final summation: Trace Adkins can sing very well but has no stage presence and doesn't write his own music. I can't help but ask the question, What else you got Trace? Seems to me that besides his life story, Trace is on the same level as an American Idol contestant.