Throughout country music history, we’ve seen some absolutely insane stories unfold to the biggest stars in the genre. Whether its Hank Williams Jr.’s infamous 500-foot fall off Ajax Mountain in Montana in 1975 that he miraculously survived, Tracy Lawrence surviving three gunshots, one of which missed an artery by by a tenth of a millimeter, after getting mugged and car-jacked in 1993 or HARDY, who recently revealed he nearly lost his life in his famed bus crash in 2022, you don’t have to look very far to find nearly unbelievable stories of beloved artists dodging death.
One artist who has flirted with death multiple times is none other than Trace Adkins.
Of course, he’s best known for late ’90s and early 2000s hits such as the infamous “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” and “Swing,” as well as other popular tracks such as “Every Light In the House,” “You’re Gonna Miss This” and “Ladies Love Country Boys.” Beyond the patented baritone vocals and deep, southern drawl, however, is a long history of near-encounters with death throughout his life.
None of his encounters, however, are as famed as the time his wife, Julie Lauren Curtis, shot him during an argument back in 1994. In case you’ve never heard the story, it goes as follows.
After a day of boozing while doing some yard work, Julie wanted Trace out of the house, but Trace wasn’t leaving without his two kids (from his previous marriage), so he told her to leave. When he came out of the bathroom, Julie had that .38 special pointed it straight at him.
In response, he said:
“Give me the gun, or I’m gonna take it away from you and beat your damn brains out with it.”
Of course, that’s not the best way to talk down a woman who is aiming to kill you, and she ended up firing the shot.
He recalled feeling absolutely nothing when the bullet went through:
“Your body and mind does a beautiful thing. In order to protect you, it shuts down. You feel nothing. I did feel pressure, like someone was standing on top of me and I couldn’t catch my breath.”
Although the gunshot could’ve easily killed him, he was rushed to the hospital via helicopter, and doctors were able to save his life. He credits the Vanderbilt Life-Flight with the reason he is still alive:
“If I had been back in Louisiana, 50 miles from the nearest hospital, I’d be a dead man, no question.”
Obviously, the story has remained one of the most insane in all of country music history, and the “You’re Gonna Miss This” singer opened up about it during his recent appearance on Theo Von’s podcast, This Past Weekend.
After Von asked him if the story was actually true, Adkins would joke about the entire situation, saying that she took it “a little too far.”
“That took it a little far, I thought. That was uncalled for. That was totally uncalled for. Just leave. Let’s just call it quits; we don’t have to go that far.”
Theo would then ask him if he thought that Julie had the intent to kill him. Immediately, Trace would explain that he thinks she never actually wanted to kill her, noting that she most likely didn’t know what was about to happen when she pulled the trigger.
“I don’t think so, man. I don’t think she even had any idea what that gun was gonna do. I’d never seen her hold a gun; I’d never seen her shoot a gun. I knew she had one, but I’d never seen her use it. I had a bunch of guns — still have a bunch of guns… I don’t think she knew what was about to happen when she pulled that trigger. She thought it was a toy, you know?”
Adkins would then go on to explain how the bullet went under his left arm, near his pec, and went straight out under his right arm, causing him to go into shock since he doesn’t remember feeling any pain.
He’d also go into detail about just how close he was to dying that day. Calling it a “kill shot,” he’d note that it went through his heart and both of his lungs.
“It went straight through my heart and both my lungs. It was a kill shot. The doctors said the only reason I survived was because the bullet went through at point-blank velocity — at muzzle velocity — so it didn’t have time to mushroom. It was just muzzle velocity, so it went straight through.”
The 64-year-old singer/songwriter would then explain the long recovery process, which you can watch on the full podcast linked below.
