The list of iconic country music acts that could take the stage for the final time in 2026 just added another name.
Trace Adkins teased this week that this could be the final year of performing in his illustrious career. The 64-year-old didn’t make it officially official, but he made it clear that retirement has been on his mind for a while.
In a recent interview with “Entertainment Tonight.” The singer was asked when if he would know when to step away, and he responded, “I knew 10 yeas ago. But my accountant was like, ‘No.’”
Taste of Country reported that Adkins was able to crack a smile about the accountant comment, so he certainly seems to be in a good place with the idea of winding down.
The outlet said that Adkins said he was “just proud to be here and glad that I’ve had fans that have stuck with me all these decades.”
“I’m gonna give ‘em another year,” he said of his current tour. “I do not have another 30 in me. I do not. I’m gonna give ‘em this this year. I’m gonna tour hard this year. But then I can’t promise anything after that.”
Adkins has had 13 studio albums. He released his first, “Dreamin’ Out Loud,” in 1996, and his last, “The Way I Wanna Go,” in 2021. He has had four Billboard number-one hits — “(This Ain’t) No Thinkin’ Thing,” “Ladies Love Country Boys,” “You’re Gonna Miss This,” and “Hillbilly Bone.”
He also has a long list of film and television credits.
If Adkins does walk away after this year, he will join an impressive list of performers who are planning on doing the same.
Alan Jackson wrapped up his retirement tour in 2025, and now the country music legend has just one show left in his career.
Jackson has announced that “Last Call: One More For The Road — The Finale,” will take place on June 27 at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium.
Also, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band began its farewell tour in 2024, and it recently released the schedule for the final leg of that which reveals its final show is scheduled for June 18 in Denver, Colorado.
The band is slated to celebrate its 60-year anniversary this year.
If folks are wondering why Jackson, 67, is calling it a career there’s good reason. A big part of the decision was simply his desire to spend more time with family.
“I’ve been touring for over 30 years, you know, played everywhere in the country and parts of the world,” Jackson said when he announced his farewell tour. “Have had a wonderful career, and getting into my twilight years, and all my daughters are grown, and I got one grandchild and one on the way. Enjoy spending more time at home, and don’t want to be away like I had to be in my younger days, and I don’t tour as much now as I did 10 years ago. But I think it’s getting time to start thinking about hanging it up full-time.”
That’s not the only reason for ramping the career down, though. The singer has been dealing with a rare genetic condition called Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. It is a chronic neuropathy condition that affects a person’s balance and ability to walk, and it apparently runs in his family. He cited that, too, while explaining why he was retiring this year.
“Most of my fans know I have a degenerative health condition that affects my legs and arms and my mobility that I got from my daddy and it’s getting worse,” he said. “So, it makes me more uncomfortable on stage, and I just have a hard time, and I just want to think about maybe calling it quits before I’m unable to do the job like I want to.”
That is sad news, of course, but the good news is that he is still well enough to go out there one more time and put on a huge final show because some major country music names are slated to take part with him. That list includes Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Luke Combs, Riley Green, Cody Johnson, Miranda Lambert, Jon Pardi, Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood and Lee Ann Womack. And there are reportedly more big names to come.
“We just felt like we had to end it all where it all started for me, and that’s in Nashville — Music City — where country music lives,” Jackson said.
As for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, while it is walking away from the road, it has left the door open that there could be more music down the road.
“This isn’t goodbye forever,” the band’s 2024 post on X announcing the farewell tour read. “But it will be the last fans see of multi-city runs and long bus rides.”
The three-time Grammy-winning band formed in 1966. The current iteration of the band includes Bob Carpenter, Jimmie Fadden, Jaime Hanna, Jeff Hanna, Ross Holmes and Jim Photoglo.
Jeff Hanna and Fadden have been with the band since the beginning. No surprise considering its longevity, there is a long list of past members as well.
The band’s first big break came in 1970 with “Mr. Bojangles,” and they have produced 25 albums through the years.
