(Photo : REUTERS/Gus Ruelas)
The Louisiana native has charted over 20 singles on the Billboard country music charts, but what about the stories behind the scenes? Here are 8 things you didn't know about Trace Adkins ...

 1. Trace filed for divorce from his wife of 16 years, Rhonda Forlaw Adkins, on March 26, 2014.

 2. He became a grandfather on June 6, 2012, when his oldest daughter gave birth to a son.

 3. Trace is an official spokesman for Hightower's Country Smoked Sausage.

 4. When Adkins met Ray Charles, he was too tongue-tied to even speak!

 5. His home in Brentwood, Tennessee was completely destroyed by a fire on June 4, 2011.

 6. His second wife, Julie, shot him during a domestic dispute in 1994. The bullet went through his side, penetrated both lungs and his heart. He said that he lived only because his house was so close to a hospital. He never filed charges, believing that the divorce was "closure enough."

 7. He got his big break while singing at Tillie's & Lucy's Pub in Nashville after being spotted by the president of Capitol Records' country division.

 8. Back before country stardom, Trace worked on an oil rig off-shore. While trying to open a bucket with a knife, he sliced his pinky finger off. Doctors were able to reattach it.

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