Trace Adkins Does Double-Time At RNC

Trace Adkins at the Nightly Concert on the Vault Concert Stage LP Field Saturday, June 7 in Downtown Nashville during the 2008 CMA Music Festival.

Sept. 4, 2008 — Trace Adkins may not be as talked-about as John McCain at this week’s Republican National Convention, but he’s definitely getting some attention.

Trace has been tapped to perform the national anthem Thursday at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, where McCain will officially accept the GOP’s nomination for president. And Trace has already been seen on screen at a Sunday reception where delegates got an advance look at the movie An American Carol. Lee Greenwood performed at that event, according to Variety, as the spoof of liberals found the perfect launching pad.

The movie — featuring Kelsey Grammer, Jon Voight and Dennis Hopper, among others — is a rewrite of the classic A Christmas Carol. The new take has a Michael Moore-like figure rallying support to ban the Fourth of July as a holiday. He’s visited by three ghosts — representing George Washington, George S. Patton and John F. Kennedy — much as Ebeneezer Scrooge was haunted by ghosts in A Christmas Carol.

"I'm the guy who performs the same function that the Grim Reaper did in the Charles Dickens tale," Trace says. "He's showing this guy what the future could possibly look like and is trying to scare him straight."

An American Carol is set for release Oct. 3.

John Rich, Cowboy Troy and Gretchen Wilson also took part in the RNC last night. John and Gretchen performed the National Anthem while Cowboy Troy read the Pledge of Allegiance. Following that performance, John sang his new song, "Raisin' McCain."