Not really a surprise they didn’t keep these for themselves… Trace Adkins released some absolute heaters back in the day. I grew up on songs like “Every Light In The House Is On,” “I Left Something Turned On At Home” and “(This Ain’t No) Thinkin’ Thing.” But for an artist with so many hits in his catalog (and one of the best voices in country music), Trace sure has some BIG misses too. The most obvious one is, of course, “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk.” Sure, it’s become kind of a cult classic now, but there’s no arguing that the song is actually good. And to make matters worse, it was the follow-up single to his 2005 hit “Arlington,” an absolutely beautiful song that pays tribute to our fallen soldiers. But what makes “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” even more confusing is that it was written by some of the best songwriters in country music. The monstrosity was penned by Jamey Johnson and Randy Houser, along with bro-country hitmaker Dallas Davidson. Yes, the same guy who wrote “In Color” and “High Cost of Living” wrote “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk,” the song that’s a punchline for people who want to make fun of country music. Makes no sense. But even worse, remember “Swing” from 2006? It was Trace’s next single, and it really made me question what was going on with Trace Adkins with its nonsensical baseball metaphors. Well that one was written by…Chris Stapleton. Mind-blowing. Of course “Swing” isn’t Stapleton’s only miss: He also wrote “Crash and Burn” for Thomas Rhett, which went on to become one of the biggest pop country hits of 2015. But luckily, Stapleton was smart enough to give those songs to other artists and just sit back and watch the royalty checks roll in, instead of actually recording them himself. And he’s also written some big hits for other artists. Stapleton credits Kenny Chesney’s “Never Wanted Nothing More” with buying him his first house. And he also wrote “Your Man” for Josh Turner, along with “Love’s Gonna Make It Alright” for George Strait, and Luke Bryan’s least offensive song of the past 15 years, “Drink A Beer.” Hard to believe that same guy also wrote these lyrics: “Hey baby, do you do come here often? (Strike two) Hey baby, now what’s your sign? (Strike three) Hold on now where you goin’? (He is out) Jimmy’s out, next in line Swing, batter, batter Swing, batter, batter Swing, batter, batter, swing Swing, batter, batter Swing, batter, batter Swing, batter, batter, swing” It doesn’t end there though. The next single for Trace Adkins was also written by Jamey Johnson…and while it’s not quite as offensive as the others, “Ladies Love Country Boys” can hardly be described as a masterclass in country music songwriting like we’ve come to expect from Johnson over the years. Then came “I Got My Game On,” which was pretty terrible…and once again, written by Jamey Johnson. The biggest offender, though, was “Brown Chicken Brown Cow,” which Trace released in 2011. While it wasn’t written by Houser, Johnson or Stapleton, it WAS written by one of the best songwriters in country music: Casey Beathard, the man responsible for songs like “Find Out Who Your Friends Are” by Tracy Lawrence, “Don’t Blink” by Kenny Chesney, and Eric Church hits like “Homeboy,” “Hell Of A View” and “Like Jesus Does.” It’s like they write these songs as jokes and artists actually turn around and record them. I’m sure the artists are glad that SOMEBODY recorded them (like I said, those royalty checks are nice), but man, how did these incredible songwriters end up penning so many terrible songs that were recorded by Trace Adkins? The post Some Of Trace Adkins’ Worst Songs Were Written By Some Of Country Music’s Best Songwriters first appeared on Whiskey Riff.