Trace Adkins worked offshore on oil rigs for ten years before making it in country music — and when he sliced off his finger on the rig, his first thought was about playing guitar. Six hours waiting for a helicopter to shore gave him time to tell the surgeon exactly how to fuse the joints so he could still play. His mom, still the mayor of tiny Serepta, Louisiana, made headlines by sentencing a local woman to six months of Sunday school.
Key Moments
Trace Adkins
“I cut my little finger off, but they put it back on and just fused all the joints together cuz it didn't work anymore.”
Trace explaining the lasting damage from cutting his finger off while working offshore on a drilling rig.
“I was playing guitar, you know, that was the first thing I thought when I cut it. It was like, 'Ah, man. I ain't going to be able to play guitar anymore.'”
Trace reflecting on his immediate reaction after cutting off his finger offshore, before he was even rescued.
“She sentenced the girl to go to Sunday school for 6 months and I called my mom and I was like you can't do that, you know, I'm pretty sure that's illegal. You can't make somebody go to church. And she said, 'Well, I did.'”
Trace relaying the story his daughter told him about his mother, Mayor Peggy Adkins of Serepta, Louisiana, issuing an unconventional sentence.
Trace Adkins is a Louisiana-born country music legend with six gold and platinum albums and hits including 'Every Light in the House' and 'You're Gonna Miss This.' He worked in the oil fields offshore for six years before breaking into music, and is currently on a 30th anniversary tour. He is known for his deep baritone voice and has maintained a successful recording and touring career spanning three decades.
Takeaways
1
Finger severed offshore, surgeon asked how to fuse it Trace Adkins cut off his finger on a drilling rig and waited six hours for a helicopter before reaching a hospital. When the surgeon asked how he wanted the joints fused, Adkins requested a guitar chord position — and it worked well enough to keep playing.
2
Louisiana's Napoleonic law protects buyers and heirs Louisiana is the only US state still operating under a civil law system rooted in the Napoleonic Code. Sellers must disclose known defects — no 'buyer beware' — and children under 23 are legally guaranteed a portion of any estate, meaning parents cannot fully disinherit young kids.
3
Small-town mayor sentences woman to Sunday school Trace's mother Peggy Adkins, mayor of Serepta, Louisiana, sentenced a woman involved in a minor drug offense to six months of Sunday school attendance. Trace called her to say it was almost certainly illegal; she replied simply, 'Well, I did.'
4
Oil rig work as a career launchpad before music Trace worked offshore on drilling rigs for six of his ten years in the oil industry, playing guitar in the wheelhouse at night for fellow workers requesting Haggard and Hank Jr. tunes. The job gave him both the time to write and the financial runway to eventually pursue a record deal.
5
Mill closures hollowed out small Louisiana towns Serepta's population has declined every year since its local mill shut down. The school lost its K-12 campus to consolidation, and Trace notes the same pattern of energy drain is visible across the South — from Shreveport to Amarillo — wherever industry left.