Adkins hasn't missed a performance and doesn't expect to after briefly returning home from Alaska following the fire to check on his family. "My wife (Rhonda) and kids, they're the only ones I'm concerned about," Adkins said. "And it's a huge adjustment for them. I think they're still in shock.» A faulty power strip under a workbench in the family's garage was the cause of the fire.

Adkins takes a «that stuff was just stuff" attitude. But the loss does enter his mind often and sometimes from strange angles. "I realized I needed a shave and I had to go buy some razors," Adkins said. «Just little things like that, you just don't even think about it and then all of the sudden you say, 'I need ... oh, I don't have that anymore.'" His excitement over "Proud to be Here" leavens some of the emotional upheaval in his life.

He calls it his favorite album "in a long time," and thinks it shows the kind of range he finds satisfying, from straight-up country to R and amp;B-flavored songs and deep blues.