Twice in country star Trace Adkins [ tickets ]' career, he has received honors that he felt were undeserved. The first was when he was named a member of the Grand Ole Opry.

"I didn't know what I had done to really deserve that, and was really humbled and honored by it," Adkins told LiveDaily.

The second was an award he won March 27: the 2007 USO Merit Award. The organization paid tribute to Adkins during the 25th Annual USO Metro Awards dinner in Arlington, VA, for his dedication to helping soldiers. Adkins honored the armed forces in his song "Arlington," and traveled into combat zones to personally perform for the troops.

"What I do in comparison to what our troops and the people who serve do--what I do is miniscule, is trivial," Adkins said. "But I was very honored and appreciative, and it was a great night, a great evening. I got to sit and have dinner with the First Lady and chairman of the joint chiefs. It was an overwhelming event."

Adkins' latest album, "Dangerous Man," surfaced last August and hit the top of the charts. The CD produced two singles, including "Ladies Love Country Boys" which topped the country-singles chart for two consecutive weeks. The video also occupied the No. 1 position on country-music network GAC position for nine weeks.

On a day off, Adkins talked to LiveDaily about golfing, how he chooses songs for his albums and producing a track on "Dangerous Man."

LiveDaily: How's the tour going so far?

Trace Adkins: I've kind of been on a break for the last three weeks or so. We did one show this past weekend. We're just kind of doing a few things here and there. We're not on a solid tour right now.

Are you looking forward to playing the upcoming Country Thunder in Arizona (set for April 12-15)?

I always enjoy coming out there. I enjoy the golf. It's a great festival, getting to hang out with a lot of other acts during the day. It's fun. I like those things. The only other time we get to see other artists, friends of ours, is at award shows or things like that. It's not too often we get the gang up and hang out together.

Are you a big golfer?

I like to play golf. I'm not good by any means. I've gotten decent enough over the last few years that I don't embarrass myself when I play with good golfers. But, yeah, I just enjoy golfing. Those desert courses are particularly challenging. I've always fancied myself as being a pretty good athlete all my life, playing all these sports. I didn't pick up golf ... until I got a record deal. [My manager] suggested I learn to play golf because a lot of music-business deals are done on the golf course. I found it really frustrating and humbling. You can be a good athlete, but golf can really humble you.

On your latest album, you produced one of the tracks, "I Want to Feel Something." Why did you decide to head behind the desk?

A lot's been made of that. But I've produced a few things over the years, pre-production stuff, a couple of things here and there. I pretty much co-produce everything I do, anyway. I'm in the studio with the producer all the time. I have a lot of input. All the producers I've worked with, none of them have discouraged that. I have never put my name on it because I really don't really need that. This was just a situation where I went in the studio with a couple songwriter buddies of mine and I just said, "Let's just go in the studio for a day, work in a studio that we all like, with an engineer that we all like, some catering we all like, some pickers we all like, and let's just hang out and have fun for a day and waste some of Capitol's money. If we come out with something good, great. If we don't, we have a good time."

It worked out well for you.

Yeah, that's the way we went into it. It was just a real relaxed, just having a good time kind of thing. Just me and some buddies of mine hanging out and having fun just making some music in the studio. We came out with two or three pretty good things.

Is that the way your recording process usually works?

Usually, it is. You get in there with a really good producer and things might get a little more serious. I don't ever really approach it that way. It's just music.

What do you look for in songs when you're choosing tunes for your albums?

It's always about the lyrics for me first and foremost. After that is groove and melody. But it's always a lyric-driven thing for me.

Did you know "Ladies Love Country Boys" was going to be a hit when you heard it for the first time?

I knew that was a hit. I'm a country-music fan, and when I hear a song and it appeals to me and I think it's a hit, it has a commercial appeal, it probably is.

Back to your USO award, what kind of conversation did you have with the First Lady?

You know, you just try to be very polite and quiet and just try to be as graceful as she is, which is impossible. She's a sweet, graceful lady. She's so sweet. You just sense that when you're in her presence. I was just trying to make sure I used the right fork and stuff. [laughs]

What was it like to work with Dann Huff on your new album? I've heard so many great things about him.

Dann's great. Dann is a musical genius. Legitimately, he is. I don't think that's an overstatement on my part. Everybody knows that about Dann. He's a phenomenal producer and he's a great guy to work with. And I've always enjoyed being in the studio with Dann.

You've been lumped in with the traditional music category as opposed to the pop/country category. Is that something that's also important to you, to carry on the traditional country feel?

Not really. That's not something I'm conscious of. When I begin making a new album, it's not anything I think about. Maybe if some people think that about me, that's fine. It's not a concerted effort on my part to carry the torch for traditional country music. I just record whatever I feel like recording, whatever I want to do, and, you know, if somebody can fit that neatly into some little package and call it something, that's fine. I don't really concern myself with that, though.

Have you started working on a new album?

Yeah, Frank Rogers and I have gone in the studio. We've cut six songs already, and another month or so we'll go in and do the back half and have it in the can.