By TIMOTHY FINN
The Kansas City Star

In his new single, “Marry for Money,” country music star Trace Adkins plays a guy who has decided it’s better to marry for practical reasons like wealth than emotional reasons like love: “I don’t really care if she loves me/She can even be ugly/I’m gonna marry for money ...”

The song is off Adkins’ latest record, “X” — as in 10 — which was his 10th album in 12 years (including hits compilations).

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“Money” isn’t the first time Adkins has had a hit with a slightly off-color novelty song. In 2005 “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk,” a song about women with large butts, rose to No. 2 on the country charts. (It also included the line: “Whoo-wee, shut my mouth/Smack your grandma/There oughta be a law …”)

Adkins, who performs Friday night at the Midland at AMC, recently talked about how he decides to record certain songs, how most country fans understand those kinds of songs and how the economy is affecting his profession.

Q. You have been making records for more than 12 years. Have you significantly changed the way you pick songs to record?

A. I don’t think it has changed that much from when I started out. I find a song I want to cut and do it. There have been a couple of instances along the way where I’ve compromised and cut something the label really wanted me to cut, but those have been very few over the years. And I don’t think any of those ended up being singles anyway. So it hasn’t changed. I still cut songs that say something I can sing with commitment, whether it’s a humorous song or a sad song. It has to be something I can sing without feeling hypocritical. It has to be personal with me.

Has the label ever stopped you from recording something?

No. They’ve never gotten in the way. When I came in, Scott Hendricks was president of Capitol Records, and he kind of ruined me. He let me do what I wanted to do. The subsequent heads of the label have had to deal with the way I operate. I say, “This is the way I do it. It’s the way I was told I could do it when I came in.” So I’m kind of grandfathered in on the deal.

Was there any apprehension about your recording “Marry for Money”?

No, none. But I don’t think they even considered the possibility of it being a single until they came to a show and saw the crowd reaction to it when we did it live. The crowd got it, and they laughed. (The label) said, “Wow, that could be a single.” I don’t worry about any of that too much. I’m a country music fan, too, and I’m pretty much dialed into what most country music fans will accept.

You’ll be in town for a show at the Midland, a theater. But you’ve played amphitheaters and arenas, too. Which do you prefer?

I hate to say this because it costs me money, but I kind of prefer the smaller, intimate settings. I’d rather do a show that’s more of “An Evening With …” as opposed to a huge arena show. Don’t get me wrong: Those are cool, too. You get a great adrenaline rush when 20,000 people are there. But the smaller shows … there’s a more personal vibe, and I like that more.

Talk about the music industry and the economy. How does an artist handle it, knowing it’s tough for a lot of people to afford tickets and recorded music?

Everybody is swimming upstream now. It’s every man for himself. Everyone is trying to survive, trying to keep working.

I’m really lucky. I did 140 shows last year, and we had an end-of-the-year wrap-up before we broke for the holidays, and I told everyone: “I’m not gonna work so much next year. I’m gonna do half the number of shows; 140 was too many.”

So for me it’s fortunate. I decided to slow down, and it coincided with the whole economic slowdown.

Has the economy changed how you run your tours?

I haven’t always made it a habit to really and seriously thank the fans for spending their money on us, but I do that now. I do a couple of songs, and when I stop to say hello I really do take the time to say, “I know what it cost you to come here, and I know how things are. Thank you. I really appreciate it.”

How plugged in are you to the price of tickets on your tour?

I usually don’t get involved with the prices. The people I’ve worked with over the years have always been pretty mindful that I want fans to be treated fairly and I don’t want to gouge anyone. I can’t gouge anyone anyway. If I charged real high prices, no one would be there.

What are your fans going to get for their money at the Midland show?

Well, I plug in a few of the new things to give people a taste of what they’re like. But when I go on stage and do a full show like this, you can bet it’s going to be a greatest-hits show. I know as a fan when I go to hear George Strait, I wanna hear “The Chair” and stuff I’ve heard on the radio over the years, and I think that’s what my fans expect, too.