The crowds were the biggest that Cape Fear Vineyard & Winery had experienced all summer as legendary country artist, actor and crowd favorite Trace Adkins came to town with special opening band guest Brooke McBride. This line of people came from the south and you couldn’t tell where the line started. There was another one just like it coming from the north. Traffic was finally shut down except for emergency only vehicles and some people walked a great distance to just get to the gate.
Mark DeLap | Bladen Journal
CFV&W GRAND FINALE
There was time for selfies and many pictures from the crowd who were waiting for hours before the concert began. As the doors opened at 6 p.m. there was great excitement from Adkin’s Army who were dedicated fans who had come from all parts of the United States.
Mark DeLap | Bladen Journal
Brooke McBride and her band were the special guests of Trace Adkins appearing at The Cape Fear Vineyard & Winery. According to her bio page at brookemcbridemusic.com, “She was acknowledged as a Carolina Music Award nominee for “Best Female Country Artist” (2013), a featured extra on the hit ABC Television series Nashville, and she made an appearance in the promotional commercial created for the 2013 CMA Awards (Nashville).” She left a lasting impression on her hometown crowds and made everyone proud of being from North Carolina.
Mark DeLap | Bladen Journal
Country recording star and actor Trace Adkins took the stage Saturday night for the final outdoor concert series performance of the 2025 season. His booming baritone voice brought goosebumps in the soaked crowd who had endured a 45 minute gully-washer that blew threw Elizabethtown before the concerts began.
Mark DeLap | Bladen Journal
Trace Adkins opened his concert with the song, “I’ve Got My Game On,” and the ironic part of that was that he really did have.
Mark DeLap | Bladen Journal
Country recording artist, actor and giant of a man Trace Adkins brought his band to Cape Fear Vineyard & Winery Saturday night for the final concert of the 2025 summer concert series. The crowd was one of the biggest that this venue had ever seen.
Mark DeLap | Bladen Journal
ELIZABETHTOWN – The final concert of the 2025 summer outdoor concert series is in the books for Cape Fear Vineyard & Winery and both bands that performed were not disappointed.
The concert doors opened at 6 p.m. but people began lining the street outside of the vineyard’s gates shortly after 1 p.m. By the time the doors were open, you couldn’t see the end to the line of fans that went both north and south and were brought into two different gates.
The crowd not only endured the hours of waiting, arms filled with chairs, umbrellas, water bottles and other sundries, but did it all under a heat index of triple-digits. Spirits were high and the anticipation of seeing multi-platinum recording artist and actor Trace Adins was at a fever-pitch.
The front seats filled up fast until there was nary a seat to find, but before anyone could take the stage, it was learned that on short notice, a third act was booked to go on before North Carolina native Brooke McBride. It was Jordan Oaks, who is a Nashville recording artist who grew up in New England while his roots run deep in the south and has opened for people like Joe Nichols, Clay Walker and Rodney Atkins. This was to be his big night as a pre-opener for McBride and Adkins.
The ever-changing North Carolina weather did not agree with or consent to the opening lineup as one minute it was humid bright sunshine and the next people began to grab their phones as the sky from the north became black and angry. It took only moments to see that it was going to be the opening act.
The sky gave a belch of thunder and unloaded a gully-washer on to the grounds of the outdoor venue. People were scrambling to get equipment covered as others just tried to “take cover.” People were using chairs from the venue over their heads for protection while some were just closing their eyes, securing their seats and enjoyed the driving rain, thinking perhaps that they would have quite a story to tell their children and grandchildren.
Music was still being piped through the driving rain, people were dancing in the mud and they were all just… makin’ a memory. The 45-minute soaker was enough to cool down the humidity and the only disappointment is that due to a lack of time, Oaks had to be cut from the lineup.
People had come from other states and the Adkins Army of faithfuls showed up in droves. After the rain went south, the sky came out with some of the most incredible backgrounds you could imagine – and perfect for the music of McBride and her band who did many popular covers. Listening to McBride’s southern stories in that gorgeous summer sky made the southern people remember those kinds of summer nights and thanked God they were country kids as they knew in their hearts that nobody could appreciate it more.
An interesting sidelight of the night was the highly publicized and social media grapevine news that White Dog Entertainment’s Joey Schultz was a year older and mobs of people came looking for hugs and to offer well-wishes. McBride stopped in the midst of her show for a special country Happy Birthday song for Schultz who was no doubt listening from the shadows.
And then it was time. People had seen him on their television sets, at movie theaters and on their car radios – but for many it was a chance to see the country music legend live – in the intimate venue of CFV&W. The crowd “out-bellered” the thunder heading into the distance and the large 6’6” giant of a man walked slowly out of the shadows into the red spray lights on stage and stood for a moment with his head down and waited for his que.
As he sang the opening words to his song “I’ve got my game on…” you could feel the oversized subwoofers quiver with power. From that point on, summer went out with a bang and the big man with a giant heart had everyone on their feet – their boots and summer sandals all sloshing and kicking in the mud creating a type of country Woodstock.
“I’ve got to the point where it’s all up to me now,” said Adkins, “I can do whatever I want… and that’s a beautiful place to be.”
Adkins who debuted in 1996 and is celebrating 30 years of success in music, television and film with over 20 movies to his credit including “I Can Only Imagine,” “The Lincoln Lawyer,” “Deepwater Horizon” and most recent role in “I Can Only Imagine 2” released in February of this year.
With a Sam Elliott-esc and unmistakable voice he has sold over 11 million albums and has charted 20 songs on Billboard’s all-genre Hot 100 and some of his number-one hits include “This Ain’t No Thinkin’ Thing,” “Ladies Love Country Boys,” “You’re Gonna Miss This” and “Hillbilly Bone.”
Among his many awards are AMC Top New Male Vocalist (1997) and has been nominated for four Grammys.
“I’m looking forward to seeing everyone at Cape Fear Vineyard and Winery this month,” Adkins said the week before the concert. “North Carolina is always one of our favorite tour stops and I look forward to their hospitality every time I come through. Will be a good one. Hope to see you there.”
In addition to Adkins, the crowd was also be able to hear special guest McBride who, according to her website, (https://www.brookemcbridemusic.com/bio) is a “North Carolina native defined by her raw, sultry and smoky vocals as her signature; her rockin’ live performance is “country music at its best with a razor edge.” Brooke made the move to Nashville, Tennessee, in January 2013. She studied at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and transferred to Belmont University (Nashville, Tennessee) where she earned her B.B.A. in Music Business and graduated Cum Laude.”
Navigating the traffic jams from that little venue road was perhaps the hardest part of the night, but oh, the new stories they must have told on their way home.