Adkins attended the local school at “Sarepta High School”, where he joined a gospel music group whose name was the “New Commitments”. He then attended the “Louisiana Tech University” in Ruston, but he didn’t complete his studies because he preferred to go to work. His first job has been at an oil rig, then he worked also as a pharmacy technician before starting to pursue a career in music. He moved to the Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma area to play live country music in “Honky-tonk” bars, and finally, in the early 90s, he went to Nashville, Tennessee, where he signed a contract with Capitol Nashville.

Adkins’ first single was released in 1996 with the title “There’s a Girl in Texas”, and it reached the Top 20 on the “Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks” charts. Later in the same year, Adkins released his debut album, “Dreamin’ Out Loud”, that contained many other songs that have been appreciated by people, and reached the Hit Parade ("(This Ain't) No Thinkin' Thing" reached the Number 1, while "Every Light in the House" and "I Left Something Turned on at Home" reached the Top 5. His other albums are “Big Time” (1997), “More...” (1999), “Chrome” (2001), “Comin’ On Strong” (2003), “Songs About Me” (2005), “Dangerous Man” (2006), “X” (2008), “Cowboy's Back in Town” (2010), “Proud to Be Here” (2011), “Love Will...” (2013), and “Something's Going On” (2017).
Adkins produced his music with Capitol Nashville till 2010, year in which he signed with “Show Dog-Universal Music”. He changed label again in 2015, when he moved to “Wheelhouse Records”.

During his long career, Adkins performed in many live concerts, but also in special occasions like the Macy’s’ Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2008 or the recording of the track “My First Ride”, together with the country legend Ronnie Milsap, to benefit American start of many sportive events, and he also performed in 2010 at the WWE’s annual extravaganza as a tribute for the soldiers in attendance. 

Adkins started hosting “SiriusXM radio show” in March 2015: it’s a weekly radio show in which they aire the songs of Billboard’s Top 30 country songs from the same week of the shot, but from a different year.

Adkins is famous also as an actor, having him played in many movies and also in many episodes of famous TV series like “King of The Hill” (2003, 2004, 2005), “My Name is Earl” (2005), “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” (2007-2009), “Ace of Cakes” (2010), and many more. 
The movies in which Adkins played are “Square Dance” (1987), "Trailer Park of Terror" and "An American Carol" (2008), "Tough Trade" and "Lifted" (2010), "The Lincoln Lawyer" and "Wyatt Earp's Revenge" (2011), "The Lincoln Lawyer" and "Wyatt Earp's Revenge" (2011), "A Country Christmas" and "The Virginian" (2013), "Moms' Night Out" and "Palominas" (2014), "Traded", "Deepwater Horizon", and "Stagecoach: The Texas Jack Story" (2016), and "Hickok" (2017). In many occasions he played in cameo roles impersonating himself.

Adkins has also been a contestant on NBC’s “The Celebrity Apprentice” in 2008, and on the “All-Star Celebrity Apprentice” show, being present in 12 episodes in 2013. During those competitions, he performed to raise money for the American Red Cross, a charity chosen by him because his daughter suffers from life-threatening reactions to peanuts, milk and eggs. In this last occasion he made a record, raising more than one million and a half dollars.