But a twist of fate prevented Adkins from being just a weekend musician. A chance meeting in Columbus with Don Walser's band, for whom Adkins's band opened, gave him a tip that the Derailers were in the market for a bass player. Adkins landed the gig and debuted on the group's third album, Full Western Dress, in 1999.
The Derailers recently released Genuine, their fifth CD since 1996. Though less aggressively honky-tonk than its predecessors, it still delivers fan-pleasing tunes influenced by 1960s Top 40 radio -- both country and rock/pop. If the Beatles had been a country-western band, they probably would have sounded a lot like the Derailers.