"Rough & Ready" is the title of a song recorded by American country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 artist Trace Adkins

Trace Adkins

Tracy Darrell "Trace" Adkins is an American country music artist. He made his debut in 1996 with the album Dreamin' Out Loud, released on Capitol Records Nashville. Since then, Adkins has released seven more studio albums and two Greatest Hits compilations...

. It was released in April 2004 the second and final single released from his 2004 album Comin' On Strong

Comin' on Strong

-Personnel:As listed in liner notes.*Mike Brignardello – bass guitar*Trey Bruce – percussion, programming*Pat Buchanan – electric guitar, harmonica*Lisa Cochran – background vocals*J.T...

. Although the song was not a top 10 hit, it was certified gold

Music recording sales certification

Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...

 by the Recording Industry Association of America

Recording Industry Association of America

The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...

 (RIAA). It was written by Blair Mackichan, Brian White, and Craig Wiseman

Craig Wiseman

Craig Michael Wiseman is an American country music songwriter. Active since the late 1980s as a songwriter, he has had his songs recorded by Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Kenny Chesney, LeAnn Rimes, and several other acts....

.

Critical reception

Deborah Evans Price, of Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

magazine reviewed the song favorably, saying that it "fits Adkins' larger-than-life personality and Louisiana roughneck past." She says that Adkins "launches into the rapid-fire lyrics with gusto" and that he "goes for broke with a terrific vocal performance - and the spoken asides he tosses into the mix are hilarious."

Music video

The music video was directed by Michael Salomon, and features NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

* NOTE: References to "Earnhardt", "he", and "him" refer to the subject of this article, unless otherwise specified. References to his father will include "Sr."...

It also features Jennifer Lee Wiggins as Kate.

Chart performance

"Rough & Ready" debuted at number 56 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs for the week of April 17, 2003. > >

Chart (2004)	Peak position