Welcome back, Joe.
If you’re in your mid-30s like me, the music of Joe Nichols was probably a big part of the soundtrack to your teenage years. After releasing his debut album in 1996, Joe really burst onto the scene in the early 2000s with his second full-length album, Man With a Memory.
The album produced some of my favorite songs of the decade: Songs like “Brokenheartsville,” “She Only Smokes When She Drinks,” and the (very underrated) “The Impossible.”
He managed to follow that one up with a string of hits like “What’s A Guy Gotta Do,” “Gimme That Girl,” and of course “Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off.”
But unfortunately after around 2014 Joe seemed to disappear from country radio, after parting ways with his longtime record label Universal, in 2012. Despite releasing a couple of albums on Red Bow Records, a partnership between Broken Bow Records and Sony’s RED Distribution, he never seemed to find the radio success that he had earlier in his career.
And it’s a damn shame considering how many great songs he had.
Well luckily for us, Joe Nichols is BACK – and from the sound of his new music, he’s picking up right where he left off.
Late last year, Joe announced his first album since 2017, Good Day for Living, would be coming out February 11, 2022.
At the time of the announcement he dropped the first track from the new album, “Screened In,” a good old fashioned nostalgic drinking song that was reminiscent of the Joe Nichols music I grew up with in the early 2000s.
He’s dropped a couple of other songs, “Home Run” and “I Wanna Be Your Tonight,” in the lead up to the new project.
And then this past Friday we got the title track, as well as the first radio single from the album, “Good Day for Living.”
Written by Dave Cohen, Bobby Hambrick, Neil Mason, it’s the kind of feel-good song that Joe does so well – one that fits him perfectly and one that will probably take you back to some of the Joe Nichols songs you loved back in the early 2000s.
So while Joe might not have been on the radio as much the past few years, and while he hasn’t released an album since 2017, it’s nice to see that not much has changed with his music. It’s the same ole’ Joe Nichols that we all loved, and he’s jumping right back in without missing a beat.
I’ve said it for awhile: Country music needs more Joe Nichols. And I’m glad we’re finally getting it.