Hailing from Rogers, Arkansas [Joe Nichols] the unmistakable baritone voice that country music listeners and critics alike have come to love is truly one that stands out in our generation, enlisting him as one of country music’s finest vocalists. With an honest approach to the material that he records and an even more effective manner in the way he delivers it at his live shows, Joe Nichols has respectively earned a solid reputation as an engaging performer. 

With the release of a brand new album “Old Things New,” showcasing a very personal side to Joe that most have never seen before and a Broadway debut scheduled for early 2010, country music isn’t just a genre for Joe Nichols, it’s a lifestyle. The sky’s the limit and we look forward to watching him achieve it.

CSC had the great opportunity to sit down with Joe personally for an exclusive interview before his concert this past July in Bridgeview, Illinois, a suburb just outside of Chicago. We’d like to thank the staff at Triple 8 Management, Joe Nichols and his road crew for their generosity and accommodating demeanor. Joe Nichols is a treasure to Country Music and we know that you’ll enjoy this interview as much as we did doing it. God Bless. -Christian Scalise

(CSC) 1. Thanks for the visit! Please tell us about your brand new single “Believers” and what you’ve been up to lately.

(Joe Nichols)

Well lately we’ve been up to just finishing up the album. We’ve been working on the album for about eleven months. It’s been I want to say, the middle of May or June of last year since we started working on it. It’s now in completion. So that’s good! We’re sending out the first single named “Believers.”  It’s the single we got out there right now but more importantly I’m just focusing on the entire body of work, you know the whole album; what sticks out, what stands out. What came out like we expected. What came out better or worse than we expected. We’re just getting ready for this year. I mean this album is one of those that the more I listen to it, the more ideas and expectations and more upside I see. With some albums you pretty much just know what you’ve got, with this one I don’t know. I think there are a lot of hits on this album. I think we’ve come out with a really solid piece of work. So now, where do you go from there?!?  Now we just got to get it out to the masses. (Laughs) 

(CSC) 2. What can we expect artistically from your forthcoming album “Old Things New?” (It has been awhile since the last)

(Joe Nichols)

Well I think right now we’re just focusing on what we’ve got. I think we got some special moments on there. There’s a song about my personal struggle with addiction. It’s just a piano and a vocal we did in about twenty minutes. It took about three or four takes of me and a piano and singing a song about giving up booze. It’s not perfect, it’s not the best vocal in the world, tuned or anything like that, but it’s the kind of thing to me and it’s a special moment on this album. It’s a special moment in my career that I’m able to speak freely and artistically about something that’s very, very difficult for me. It’s something that I live every day. So I think that’s one of the better moments on the album. There’s some vocal stuff on the album that’s right in line with “Man with a Memory” or “Revelations,” some of the better vocal stuff I’ve done. There’s some stuff on here that just feels like big radio songs. I think we’ve got a mix of heart and commerce. 

(CSC) 3. If each album of yours is a reflection of the personal stages in your life, how would this new album relate to you currently?

(Joe Nichols) 

Oh man, I’d say there’s two different ways I’m gauging this out. One is its taking me so long to make this album. There are so many twists and turns along the way. So many songs cut out, so many songs that came along, that made it into the process. So personally just having completed the album, just as a work standpoint, it’s like “Ah, we made it to the finish line, and alright we’re done!!” Personally as far as the message if the album goes, the songs on this album, I think it’s more personal than anything I’ve ever done. I think there are moments on here that are revealing of me in a way that I’ve never been before. I never talked about my addictions through songs you know, like this. Like “Goodbye to an Old Friend” is the name of the song I’m speaking about. I’ve never done a song like this that’s that dead on, very visual, very graphic. So yeah, it’s something brand new, it’s more personal. I think the one thing I’ve heard most from people is people feel like they don’t know me. Whether it be country fans don’t know me that well or country radio, whoever. They feel like they don’t know me. I think this album takes a step towards resolving that. 

(CSC) 4. Next year you’ll be performing on Broadway in a production of “Pure Country.” What are you most looking forward to about that and how do you plan to balance your music career at the same time?

(Joe Nichols)

(Laughs) Well it’s going to require a lot of attention to detail. Making sure that we can cater to what I love most, which is country music. I love what I do out here on the road. I love touring, I love singing every night in front of a new live crowd, and you know the difference in last night’s show and this night’s show. I want to make sure the fans in country music are my priority. I want them to know that they are my priority. At the same time, I’m looking forward to an extremely new challenge. Going to New York, the one thing I’m looking forward to most is living in the center of the universe! (Laughs) It’s a pretty big city and I’ll have plenty to do. Going to New York and doing a show on Broadway is a huge challenge for me personally. I love to be challenged; I love to be in situations where I need to excel. I look forward to it; it’s going to be fun! 

(CSC) 5. It feels like traditional country music is a dying art lately, why is it so important to you to live, eat, and breath that style of music when your fellow peers are continuously crossing over to other genres?

(Joe Nichols)

Well to be honest with you, it’s not like I’d want to buck the system or anything like that. I love country music. I’m passionate about it. I’m passionate about the traditional side of country music. I want to pay tribute to guys like Merle Haggard, Gene Watson, and Keith Whitley. I respect those guys and I owe them my career. They taught me how to sing. I listened to their records. Falling in love with their music gave me a path to go down. Its comfort for me singing what I sing, and playing the music that I play. The traditional style feels like home. If I play Rock & Roll music or hot music or try to go one way or another, it becomes somewhat of a fake feeling an empty feeling. So naturally I’m just drawn to what I know and what I care about.

(CSC) 6. What would it mean to you to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry, and how does the Opry connect with you musically?

(Joe Nichols)

I think there are a lot of people in country music deserving of membership to the Grand Ole Opry. I think it’s a huge honor for people that are chosen to be members. At this point in my career, you know it’s becoming more and more about what I do and not what I’ve done, if that makes any sense. I can look back and say I’ve won this award, I’ve won that award, been on this show, been on that tour and sold these records and it’s almost like talking about an ex-girlfriend or something. It doesn’t have anything to do with what’s going on today or what I’m about to do. So I continue to keep my head forward, making the best record I can make. Staying true to myself and just enjoying everything I get to do and thanking God that this is my job. I think that that needs to be my focus. If the Grand Ole Opry comes calling one day, well I think it’d be a huge honor, as it should be for anybody in country music, traditionalist or not. But for me I think I’ve got to keep my head on this path and continue to do what I do.  

(CSC) 7. You’ve taken a great interest in the men and women who are serving our country. Tell me about your many trips to entertain them overseas!

(Joe Nichols)

Well I went to Iraq in June 2009. It was my first time in Iraq. I have tremendous respect, just from the physical side, of being a soldier or being a Marine in Iraq. The extreme weather conditions and going through the routine everyday. People carry 120 pounds of extra weight on their body with the armor, with the clothes and with the weapon. You know carrying that around with you in 130 degree weather is not fun but they do it every day and they don’t complain. They do it eighteen hours a day most days. They don’t get vacations, holidays and weekends off. They’re there to do a job and they do it twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year and I think that’s just commendable! They don’t have any other job. They don’t have anybody else on the planet that is dedicated to something they believe in, like the military. So that’s why I respect them.

(CSC) 8. Growing up, who were some of the artist’s male/female that inspired your interest in Country Music?

(Joe Nichols)

George Strait has been the guy. I’ve loved listening to his records since I was five or six years old. I guess about 1980 or 1981 I had my first George Strait record, a little white cassette tape. Merle Haggard, honestly, I think he’s probably the best singer that ever hit country music. I’ve mimicked his records since I knew I wanted to play music. My dad loved Merle Haggard. I don’t know if it was because my dad loved him or just because he’s that damn awesome! I just have always been a fan and always will be. Gene Watson and Marty Robbins are favorites too. We could go on for days! Keith Whitley, Randy Travis, Hank Williams Jr. I love me some Hank! (Laughs)

(CSC) 9. If you had the opportunity to do a duet with the legendary Jack Greene, what song do you feel would be the best choice, and what do you admire most about Jack?

(Joe Nichols)

Jack Greene? Oh I don’t know. He’s got “Statue of a Fool,” that’s obviously his biggest one. That’s a really good question. I have no idea what I’d choose to do as a duet with Jack Greene. I know he’s a singing son of a gun! Still is.   

(CSC) 10. What was the hardest obstacle you had to face when you first arrived in Nashville?

(Joe Nichols)

The hardest obstacle I faced was keeping my head in the game. I think the one thing that this music business [getting started and being successful] requires is a person being persistent and competent and just knowing that their on the right path, and that a couple of roadblocks are not going to deter them. I guess that was the hardest thing for me. I walked Music Row quite a bit, had a lot of appointments, a lot of people came out to see me play in those little showcase places and they always told me no. It was for one reason or another. Maybe it was something like, “One of my labels already has a traditional country singing male. All labels get one and we’ve already got our quota of country singing males” or “You know hey, we just put out a record on a guy like you.” You know it was any number of things, “You don’t wear a hat is the answer; we’re looking for a hat item, or something like that.”

Well I sat down with my guitar player at one point. He used to come to those meetings with me. We sat down and wrote on a napkin how many times we had been told no by whomever and it was thirty-one times! Thirty-one appointments we’ve made and they said “Uh, no” before somebody finally said, “I think we could do something with this.” So I don’t know if it was stubbornness or just getting out of my own way or just a mixture of all things, persistence, I don’t know. One of the guys that told me no is the president of the label I’m on now; the new president of the label. He’d probably kill me if he knew I was talking about this but he turned me down too, early on.

Well I’ll tell you what, nowadays in any business for that matter, they don’t leave a whole lot to chance. There are not a whole lot of risks taken. I know that the web is a powerful, powerful, powerful tool. It’s marketing with sales, just everything. I think that’s changed quite a bit over the past seven years since my first record came out. A lot of things have changed with labels now doing more of a manager’s role. They’re doing more hands on all facets of an artist’s live career. I think that shows you a sign of the times. They want to be more involved in all the revenue streams, of course the entire decision making and everything like that. That’s quite a change from where I started.

(CSC) 11. At this point in your career, what are you proud of most and what would you like to accomplish next?

(Joe Nichols)

You know the number one thing I’ve always strived for and I’ll still maintain that today, I want longevity. I want to be here in thirty years. Thirty years after my first record came out I want to say, you know what, I’m still putting songs out on the radio that people still like. I’m still making music I’m not disgusted by. I’m still doing what I love. Thirty years later, I’m actually able to send my child to a good school or able to afford her first car. You know things like that. That’s always been my goal, and still is my goal. The things that come along in the interim, you know the awards, or the big hit songs, or the big tours. Those things are awesome and they kind of protect that long term goal but at the same time, it’s just about staying power. Again, if you make good music, have a good team around you and do the right thing, then I think you’ve got a good shot at it.  

(CSC) 12. Lastly what is ONE thing about yourself that people would never assume to be true?!

(Joe Nichols)

(Laughs) I’m a rabid sports fan. I actually can do myself a lot of damage, blood pressure wise, just watching sports. I really, really get into sports and I’m actually kind of educated on a lot of that stuff. So I don’t know if anybody knows that about me. I’m really into any trivial stuff, small stuff, I’m a baseball fan, so small things even matter to me. Like I said, I can get pretty upset. (Laughs) A lot of the guys out here on the road with me and the guys that have been in my band for awhile have seen some major league fits, when my team doesn’t do well. I’m not one of those guys that are mean to other people about it. Those people suck! But I will actually go into hiding, go into exile if my team loses. (Laughs) I do take it to heart. I love pro baseball. I love college football probably the most and pro football, as well as basketball. It just depends on what time of the year it is. I follow it all. Not much of a soccer fan, never have been. Ironic since we’re playing in a soccer stadium today, of course I won’t be saying that from the stage tonight! (Laughs) 

Keep in touch with Joe Nichols on his official website here: http://www.JoeNichols.com follow him on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/JoeNichols

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