Joe Nichols photo courtesy of Universal Records South.
Joe Nichols 2007 CD, Real Things. Photo courtesy of Universal Records South.
August 1, 2007 — If you want to know what's on Joe Nichols' mind these days, just listen to his music.
In a time when demographic data, chart potential, cultivated images and other "industry" concerns so often decide the final cuts on an artist's album, Joe's music has always maintained a refreshing honesty with a very personal point of view. Bottom line: Joe's gonna sing how he's feeling.
"With success being such a factor in music, it's hard to find yourself when other people are telling you what's good," explains Joe. "I've been fortunate to keep 'me' in the kind of music I like to do."
Fans will be thrilled to know that trend continues on his fourth album and new CD, Real Things, a collection of songs from a man on the verge of entering into a new phase in life. Case in point is the first single released from the album, "Another Side of You" — a song that will introduce listeners to a different side of Joe.
"It's about loving the little things about a woman that nobody else would notice," Joe says. "What you are going to miss the most if you ever lost the person that you love. I've never sung anything like that, or even thought about it until this song."
And what inspired this new point of view on love? It is not too difficult to connect the dots to a special woman that has become a major part of the singer's life — his girlfriend, Heather Singleton. In fact, the pair was recently spotted in a Nashville bridal shop, where it was reported a certain white, ceremonial gown was purchased.
Joe remains tight-lipped about a future trip down the aisle with the Texan beauty, but when asked if he could have recorded "Another Side of You" without Heather in his life, he has a quick answer.
"I try to stick to doing stuff that I know because I think that it does show," says Joe. "The listener will always know if that guy is telling a lie. I could not have done this in the first person singing, 'I love this about you,' without her coming along."
[Ed. note: On September 9, Joe married Heather in a candlelight ceremony attended by family and close friends. The couple opted for a traditional wedding at the historic Whitfield Chapel in Savannah, Ga., and now reside in Nashville, Tenn.]
A look deeper into the album reveals the first single is not the only song that seems to benefit from the "Heather Effect."
"Who Are You When I'm Not Looking" has a man longing to know all the little things his woman does when he's not around, which Joe believes is the highest form of flattery. "You know, forget the throw pillows on the bed. I want to know what music you listen to when you're in the bathtub soaking. I want to get to know you as well as you know yourself."
A few tracks later, we find "She's All Lady," a song about a musician in a new relationship who finds the temptations a certain woman offers out on the road no longer so tempting.
Other highlights of the album include a countrified celebration of relaxation with "It Ain't No Crime," the rollicking "Let's Get Drunk and Fight," as well as "The Difference Is Night and Day," a song co-written by Joe.
Then of course, there is the title track, a simple yet powerful listing of images that remind us it is the little things that make life so worth living. Stone fireplaces. Screened-in porches. Grandma's kitchen.
"My outlook on the world is in that song," says Joe. "The real things I learned about at an early age, it's what's important. The older I get, the more apparent that becomes to me."
Real Things is an album signaling a time of reflection and change for an artist, but the new music is proof that one fact remains the same. Joe Nichols is the real deal.
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