Joe Nichols: Marriage Made Him a Man

Joe Nichols on the Grand Ole Opry stage in April 2008. 2008 Copyright Grand Ole Opry® Photo by Chris Hollo, Hollo Photographics.

Sept. 14, 2009 — Last week, Joe Nichols celebrated the second anniversary of his marriage to Heather Singleton. The two were friends for years before they tied the knot, so she knows very well what makes him tick. And because she’s adamant about telling him the truth — even when it hurts — he’s finally made the transition into adulthood.

"The biggest change for me is I’m a grown up now," he told the national radio show GAC Nights: Live From Nashville. "Bein’ a single guy, I wanted to be a child as along as possible, and do just whatever I wanted to do and just live like that. Now ... I’m grown up. I take responsibility for things, I try to be on time for things and I really work at what other people around me need more than myself most of the time. I don’t know. I think about others. I definitely think about her before me. Every chance I get. Sometimes I screw up. I’ll get back into my own immature, childish ways. She’s there to kinda go, ‘Hey, man, that ain’t you. What’s goin’ on?’ That’s the biggest change for me, just kinda growin’ up."

Another change is in store for Joe. He’s set to star on Broadway for the first time in the theatrical adaptation of the George Strait movie Pure Country. Joe will share the stage in the 2010 production with Lorrie Morgan. In the meantime, his new album, Old Things New, comes out Oct. 27.