Who Is Joe Nichols? The Story Behind His Journey to Country Music

“I always had the bug to sing a little bit,” began the Arkansas native. “My dad had many jobs, but one thing he did on the weekends was he played music, and a lot of my family members played music. It was mostly country music. I kind of always wanted to be a singer. I watched him play and he was a great singer.”

Growing up on country music, Nichols recalls trying to emulate the greats that came through his airwaves. Artists like George Strait, Merle Haggard, Randy Travis, and Keith Whitley influenced him and his singing voice at an early age. “Those guys taught me how to sing. I always gravitated towards the more baritone, traditional country guys.”

Nichols took his love of music with him throughout his life, and when he hit high school, he found himself at a crossroads. “I decided my life was going into two directions, either music professionally or a baseball player professionally. Both of those things were incredible long-shots, but I kind of leaned into music, and then put together my first band around 18 years old.”

The Turning Point:

At just eighteen years old, Nichols was primed for success, playing gigs around his home state and beyond as much as he could. A year into grinding in the music scene, he earned his first independent deal. “When I was nineteen, I put out a couple of songs with a video attached to it, and had a little bit of success,” shared the singer. Adding, “It gave me a little taste of wanting to do something bigger, so I moved to Nashville. I beat the streets for a good solid four, five years, and in 2002 I got my first major-label release with Universal South called, “The Impossible.” […] I had my first number one on R&R charts.”

Once he finally landed in Nashville, Nichols was clear-eyed and ready to make his dreams come true. “We were kind of off to the races then. We had peaks and valleys, and top of the top and low of the lows, over the last twenty-two years,” shared the artist.

Throughout his time in Nashville, Nichols achieved recognition by radio, garnered millions of loyal fans, and shared many new projects. “As far as my career goes, I think I’ve had technically six number ones, five if you only count billboard number ones. […] It’s been incredible. I’m still here, making new music. […] My goal always was to do this for a living for twenty years or more, and people are still coming up to see the show and stream my music. That’s all I ever wanted.”

Today:

Flash forward to today, Nichols is still making music, and has no plans to stop any time soon! The singer most recently released his new album, Honky Tonks & Country Songs featuring eleven new songs including an incredible remake of the Hank Williams Jr classic, “Country Boy Can Survive.”

“We started recording back in October 2023, and we put together a good pile of five or six songs to feel out the direction we wanted to go with this album,” shared the singer. “What kind of formed organically, was a little bit honky-tonk music and kind of 90s throwback music. We have some two-stepping songs, line-dancing songs, and that’s kind of the feel we went for. There’s some new, kind of progressive sounding things, including the single, “Better Than You,”. The single is kind of a new, 2024, radio-sounding song, and then we got a 2024 version of “Country Boy Can’t Survive” that’s pretty rocking. There’s a lot of stuff that feels like early 2000s, late 90s. It was a really explosive time for country music.”

The record as a whole showcases Nichols staying power as an artist. There are songs for the more modern country fans, just as there are songs for the more traditional fan. Nichols music stands the test of time. To stay in the loop ant catch the singer on the road, head to his website here for tickets to his shows!

Connect:

To keep up with Joe Nichols, follow him on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Joe Nichols’ music is available everywhere you buy or stream music. Take a listen below and check out more new recently released tunes on our ‘New Country Music’ playlist. Be sure to give the playlist a follow for your weekly new country music fix.