Urban cowboy Nichols cruises up country charts
The phrase “country music” used to hold certain expectations of its male singers.
Country guys were burly yet sensitive cowboys who sang about drinkin’, fightin’, shootin’, lovin’, leavin’ and heartbreak.
Joe Nichols’ popularity may have broken that stereotype for good.
Why? Here’s a clue from his list of “favorites” on his press release: No. 1 – Merle Haggard.
All right, Merle’s pure country.
Favorite No. 2 – Arkansas Razorbacks. Somebody pass him a High Life.
No. 3 – Seven Jeans. Seven Jeans? Those sell for more than $200 per pair at Neiman Marcus, which is, traditionally, not very country.
Let’s skim down to the bottom here … favorite No. 7 – sushi.
OK, point taken.
Nichols, who plays Northern Quest Casino on Saturday at 8 p.m., is not a traditional cowboy country artist. Like his metrosexual peer Keith Urban, he’s not a stereotypically gruff representative of the blue collar working man.
He looks kind of like Keanu Reeves at the end of “Point Break,” dresses as if he borrows his high-priced wardrobe from “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” and, according to Country Music Television, designs and decorates the inside of his tour bus as if he watches nothing but “Trading Spaces.”
But he sounds like a mix between Alan Jackson and Joe Diffie, and it’s that voice mixed with his country-pop sensibilities – OK, and maybe his looks – that make him a country music star.
In 2002, Nichols dropped “Man with a Memory,” which went gold in 2003. Since then, his career’s been a whirlwind.
His work on that album snagged him Grammy nominations for Best Country Male Vocal Performance in 2003 and 2004, Best Country Album in 2003 and Best Country Song in 2003. He also has won awards from the Academy of Country Music, Country Music Television and the Country Music Association.
His latest single, “What’s a Guy Gotta Do,” has skyrocketed to No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot Country Chart.
And he’s not slowing down – Nichols was nominated for a 2005 CMT Most Inspiring Video of the Year award for “If Nobody Believed in You,” from his latest album, “Revelation.”
Now, the Arkansas native may be a fashionista with a flair for interior decorating, but with those bragging rights, even Haggard has to agree that Nichols proves modern country lives by a different set of rules.