Music

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Country

By: Staff Writer

12/12/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Joe Nichols

Old Things New (Universal South)

Arkansas bred Grammy nominee Joe Nichols has returned from a stint in rehab sounding refreshed and ready to conquer the charts once again.

On the title track Nichols sings of "strummin' my D-18 and hummin' a Haggard tune" and there's a lot of that Hag influence (as well as Gene Watson) in both Nichols' pure country voice and his choice of material. However, like Alan Jackson and George Strait, he has a knack for making the traditional sound contemporary at the same time, allowing his music to reach a broad audience. Not only is the music traditional, so are the themes, with songs of love and pain, hope and faith and tunes about both drinkin' and not drinkin'.

Sometimes soulfully heartfelt, often infectious but always country, Nichols fulfils the promise of making old things new (including a live version of Let's Get Drunk and Fight and a totally unnecessary dance remix of Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off). 'Ö'Ö'Ö1/2

-- Bruce Leperre

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 12, 2009 C4

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