Think of Maddie & Tae’s “Girl in a Country Song.” In fact, one of the trends that marked the Bro-Country era were songs that also tried to mock the sameness of country lyricism at the time, while still trying to appeal to that style. It’s got all those “cooler,” “coozie,” “beer can,” “beach,” “tan,” “little town” buzzwords shoehorned in there just like all of those vapid early Bro-Country songs. Party every night, throwin’ up their hands Workin’ on their tan, coozie on a beer can Loadin’ up their cooler, and they’re headin’ south, beach bound But along with its upbeat rhythm and attitude, it’s just a listy/Bro-Country song in disguise,Įverybody’s hookin’ up, gettin’ down, tearin’ up their little town Take the first song of the album, “Brokenhearted.” It purports to be a lament about how there are no more sad songs in country anymore to nurse a broken heart.
But really, what the songs of Good Day For Living hearken back to is the era right before the more hip-hop-oriented Bro-Country took over in full, where most every radio single was a “laundry list” or “checklist” song as we called them at the time. Bro-Country has already been on the outs even with mainstream listeners for a few years, some notable exceptions notwithstanding. If anything, the songwriting feels dated. One could accuse Joe Nichols of chasing the Bro-Country trend with this song selection, but that’s not really what’s going on here. It is the ultimate distraction and foil of an otherwise decent Joe Nichols album. And there’s a good balance of fun weekend songs, along with some more sincere touching songs on the album.īut if you feel a “but” coming on, it’s because much of the songwriting of this album is so incredibly list-tastic (“beer,” “truck,” “backroad,” et al.), it’s just hard to listen through and hold onto your dignity here in 2022. He’s a great singer of course, reminding you of Merle Haggard in the way certain inflections come through in the music. There is ample steel guitar, and twang in Joe Nichols’ voice. The songs are centered squarely around country themes. Good Day For Living is undeniably country. And right about the time you’re ready to give up on them entirely, lo and behold, they rip off a bunch of wins and reel you right back in. But dammit if they won’t let you down as they string some bad games together and break your heart. You’re gonna root for them no matter what, because in the past, they’ve conferred so much joy to you that they’ve earned that loyalty. Released in 2016, his 12th album, #MYNAMEISJOETHOMAS, is another classy affair that shows any wannabe player how it should be done.Joe Nichols is like your favorite football team. His pop crossover arrived when he joined Mariah Carey on 1999’s “Thank God I Found You.” And while the albums that followed included collaborations with Nas and G-Unit, he’d continually find ways to soften harder edges of his music’s hip-hop elements with a performing style more rooted in the soul and gospel music on which he was raised. Hits like “All the Things (Your Man Won’t Do)” and “Don’t Wanna Be a Player” established Joe as a hip-hop-era successor to ‘70s balladeers like Teddy Pendergrass and Barry White. That was immediately clear to listeners when Joe-born Joseph Lewis Thomas in Georgia in 1973-released his first album, Everything, in 1992. With his sultry, silky style and ability to smoothly shift between yearning vulnerability and seductive swagger, the R&B vocalist always comes across like a player with highly exceptional skills.
While Joe may sound sincere when he sings the title of his 1997 hit “Don’t Wanna Be a Player,” any suggestion the singer was giving up on love games was bound to be premature.
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