Those writing eulogies for traditional country music were heartened by the emergence of Zach Top. His debut single, “Sounds Like the Radio,” brings to mind the heyday of Alan Jackson and Randy Travis. However, it isn’t just listeners who welcome the warm nostalgia of Top’s material. For ’90s country mainstay Joe Nichols, the “I Never Lie” crooner has breathed new life into his career.
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Joe Nichols Returns to His Roots
With the release of his new song “Goodbyes Are Hard to Listen To” this week, Joe Nichols declared, “Let’s bring back country.” During a recent appearance on the Drifting Cowboy podcast, the “Brokenheartsville” crooner, 48, credited Zach Top for helping facilitate that return.
“You know, it’s funny. I think the younger guys have helped me,” Nichols said. “For me to break through with something traditional country would not be nearly as easy as it is for, like, a Zach Top, right, who’s doing some traditional country stuff. And in a weird way, it’s opened doors back up for me.”
Just 19 when he landed his first record deal, Joe Nichols broke through in 2002 with his No. 3 single “The Impossible.” He would follow up with a string of No. 1 hits, including “Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off” and “Sunny and 75.”
[RELATED: Exclusive: Joe Nichols Cranks Up ‘Country Boy’ On New Album, Annie Bosco Duet]
Zach Top Has “Let This Old Guy Back In”
But as the landscape of country music began to shift in the early aughts, Joe Nichols grew used to hearing the same common refrain.
“You know, when they tell me, ‘You’re too country for radio. You got to compromise, you got to sing the ‘Sunny and 75s’—which, I love that song, by the way,” said the Arkanasas native. “But, you know, I can’t have a catalog full of those because I don’t think that represents me.”
The ACM Award-winning artist kept meeting resistance when he tried releasing songs that felt authentic to him, like the 2013 track “Billy Graham’s Bible.”
“It’s just not a format that really has traditional country anymore,” Nichols said. “And Zach Top’s kind of kicked that door down for us, and it’s kind of let, you know, this old guy back in.”
Catch a young Zach Top covering Joe Nichols’ 2002 hit “Brokenheartsville” in 2018 below.
Featured image by Omar Vega/Getty Images
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