Track Listing

1. Real Things
2. Another Side of You
3. Who are You When I'm Not Looking
4. Comin Back in a Cadillac
5. My Whiskey Years
6. It Ain't No Crime
7. All Good Things
8. Let's Get Drunk and Fight
9. Ain't Nobody Gonna Take That From Me
10. She's All Lady
11. The Difference is Night and Day
12. All I Need is a Heart
13. If I Could Only Fly (with Lee Ann Womack)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16775 in Music
• Released on: 2007-08-21
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
It's been five years since Joe Nichols took country music by storm, staking his own unique claim to time-honored tradition with his unforgettable debut single, "The Impossible." Today, Nichols is well established as one of country's most familiar and unforgettable voices.

With his third CD, Real Things, Nichols has outdone himself once again, crafting a record that, song-for-song, performance-for performance, never lets up and never lets go. With the debut single "Another Side Of You" already igniting at radio, Nichols fans are getting a taste of what's to come - a country album full of real songs, sung by a real artist, who's always been and always will be all about nothing but the REAL THINGS.

Amazon.com
On his fourth album, Joe Nichols has ample opportunity to showcase his vocal subtlety and soulfulness, which weren't much in evidence on his novelty smash "Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off." The acoustic arrangements and largely midtempo material puts the emphasis throughout on his weathered baritone, as Nichols balances his sensitive side--on the romantic "Another Side of You" and "She's All Lady" and the heartbreak "All Good Things"--with his good-ol'-boy side, on the uptempo "Comin' Back in a Cadillac," the anti-busybody "It Ain't No Crime" and the barroom singalong of "Let's Get Drunk and Fight" (a cut that recalls a notorious early Jimmy Buffett song). The bittersweet balladry of "My Whiskey Years" is reflective of the album's uncommon emotional depth, while the closing "If I Could Only Fly" (by the late Austin cult hero Blaze Foley) shows the artist's range. --Don McLeese

NY Times, August 27, 2007
Critics' Choice New CDs By THE NEW YORK TIMES

JOE NICHOLS "Real Things" (Universal Records South)

A year and a half ago Joe Nichols topped the country chart with "Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off." No points for guessing the general thrust; it was a drinking song. But he sang it slowly and tenderly, with a rueful chuckle. When he sighed, "She might come home in a tablecloth/Yeah, tequila makes her clothes fall off," it was hard not to think of the guy left behind, waiting for his lady to return.

You can hear more of that melancholy on Mr. Nichols's new album, "Real Things." This time around, the drinking song is called, "Let's Get Drunk and Fight," and it pays affectionate tribute to a volatile couple: "Have another piña colada, get good and tore down/And if you need a piñata, well, you can kick me around." At the end revelers whoop and holler, and you can't tell whether they're egging him on or making fun of him.

At a time when many young country singers aspire to rock stardom, Mr. Nichols is something of an anomaly. He prefers small gestures to big ones, and "Real Things" is full of elegant, understated songs full of charming details. In the title track, at the beginning, he extols the simple life, singing, "Rainy days, I love 'em, I always have." Then, near the end of the album, in "All I Need Is a Heart," he revises the thought: "Don't need another rainstorm," he sings, sounding sad and slightly peeved. (How could anyone sing about rainy days at a time like this?)

A judicious pause here, a half-swallowed word there: choices like that convey the charming impression that Mr. Nichols knows more than he is letting on; when he delivers a shameless pun ("If I wanna kick back and kill/A little time, it ain't no crime"), you can picture his sheepish grin. The one song he helped write, "The Difference Is Night and Day," is a well-made weeper, and the CD ends on a pleasingly old-fashioned note: Lee Ann Womack joins him to sing "If I Could Only Fly," a Blaze Foley song previously recorded by Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson. Wouldn't it be a satisfying surprise if it turned out that this low-key singer had made the year's best country album?

KELEFA SANNEH

Excerpts from "Real Things", on joenichols.com

Customer Reviews

Let's get drunk and fight...and sleep...
His voice magically fits to the ears of listeners of any genre. Moreover, there is not a single redundant song in this album, you can spin this one again and again day after another. Also, his band did a great job to form solid & balanced plays and they are recorded with fantastic sound distribution among the parts.

The very last song is not a traditional form, however, it is worthy of savoring the moment of that song with eyes closed.

My favorite is "let's get drunk and fight", a song for a beautiful night in a peaceful land, with which you can only smile and sing along again and again. Anyone who loved the song "Black and Blue" from Whitesnake will set this song as a ring tone of his/her phone.

When it all comes together..
Real things. Such an appropriate title. This record, unlike so many other pop/country releases you see week after week, is the real thing.

Joe Nichols gets a little bit of that naive, wide eyed, Rogers, Arkansas boy back with his latest release. Of all country releases this year, nothing can hold a candle to Real things.

From the very get-go of the title track, Nichols hooks you, and begins to reel you in with his smooth baritone. It is almost as if he is telling you his life story throughout every track.

With the sweet tenderness of "Another side of you" to the raucous honky tonkin "Comin back in a cadillac" Nichols leaves no feeling and emotion unturned. He seems to soothe and salve his own soul in the ballad "My whiskey years".

Nichols continues to show that he can let his vocal restraint go sometimes with the non-traditional sure fire hit "It aint no crime". But the best tracks are when he does show that restraint. Nichols does a great job of revving you up, and then slowing you back down with this offering. Going from the witty "Lets get drunk and fight" to the seemingly solemn "All I need is a heart" is proof alone if you dont believe me.

Nichols closes it all out with cult hero Blaze Foley's "If i could only fly" with Lee Ann Womack. A tune anyone who has ever loved can definately identify with. Nichols seems as if he is talking to you, and you cant help but listen.

Nichols all in all hits a home run with Real Things. On a scale of 5 stars, I give it about 12. In a world of country music where some folks just seem to pay lip service to country music's history and traditions, Joe Nichols uses it as his foundation. While it may not sell 4 million copies, Real Things is the best release of his career, and probably of the year.

However I believe we will all see Joe Nichols in country music's spotlight here in 2008, and well deservedly so. And when it all comes together, it will be something you dont want to miss.

great voice
Joe Nichols is a pleasure to hear in the country music or any other kind of music.