Joe Nichols – Crickets (2013/2018) [Qobuz FLAC 24bit/44,1kHz]

Joe Nichols – Crickets (2013/2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz  | Time – 54:38 minutes | 648 MB | Genre: Country
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: Qobuz | Front Cover | © Red Bow Records

“Crickets” is the eighth album from the Country singer/songwriter, Joe Nichols. The album was produced by Derek George and Mickey Jack Cones. Crickets includes the first single, ‘Sunny And 75’ as well as a cover of Merle Haggard’s ‘Footlights’. Thus far, Nichols has produced 14 Top 40 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts and looks to continue that streak with this album.

Amiable guy that he is, Joe Nichols adapts easily to a new surrounding – and 2013’s Crickets certainly does place the neo-traditionalist country singer in a new setting. A devotee of the Haggard/Travis/Jackson school, Nichols is savvy enough to realize that this kind of deeply felt country no longer really sells in 2013, so he treats his first album for Red Bow as an opportunity to reposition himself as a modern kind of guy, the kind who not only knows about iPods and chatrooms but will sing about them too. All of Crickets is peppered with these kind of off-hand references to the modern world, but Nichols’ true tell is the bright, affable sound of the record, how it finds a cozy middle ground between his burnished signature and the hyper-stylized, over-sized country of new millennial sports bars. Usually, Nichols seems at ease with the easy-rolling tunes – “Better Than Beautiful” is a sweet ballad that could’ve fit into the Urban Cowboy era – but when the tempo is perky without being sprightly, the production crisp without gleaming, he sounds chipper and affable too, as on “Hard to Be Cool” and “Sunny and 75.” So much of the success of Crickets depends upon Nichols’ inherent likability – a crutch he’s relied on before, when the traditionalist well started to run dry – and in this irrepressibly cheery context this nice-guy attitude is no doubt an asset, as it gives the slickness humility. But no matter how well Joe Nichols wears these new clothes, all it takes is a smooth, understated cover of Merle Haggard’s “Footlights” to remind us that his true strengths are rooted in the past, not the present.

Tracklist:
01 – Yeah
02 – Hard To Be Cool
03 – Y’ant To
04 – Hee Haw
05 – Just Let Me Fall In Love With You
06 – Baby You’re In Love With Me
07 – Better Than Beautiful
08 – Gotta Love It
09 – Sunny And 75
10 – Love Has A Way
11 – Smile On Mine
12 – Open Up A Can
13 – Billy Graham’s Bible
14 – Old School Country Song
15 – Footlights
16 – Crickets

Download:

mqs.link_JeNichlsCrickets20132018Qbuz24441.rar