Joe Nichols photo by Jon Smith, courtesy of Universal Records South.

Joe Nichols has titled his next album Old Things New, and it’s an appropriate name on several levels. For one, it stylistically balances old-school country with the genre’s current tone. For another, it’s the first time he recorded a CD since he underwent alcohol rehab.

Joe approached his music with a clearer mind than ever before. But that meant that when doubts crept into his mind, he couldn’t use liquor to numb his fears. As a result, it took 11 months to make the album.

“Everything was a sober thought for this album — very clear, very difficult, very difficult,” he told the national radio show GAC Nights: Live From Nashville. “A lot of emotions, a lot of questions. At one point in the middle of this album, I was like, ‘Man, can I even sing? I don’t think I can sing anymore. I don’t even think I’m good enough to do this album. This is really bothering me.’ At one point, I was like, ‘Man, I really don’t think I’ve got it anymore at all’ — wondered if I ever did have it or if it was just booze talkin’ to me all the time. But that’s some of the questions that I asked myself through the making of this. That’s part of being clear-thinking. You have to ask tough questions.”

Joe leaned on his wife, Heather, for support and reassurance, and he ultimately came to realize that part of being an artist is feeling the emotions in the material and living with the discomfort they create. Old Things New has some gospel influences, some Merle Haggard threads and a couple of songs that reference his own battle. And it’s the best album he’s yet recorded.

“It’s a special album for a lot more than just the music,” Joe said. “It’s a special album ‘cause this is like a triumph on my part, and my wife’s part. [It’s a] triumph on everybody’s part that we pulled this out the right way.”

Old Things New will be released Oct. 27.

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