Man with a Memory

1	The Impossible
2	Joe's Place
3	Brokenheartsville
4	She Only Smokes When She Drinks
5	Everything's a Thing
6	That Would Be Her
7	Cool to Be a Fool
8	Can't Hold a Halo to You
9	You Can't Break the Fall
10	You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet
11	Life Don't Have to Mean Nothin' at All
12	Man with a Memory

Barnes & Noble

Man with a Memory marks the debut of a new label, Universal South, and a new artist, Arkansas-born Joe Nichols. Label and artist both have a winner. Nichols's smooth, laconic delivery and medium-cool timbre could hardly sound more like George Strait -- and at a few junctures his emotive vocals recall the young Hag -- but this artist is, to quote a Strait hit of yore, a man on his own. In his original songs and his choice of covers, Nichols evinces an interest in content rather than formulaic production. His breakthrough single, "The Impossible," is a slowly building cry for reconciliation based on the inevitable reality checks occurring as the seemingly impossible actually comes to pass. Nichols co-wrote "Everything's a Thing," an infectious bit of country funk that endorses the Einsteinian notion that God doesn't play dice with the universe but rather designs every event in life for a reason. Another Nichols collaboration, the love ballad "Can't Hold a Halo," is buttressed by acoustic guitar and exquisitely rendered pedal steel moans. The spoken-sung shuffle "Life Don't Have to Mean Nothing at All" is a wry bit of commentary on contemporary social follies in the grand tradition of Roger Miller. Man with a Memory is an impressive start, and if Nichols continues to develop his voice as a writer in addition to covering sharp songs like those here, he'll be around a long, long time. Take note. David McGee

All Music Guide

From the looks of him -- long, unkempt hair and wrinkled jeans jacket over a black T-shirt -- on the cover of his major-label debut, Man With a Memory, you might expect that Joe Nichols aspires to be the next Kris Kristofferson-style Nashville rebel. Appearances can be deceiving, however. Vocally, Nichols sounds like Alan Jackson trying to make like George Jones, and he sings Nashville country songs played by Music City session players. The album's lead single is "The Impossible," a piece of country philosophy about how impossible things happen. In the first verse, the narrator's apparently invincible father turns out to be able to feel pain after all; in the second a paralyzed friend learns to walk. Most of the other songs range from barroom weepers ("She Only Smokes When She Drinks") to expressions of romantic devotion. Tom T. Hall's "Life Don't Have to Mean Nothing at All" is a particular highlight. William Ruhlmann