‘Catch of the Day’ – Joe Nichols – “Undone” [AUDIO]

Today we feature an artist who is of Cherokee descent, born and raised in Rogers, AR; an artist who learned to capitalized on the contacts he's met by chance.

At age 19, Joe Nichols had an accidental meeting with Nashville producer Randy Edwards, who advised the young singer to work on his song-writing skills. It quickly led to Nichols' signing with Intersound Records, a burgeoning Nashville Indy label. He released his debut, self-titled album in 1996, led by the single "Six of One, Half a Dozen of the Other". The single performed poorly and the album didn't sell, so Nichols was quickly dropped by Intersound.

In 1999, Nichols met Brent Rowan, a Nashville session guitarist who helped Joe gain work as a session vocalist. It was these sessions that led to Nichols being "discovered" by Universal South Records, leading to the 2003 release of his second album, Man With a Memory. The album featured the lead single "The Impossible", which would peak at #3, but still rank as the tenth-most played song of the year by Billboard Magazine. The album and single would go on to earn Nichols the ACM Award for Best New Male Vocalist, along with three Grammy nominations and Platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America. The album also feature Nichols first number 1 hit "Brokenheartsville" and two other top-20 hits, "She Only Smokes When She Drinks" and "Cool to Be a Fool".

Nichols would go on to release five more album with Universal South/Universal Show Dog Records, producing 10 more singles, 5 top-10 hits and a pair of #1's. In 2009, Universal and Show Dogs spilt-up, ending their 7 year partnership. Nichols went with Toby Keith's Show Dog International label, and after releasing a greatest hits compilation in 2011, it released the album It's All Good later in the same year. A lone single from the album, "Take It Off", was released, peaking at #25. Soon after, Nichols parted company with Show Dog.

In 2013, Broken Bow Records was looking for a feature artist for its new label Red Bow Records. Nichols had been working on a new album, hoping to release it quickly to avoid loosing contact with his fans. He met with several larger record companies, but not had the urgency for his music that he had and wanted from a record company. After meeting with Broken Bow, he felt the urgency from the label he felt, and signed with Red Bow to fill their featured artist void. The album, Crickets, would become one of his greatest successes, spawning the #1 hits "Sunny and 75" and "Yeah", along with the top-25 "Hard to Be Cool".

Nichols has just put the finishing touches on his second album for Broken Bow, in time to head out on the road for the summer. The second single from the as yet unnamed project is in our spotlight today. Joe Nichols and "Undone" is today's Catch of the Day, new music you haven't heard, but you'll want to hear it again.