Evan Paul hosts Taste of Country Nights, On Demand, a weekly country music interview podcast that focuses on the music. Follow wherever podcasts are found, like Apple Podcasts and Spotify and leave a rating and review. ​​​​​​​​​​​This show is part of the Townsquare Media On Demand network. 

There's a certain mystique about Joe Nichols. He recently stopped by the studio in all black denim on denim and sat down to have a chat and play a song. I knew I had so many things I wanted to ask him, and I was ready to dive in. Man, did he deliver.

Joe has a new album out called Good Day for Living, and we talked about that. There's this one song called "I Got Friends That Do" with Blake Shelton — the two are longtime friends that go way back to when they first came to Nashville. Joe told me a story about how he and Blake were supposed to work together one day and write a song. They ended up going to a bar and getting drunk instead.

He also told me about a one-time verbal altercation he had with fellow country music artist, Mark Chesnutt, in an elevator. Apparently the story goes that Joe recorded a song that Mark was going to, but Joe had no clue about the backstory of the song, and they cleared up the situation before it got out of hand. That song ended up being "The Impossible," his first big radio hit.

A Mark Chesnutt song is critical to my other favorite part of this interview. In 2002, he released "She Was," and it was a fairly big hit and a really touching love song. Flash-forward to the modern day, and Joe can tell that Benny Brown — his Quartz Hill Records label head and the guy who gave him a second career at Broken Bow Records — really wanted him to cover it.

"He left the business to take care of his ill wife, Carolyn, such a sweet, sweet lady," Joe tells me. "The have such a great love story for 60 years. And she passed away — such a sad deal and it's heartbroken him tremendously."

Carolyn Brown died in October 2017 after a long illness.

"This song kind of resurfaced on his desk and he played it for me and I could see the emotion ... I said, 'Let me please do this for you on this record.'"

All-in-all, it was a really fun time hanging with Joe Nichols in the Taste of Country Nights studio. Check it out on the latest episode of Taste of Country Nights On Demand, wherever you listen to your podcasts.

As a bonus on this episode, we also got to sit down and chat with one of country music's brightest up and coming stars, Priscilla Block. Priscilla just released her debut album, Welcome to the Block Party and I got to chat with her about that.

One of the songs on her new album gave me major Kelly Clarkson "Since U Been Gone" vibes, so I asked her if she had ever gotten to meet her, and she hasn't yet. But she told me “I am going to meet Kelly Clarkson, I am going to tell her that she changed my life with ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ and ‘A Moment Like This.’ I’m going to see her and be like, ‘I have been dreaming for a moment like this!'"

Priscilla is so much fun to interview, I have gotten a few chances, and she is always so bright, happy and energetic. Check out my full interview with Priscilla Block on the latest episode of Taste of Country Nights On Demand wherever you listen to your podcasts.

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