The headline-grabbing gimmick on
Never Gets Old,
Joe Nichols' eighth studio album, is a countrified cover of
Sir Mix-A-Lot's 1992 booty classic "Baby Got Back." The fact that
Nichols brings in country comedian Darren Knight to perform a riff as his Southern Momma character is a giveaway that
Nichols doesn't take this track too seriously -- and the fact that he can't be bothered to find a way to get this to work beyond eight lines from the original is a telltale sign that he didn't work too hard on it -- but it nevertheless captures his considerable charm and skill. From the outset,
Nichols distinguished himself by balancing traditional country with modern concerns, a sensibility that's mellowed into the easy touch he shows on
Never Gets Old. In tone and sound, the 2017 record is a sequel to 2013's Crickets -- it even contains a new version of that album's "Billy Graham's Bible" -- but that only signals how
Nichols is beginning to settle into a relaxed middle age. He's not one to rush the tempo -- when things get quicker, as they do on the jangling "So You're Saying" and a version of
Dierks Bentley's "Diamonds Make Babies," he just brings it toward adult-oriented crossover pop -- but he's also too young to rely only on old ways. Sometimes this manifests in a track with a distinctively modern bent, like "Tall Boys," which is fueled by a rhythmic R&B loop, but it usually amounts to
Nichols sounding nimble and connected. Few country singers would sound as believable singing about
Tom Petty and Appletinis as
Nichols does here. He's an old-fashioned guy who is happy living in the modern world, and that's why
Never Gets Old is so appealing: It feels familiar yet fresh. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine