III
Though previous releases established Joe Nichols as a traditionalist of uncommon vocal subtlety and emotional depth, the featured tracks onIIIare comparatively lightweight. Both the album-opening "Size Matters" and the first single, "Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off," attach suggestive titles to material that is more like playful hokum. The former stresses the importance of a big heart; the latter concerns a girl who gets innocently careless when she's out barroom dancing. (If Nichols isn't embarrassed to sing the lines "Them panty hose ain't gonna last too long/If the DJ puts Bon Jovi on," he should be.) Yet much of the rest of the album reinforces his stylistic strengths, with "Talk Me Out of Tampa" evoking the conversational phrasing of primeMerle Haggard, "Should I Come Home (Or Should I Go Crazy)" channeling the inspiration of retroGeorge Jones, and "I'll Wait for You" wringing every last tear from a stone cold country weeper.  As Patty Loveless did onDreamin' My Dreams, which came out a month earlier, Nichols also coversSteve Earle's "My Old Friend the Blues," which appears on its way to becoming a contemporary country standard.--Don McLeese