Songoftheday 8/22/23 - My dad chased monsters from the dark he checked underneath my bed, and he could lift me with one arm way up over top his head...

 

 

"The Impossible" - Joe Nichols

from the album Man With A Memory (2002)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #29 (three weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 6

 

Today's song comes from Joe Nichols, who grew up in Rogers, Arkansas (coincidentally the city where the first Walmart was located), Coming from a working class family, Nichols pursued country music early, and was signed as a teen to the independent label Intersound Records. He released his self-titled debut there in 1996, but neither that nor the four singles from it, including his first, "Six Of One, Half Dozen Of The Other", made any dent in America, and he was dropped.

After a misfired second contract and taking on regular work to pay the bills, Nichols was signed to Universal South (Universal Records' country imprint) at the close of the 90's, but it wouldn't be until 2002 for his sophomore effort, Man With A Memory, to arrive. The lead single from the set was the parable ballad "The Impossible". Written by industry pros Kelley Lovelace and Lee Thomas Miller, the first verse explains a strong father's ability to break down with loss, while the second has a schoolmate that was paralyzed and the strength to walk again. This leads to the bridge which has Nichols tying these "feats" to keeping a relationship together, which seems kind of milking the moment, but hey, Joe sweetly delivers the medicine, so it does go down better than it could have been. The production by veteran Brent Rowan give a nicely subdued backdrop to Nichol's buttery-smooth voice. And with model looks and that hair, Joe found himself with his first breakthrough moment...

"The Impossible" became Nichol's first song to cross over to the top-40 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 in September of 2002. On the radio, the song spent a hefty 36 weeks on Billboard's Country Songs radio chart, with three of those at #3. The Man With A Memory album, released in July of that year, peaked at #72 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, but stayed on the list for a full year, going on to sell over a million copies, while getting to #9 on the Country Albums list, lingering there for two years. At the Grammy Awards in 2003, Joe was nominated for Best Male Country Vocal Performance, losing to Johnny Cash for his dour "Give My Love To Rose", while "The Impossible" was up for Best Country Song, which Alan Jackson took home for "Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning)". The Man With A Memory album was also nominated for Best Country Album, which went to the (Dixie) Chicks for Home. 

Both Nichols and the Man With A Memory album will be back to the series.

(6/10)

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Here's Joe performing the song for a radio gig...

And lastly, in concert in Florida...

Up tomorrow: Rapper calls his mother.