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Joe Nichols Says He Would Drink “A Gallon Or Two Of Whiskey A Day” Before He Got Sober: “I’ve Done A Lot Of Apologizing”
Thank goodness he survived, honestly.
You probably recognize Joe Nichols’ name from some of his early 2000s hits like “Brokenheartsville,” “She Only Smokes When She Drinks” and “Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off,” and he’s continued to put out great music over the years, although it’s unlikely you’ll hear his newer stuff on the radio these days, which is a crime in and of itself, but I digress…
Joe appeared on the Drifting Cowboy Podcast this week, where he talked about getting his start in country music, how he got some of his early record deals, and what it was like being a struggling artist in Nashville.
He talked about all of his wild antics, which were mostly induced by his heavy drinking for many, many years. Nichols says he would get into fights with other artists, and just to crazy stuff because he was hammered all the time, and when I say hammered… I mean that Nichols says he would drink a gallon or two of whiskey a DAY, at the least:
“It was hardcore. A gallon or two of whiskey a day, at least. And that went on for years, and you can imagine the craziness that comes along with that. So I’ve done a lot of years of apologizing, you know, and kind of repairing a lot of my reputation with friends…
Miraculously not in jail or or dead or something. Yeah, just showing my a** for years.”
It really is a miracle, but we all know how the country industry specifically glorifies drinking, and there are plenty of artists who have had extremely difficult struggles with alcohol.
That sounds nearly impossible to even do, but he was very honest in talking about his struggles and all he went through before finally putting the bottle down for good.
Nichols explained that he had tried many different things to stop drinking over the year, but it was a simple prayer that inexplicably changed his life, and he’s been sober for seven years now. He says God showed up for him that day and he hasn’t had the desire to drink since, which is hard to believe considering he says he was “obsessed” with it prior to that:
“But actually, seven years ago Tuesday or Wednesday, seven years ago, drank my last drink. Seven years. And if you knew me, October 1st and before 2018, you would not believe that. That is just a very unlikely thing to ever happen.
So when we talk about God showing, up I could not do that myself. I tried to quit drinking many, many times. Every physical thing, every barrier I could put in my life, I did to keep myself from drinking, and I just couldn’t or wouldn’t. And man, one day, with the suggestion of another person, I really truly got on my knees and and I asked God to remove whatever this is in my brain that will not let me function without thinking about drinking.
Whether I was drinking or not drinking, I always thought about it, and was obsessed with it somehow.”
He says there was no “a-ha moment” or anything like that, and Nichols explained that “God showed up” for him that day and he hasn’t had a drop of alcohol, or even thought about it, since:
“And I’m kidding you not, that ended that day. I mean, I’ve done other things along with that, but that’s when something happened in my brain that I can’t explain. And I’ve asked doctors to explain it, like, how did this just automatically leave my brain? It doesn’t make sense.
I didn’t take a pill for it there was no a-ha moment, like a Zen moment, like, I finally figured out the secret of life. It was just I did that one thing. I asked God to remove this from my brain, and He did. And I can’t explain it other than, God is real and He showed up and showed it to my face.
And He went, you asked, here you go, and I haven’t thought about that since. I do not think about that. That’s just wild to me.”
It’s an incredible story, and testament to his faith and how there really is hope for anyone, no matter how dire your circumstances might seem or feel.
The entire conversation with Joe is great, he comes across as so down-to-earth and kind, and I highly recommend checking out the episode here:
The post Joe Nichols Says He Would Drink “A Gallon Or Two Of Whiskey A Day” Before He Got Sober: “I’ve Done A Lot Of Apologizing” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.
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