"Six of One, Half a Dozen of the Other" Released: 1996
"Wal-Mart Parking Lot Social Club" Released: 1996
"To Tell You the Truth, I Lied" Released: 1996
"I Hate the Way I Love You" Released: 1997
Joe Nichols is the debut studio album of American country music artist of the same name. It was released on August 27, 1996 by Intersound Records, it produced the singles "Six of One, Half a Dozen of the Other", "I Hate the Way I Love You", "To Tell You the Truth, I Lied", and "Wal-Mart Parking Lot Social Club". None of these singles charted on the BillboardHot Country Songs charts in the U.S., but "Six of One, Half a Dozen (Of the Other)" reached number 74 on the RPM Top Country Tracks charts in Canada. It also reached #63 on the Cash Box Country Singles Chart. "She Could Care Less" was previously recorded by Shenandoah on their 1994 album In the Vicinity of the Heart.
The album was re-issued twice: first in 2002 as Six of One, Half Dozen of the Other on Row Music Group, and again in 2003 as The Early Years on Infinity Nashville. The 2003 re-issue featured the tracks in a different order, as well as a bonus DVD featuring four videos.[1]
David Sokol of New Country magazine rated the album two-and-a-half stars out of five. He compared Nichols's vocal delivery to that of Garth Brooks and thought the songs were "delivered with poise and integrity", although he also thought the album was strongly targeted to teen-aged fans.[2]
Under its reissue title of The Early Years, Stewart Mason of AllMusic wrote, "The songs are solid post-Alan Jackson mid-'90s Nashville country with a little more depth than the average hat act of the era, and there are a few minor gems here like the dryly humorous 'Wal-Mart Parking Lot' and the fine country-rocker 'She Could Care Less.'"[1]
Track listing (Joe Nichols and Six of One, Half Dozen of the Other)