Alison Nichols is officially stepping into the spotlight and giving the world a taste of all the passion and deep-rooted talent she has to share with her heartfelt cover of Joe Diffie’s “John Deere Green.” This marks Nichols’ first release since signing with BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville.
This classic tune was first recorded by the late musical legend, Joe Diffie, who also happens to be Nichols’ cousin, making this release an extra special one. The addicting melody and sing-along worthy lyrics arrived in November 1993 and marked the third single from Diffie’s Honky Tonk Attitude album.
Countless artists have covered this beloved song over the years, but Nichols puts her own stamp on it with her vibrant vocals and further adds to its sentiment with her love for country music storytelling that spans generations. Plus, being one of the first Asian-American voices in country music, her recording of the classic (produced by Will Rambeaux) further showcases her mission to honor her family’s legacy while carving out her own space in the scene.
Speaking to Country Now, the rising songstress explained why it only made sense for her rendition of “John Deere Green” to be the introduction to her new chapter.
“I really wanted to, first of all, show my background, the mix of me being half Korean and half redneck and a hundred percent American, and so that’s kind of like my redneck side of the family. And just to honor country music and Joe [Diffie],” she shared. “That song, it’s a classic nineties song, and country music has always been a part of me and something that has shaped exactly who I am now. So it’s kind of my way of honoring all of those things and kind of telling my story without telling it.”
Although Diffie himself isn’t around to hear the newest rendition of the timeless love song, Nichols did have the pleasure of sharing a glimpse into the full new recording during her family reunion in Arkansas this summer.
“I had the mix, but not the master yet, but I showed them, it was pretty close. I showed his sister Meg, who was his closest sister, she managed him for a time, and her son, when he was a kid, he would take him to Billy Bob’s and let him be on stage and stuff like that. So they had such a close bond with him. So it was actually amazing for them to hear the song and to get their blessing on that. And then actually a week or so ago, I showed it to Kylie, who’s his youngest daughter…I showed it to her and I almost cried the way that she was like, ‘you did such justice to that song.’ So yeah, it was just really sweet to hear that from her, someone who was so close to him,” Nichols recalled.
Between her Georgia roots, her upbringing in Texas, and a family deeply connected to country music, it’s no wonder Nichols fell in love with the genre early on. It also seems inevitable that she would make her way to Nashville, especially given that her parents—her dad from Texas and her mom from Korea—met there at the Music City venue, Exit/In.
“My mom and my dad say that I came out of the womb singing, and so it’s just been something that I’ve always, it’s ingrained in me and I just feel like I’ve been moving to Nashville literally ever since I was a little kid.”
Along with that, she remembers hearing her family members gush over Joe Diffie and loudly declare their pride for him and his success during their grand reunions. Conversations largely surrounded what he was doing next and sometimes, Diffie even made an appearance to perform a few of his songs. Nichols saw this as an opportunity to learn from someone who knew how the industry worked.
“I heard that he was doing that, and I came and brought my guitar and I started playing…That was kind of me learning about Joe and country music at those get togethers, and I feel like hearing all those stories about him and then seeing him actually be a huge famous country singer in Nashville made me realize it was something that maybe I could do too if someone in my family was doing the thing that I dreamed of. So yeah, that was definitely a huge inspiration for me and a big reason why I’m recording this song,” she explained.
She also credited Miranda Lambert for being a major influence on her journey, recalling a memorable moment meeting the superstar when she was just a kid.
“I kind of discovered her, I guess when I was six and my mom took me to a show in Rossville, Georgia, and I got to meet her. That was back when she was doing ‘Kerosene,’ so she was pretty big for being so small at the time. I just thought she was larger than life, the coolest thing that I’ve ever seen, and I just remember staring at her and being like, ‘I want to be her when I grow up so bad. I want to do whatever she’s doing.’”
From that small interaction, Nichols’ eyes were opened to a whole new world and she wanted to be a part of it. That dream came true when she took the leap and moved to Nashville about five years ago. Since then, she has been writing, learning and developing a fanbase along the way.
Music lovers started to really take notice of Nichols when her debut release, “is it just me?”, became a sensation on TikTok, amassing over 4.6 million views. She kept the momentum going with her next release “HOOPS,” which has already surpassed one million views, and turned things up another notch by signing with BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville.
The video that really caught fire was one that captured Nichols performing “is it just me?” during an open mic night. During that session, she realized the former flame who inspired the story to be seated in the audience and listening to her pour out her heart about how his actions impacted her. After posting the video, she found that fans really related to that awkward encounter.
“That was insane at the time,” Nichols said of her reaction to the viral moment. “I think I was really frustrated with TikTok at that point. I had maybe a thousand followers or something and nothing was hitting at all, and so I just, frustratingly was like, let me just put this up there…that was my favorite song to play. But the guy that I wrote it about was there. And so yeah, so I put that in the caption because you could see it on my face that it was really awkward. I was a little bit like, oh my God, it was so detailed. That’s just how I write. And so I was trying to, I was avoiding eye contact.”
She added, “obviously going viral was really cool, but the coolest part was seeing all the people in the comments being like, ‘oh my God, this happened to me’ or ‘some guy ghosted me and this is how I feel. Is it my fault? I don’t know.’ And that’s exactly what I want to be doing with my music. So I was like, okay, this is a sign that I need to keep going. And that song really helped me catch Jon Loba’s ear over at BBR. And yeah, that changed my life really.”
Looking ahead, Alison Nichols says she excited to put out even more new music and showcase all the hard work she’s been putting into her songwriting.
“I’ll be coming out with more music. My original music songwriting is so important to me, so lot of more stories to come.”
The post Alison Nichols On Honoring Her Family Legacy With Heartfelt Cover Of Joe Diffie’s ‘John Deere Green’ [Exclusive] appeared first on Country Now.
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