Neo-Traditional Torchbearer Joe Nichols Releases Honky-Tonk Heartbreaker ‘Goodbyes Are Hard to Listen To’ TODAY
Teaser Track Is First Taste of the Three-Time GRAMMY Nominee’s Next Studio Project
NASHVILLE, TN (Oct. 10, 2025) – QHMG / Quartz Hill Records’ multi-Platinum neo-traditional torchbearer Joe Nichols today released “Goodbyes Are Hard to Listen To,” an old-school-country barroom bawler and the first teaser track from Nichols’ next studio project, slated for release in 2026.
STREAM / LISTEN TO “Goodbyes Are Hard to Listen To” HERE.
WATCH the official visualizer video HERE.
A worthy sequel to “Brokenheartsville,” Nichols’ timeless Billboard No. 1 heartbreaker, new tune “Goodbyes Are Hard to Listen To” finds the three-time GRAMMY nominee in another lonesome bar on the bad end of a breakup. This time, his character is drinking whiskey for lunch and spinning sad old country forty-fives on the jukebox. Talking to the bartender, he says, I apologize ’cause I realize / That goodbyes are hard to listen to.
The song features a peerless honky-tonk-weeper vocal from the man Billboard has described as “country music’s finest vocalist in at least a generation.” Producer Mickey Jack Cones (Dustin Lynch, Runaway June) installs Nichols in his natural habitat—out front of a stone-cold country band replete with fiddle and steel guitar. The instant classic track was written by James LeBlanc, Jen Stegall and Jacob Lyda.
“Goodbyes Are Hard to Listen To” is the first new music from Nichols since the 2024 release of his 11th studio album, Honky Tonks and Country Songs, whose lead single, “Better Than You,” a duet with rising star Annie Bosko, demonstrated staying power as a Top 40 hit at U.S. country radio for 12 weeks (Mediabase).
In a recent interview with the nationally syndicated Big D & Bubba radio show, Nichols told the hosts that “Goodbyes Are Hard to Listen To” is a good representation of where his next studio project, due in 2026, is headed. He said, “I’ve got some really super country stuff to kind of go throwback for me ... to my early first couple of records.”
In the past two years, a renewed explosion in the popularity of ’90s and early 2000s country has seen Nichols riding a new wave of love and respect. Post Malone invited him to sing an onstage duet, Lainey Wilson referenced his “Brokenheartsville” in a new song of her own, and Billboard ranked Nichols in the Top 50 of its Top Country Artists of the 21st Century. Streaming platform Pandora recently presented Nichols with a Pandora Billionaire Plaque for surpassing more than one billion streams on the platform, and the RIAA recognized the hitmaker for achieving four Platinum-certified singles as well as one 2x Platinum-certified single—Nichols’ signature song, “Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off.”
- Joe Nichols’ October Tour Dates
- Oct. 10 | Broken Bow, OK | Tickets HERE
- Oct. 11 | Wappapello, MO | Tickets HERE
- Oct. 23 | West Des Moines, IA | Tickets HERE
- Oct. 24 | Nashville, IN | Tickets HERE
- Oct. 25 | Troy, OH | Tickets HERE
For a full list of upcoming shows, visit JoeNichols.com/Tour.
Neo-Traditional Torchbearer Joe Nichols Releases Honky-Tonk Heartbreaker ‘Goodbyes Are Hard to Listen To’ TODAY
Teaser Track Is First Taste of the Three-Time GRAMMY Nominee’s Next Studio Project
NASHVILLE, TN (Oct. 10, 2025) – QHMG / Quartz Hill Records’ multi-Platinum neo-traditional torchbearer Joe Nichols today released “Goodbyes Are Hard to Listen To,” an old-school-country barroom bawler and the first teaser track from Nichols’ next studio project, slated for release in 2026.
STREAM / LISTEN TO “Goodbyes Are Hard to Listen To” HERE.
WATCH the official visualizer video HERE.
A worthy sequel to “Brokenheartsville,” Nichols’ timeless Billboard No. 1 heartbreaker, new tune “Goodbyes Are Hard to Listen To” finds the three-time GRAMMY nominee in another lonesome bar on the bad end of a breakup. This time, his character is drinking whiskey for lunch and spinning sad old country forty-fives on the jukebox. Talking to the bartender, he says, I apologize ’cause I realize / That goodbyes are hard to listen to.
The song features a peerless honky-tonk-weeper vocal from the man Billboard has described as “country music’s finest vocalist in at least a generation.” Producer Mickey Jack Cones (Dustin Lynch, Runaway June) installs Nichols in his natural habitat—out front of a stone-cold country band replete with fiddle and steel guitar. The instant classic track was written by James LeBlanc, Jen Stegall and Jacob Lyda.
“Goodbyes Are Hard to Listen To” is the first new music from Nichols since the 2024 release of his 11th studio album, Honky Tonks and Country Songs, whose lead single, “Better Than You,” a duet with rising star Annie Bosko, demonstrated staying power as a Top 40 hit at U.S. country radio for 12 weeks (Mediabase).
In a recent interview with the nationally syndicated Big D & Bubba radio show, Nichols told the hosts that “Goodbyes Are Hard to Listen To” is a good representation of where his next studio project, due in 2026, is headed. He said, “I’ve got some really super country stuff to kind of go throwback for me ... to my early first couple of records.”
In the past two years, a renewed explosion in the popularity of ’90s and early 2000s country has seen Nichols riding a new wave of love and respect. Post Malone invited him to sing an onstage duet, Lainey Wilson referenced his “Brokenheartsville” in a new song of her own, and Billboard ranked Nichols in the Top 50 of its Top Country Artists of the 21st Century. Streaming platform Pandora recently presented Nichols with a Pandora Billionaire Plaque for surpassing more than one billion streams on the platform, and the RIAA recognized the hitmaker for achieving four Platinum-certified singles as well as one 2x Platinum-certified single—Nichols’ signature song, “Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off.”
- Joe Nichols’ October Tour Dates
- Oct. 10 | Broken Bow, OK | Tickets HERE
- Oct. 11 | Wappapello, MO | Tickets HERE
- Oct. 23 | West Des Moines, IA | Tickets HERE
- Oct. 24 | Nashville, IN | Tickets HERE
- Oct. 25 | Troy, OH | Tickets HERE
For a full list of upcoming shows, visit JoeNichols.com/Tour.