Freaks Like Me by Joe Nichols

Album: single release only (2015)

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This single was released to digital retailers on September 18, 2015. "'Freaks Like Me' is about being unapologetically proud of who you are and not worrying about being cool or what the other people think of you," said the Arkansas native. "I'm a traditional guy, and some people don't think that's necessarily cool, but that's all right. I'm a freak to some people, but that's who I am, and I'm proud of that."
The song was written by singer-songwriter Josh Thompson, Monty Criswell ("I Saw God Today," "Like Jesus Does") and Lynn Hutton ("Did It For The Girl," "Cold One.").

The genesis of the song lies with something Monty Criswell's then-4-year-old daughter, Audrey, said. Reacting to a man pushing his way ahead of them at an open door during a Cracker Barrel visit, little Audrey commented to her grandma: "He's not much of a gentleman, is he?" They noticed that the suitably admonished male did hold the next door for the ladies. The story was related to Monty Criswell, who thought the decline of time-honored values among large chunks of the population could be the idea for a song. "The majority of people have become the minority," he told Billboard magazine. "But I believe they're probably the majority still in country music."

Criswell attached the 'Freaks Like Me' title to his idea and brought it with him when he met with Lynn Hutton and Josh Thompson for a April 2015 songwriting appointment at Sea Gayle Music in Nashville. Though it wasn't the first topic they worked on at the session, it was the one that clicked. "We [spent] probably 15-20 minutes just playing with different ideas, and then he busted out with 'Freaks Like Me,' " recalled Thompson. "I was wondering where that was 15 minutes before."
Asked by Billboard magazine in what ways did the lyrics speak to him personally, Nichols replied: "For me, I tend to cling to old-school values, and I like the country I live in. I like being proud of stuff like that. It might not be as popular as it used to be, but it's still the way I like to live."

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