Jerrod Niemann celebrated his birthday with a gig in Nashville on Friday night (7/21), and little did he know but he was in for a big surprise.

While the crowd sang “Happy Birthday,” Niemann was presented with a giant cake that contained a special guest: his wife Morgan, decked out as Marilyn Monroe.

“I’m never really at a loss for words. If you know me, I’m at a loss for words,” shared the nearly-speechless Niemann. “I must say honey, I gotta admit, I’m gonna cheat on you tonight with a blonde…This lady right here is not only the woman of my dreams, but the woman of my reality, thank God.”

Jerrod Niemann roams the high desert in the Far West Texas town of Marfa, in the elegant clip for his romantic new single, "God Made a Woman." Lamenting old habits, like perpetually answering the 2 a.m.last call in many a barroom, he soon becomes aware of a woman in a long, white gown who appears out of thin air as he sings the song's title line. The mystery woman is none other than Niemann's wife, Morgan, whom he married in 2014.

Director Ryan Hamblin captures the gorgeous, yet desolate landscape of the desert, as the couple finally meets in the middle of the highway under an idyllic blue sky. Penned by Penned by "Kiss You in the Morning" singer Michael Ray, with Joel Shewmake and Jeff Hyde, "God Made a Woman" offers the first taste of the "Drink to That All Night" singer's upcoming fourth studio album, co-produced with Jimmie Lee Sloas. A release date for the LP is expected soon. Also included on the forthcoming album is Niemann's 2016 duet on "A Little More Love," with his longtime pal and Curb Records labelmate Lee Brice.

Niemann was among the performers at this past weekend's ACM Pool Party for a Cause in Las Vegas. He's on tour throughout the spring and summer with upcoming shows in Pittsburg, Kansas, on Saturday, April 8th, Modesto, California, on April 14th, and more.

Jerrod Niemann is gearing up to release a new studio album later this year. His first project for Curb Records, Niemann tells Sounds Like Nashville he’s in a good place with the team he’s working with and admits that he’s been channeling the person he was when he first moved to Nashville. In an interview at his publicity firm, Sweet Talk, the “God Made A Woman” singer opens up about the sound he’s embracing and previews some of the songs on the project.

While his new album doesn’t have a release date yet, Niemann has already shared the lead single, “God Made A Woman,” with country fans. Written by Michael Ray, Joel Shewmake and Jeff Hyde, Niemann recalls first hearing the soaring ballad in a conference room and being stopped in his tracks. Several people were there from various publishing companies sharing music with him and the moment he heard “God Made A Woman” he immediately knew he wanted to record it.

“When I listen to music I like to be alone to give the song a respectful listen and I usually listen to songs several times,” Niemann explains. “This one, the first listen blew my mind and I was lucky enough to nab it and hold onto it. I played it for my wife and it meant just as much to her as it did to me. It has been a natural progression from hearing it, to recording it, to releasing it, to shooting the video. All of it involved both of us together so we made it our song.”

Niemann married his wife, Morgan, in 2014 and says that he related to every lyric within the song, especially the first verse which details a man who frequently spends his nights closing down the bar. “That 2 a.m. last call, man I’d answer,” he sings.

“I used to close down every bar and the last call I’d answer, rocking it out to the end of the night,” he recalls with a smile. “A lot of people take pride in that foolishly. I feel like every word was written the way it needed to be written.”

The video for “God Made A Woman” stars Niemann’s wife, who was also on hand in April when he surprised six couples at their weddings in Las Vegas to sing the song. Inspired by the day’s events, Niemann and Morgan also renewed their vows and were married by an Elvis Presley impersonator.

“He said, ‘Will you promise to always be hunka hunka burning in love and never treat him like a hound dog?’ It was very awesome,” he admits. “Hopefully that song will continue to find its way into weddings and stuff like that. We’ve been brainstorming to see if we can surprise some more couples throughout our country.”

Niemann is working with Jimmie Lee Sloas to co-produce his forthcoming album and says that each time he returns to the studio he’s constantly thinking of how he can make himself a better artist overall. Additionally, he always tries to do something different musically instead of following the trends at radio. He hopes this release will bring back an organic feel to the country genre, admitting that it’s one of the things he misses most when turning on today’s country radio.

“I can turn on an indie rock station and it sounds way more country because there’s mandolins, acoustics, they’re using lo-fi techniques to record and it has a vintage sound,” he explains.

This inspired Niemann to add more organic sounds to his own music and to use less instrumentation. He adds that there is a wide variety of sounds on the project and that the old cliché “silence speaks louder than words” is a good indication as to where the album is headed musically. This is evidenced on a song called “But I Do” where instead of using an electric guitar as the main instrument, he swapped the electric for an acoustic. By allowing the acoustic guitar to take the lead and the electric guitar to take a backseat, the organic sound draws the listener in.

“If you want something to really stand out you can put more organic things around it and some silence and let the song breathe,” he notes. “We dug deep on the production. You’d never really know unless you were listening on studio speakers or headphones. I would like it to be coined as a good headphones record.”

Niemann has enlisted many of his friends for the project, including country legends Diamond Rio for a traditional-leaning track he co-wrote called “I’m Here ‘Cause I Ain’t All There.”

“There are so many great songwriters here in Nashville that I haven’t been writing as much as normal [being] on the road. So [I] really lean on all the other people in town who create which is awesome because there are so many songs that you wish you had written and that’s when you know that you’ve nabbed something cool,” he shares.

One of those songwriters, Luke Dick (Eric Church’s “Kill A Word,” Miranda Lambert’s “Pink Sunglasses”), has three credits on the album including a song called “I Got This” which Niemann describes as a “rockin’, good summer song.” Niemann adds that this album has his favorite batch of songs and says the project is the first time he’s gotten to be himself in a long time.

“When someone first moves to town is probably when their best creativity happens [but] there’s this box you have to fit in commercially. You can’t write a 10-minute song and expect anybody to play it on the radio,” he explains. “That being said, I feel like for me, it’s changing now because I’m becoming more of the person I was when I moved to town and [am] not letting some of the influences get stuck in my head so I can make those albums that hopefully will make someone else want to move to town one day and pursue music. That’s all you can hope, is to leave something bigger than you for whenever you’re gone.”

Jerrod Niemann’s “God Made A Woman” is out now.

Jerrod Niemann may more closely be associated with party anthems like "Drink to That All Night" or "One More Drinkin' Song" than ballads of devotion  – even his 2016 duet with Lee Brice, "Little More Love," maintains his signature laid back vibe. That makes his musical pivot on new single "God Made a Woman," all the more surprising. 

Penned by "Kiss You In The Morning" singer Michael Ray, along with Joel Shewmake and Jeff Hyde, "God Made a Woman" has Niemann singing from the perspective of a reformed man. "I burn that candle at both ends, 'till it met in the middle just smoldering / I was searching for something, didn't even know what I was after," he admits. Niemann performed an acoustic version of the song on Facebook earlier today, and the studio version (listen below) is available on Spotify. The studio version has subdued, melancholy musical accompaniment – jazzy drums, mellow guitar, light sprinkles of keys – that underscores his devotion. 

"This song really hits home for me right now in my life," Niemann shared via Facebook, along with his acoustic performance. Niemann married his wife Morgan in 2014.

On March 18th, Niemann performs in Kissimmee, Florida, as part of the Runaway Country Music Fest, with headliners including Billy Currington, Brad Paisley, and Jason Aldean.

To watch video and to read the original Rolling Stone Country article, Click HERE. 

Jerrod Niemann released “God Made a Woman,” his brand-new single, on Friday (March 17), and the hitmaker believes that the song is the kind that only comes along once in a lifetime.

“It’s one of those songs that I feel like when you move to town, everybody is trying to put something out fresh and current. It’s hard to do stuff that hasn’t already been done,” he tells Billboard. “As time goes on, we all look back and hear these classic songs, but in their moment, these songs were fresh and unique and groundbreaking.”

The ballad struck a chord with the newly married singer. “I just thought, 'What a cool and powerful message for all of us guys who are lucky enough to have a girl that makes us a better person? Maybe she would like to hear that song.' It’s hard to find a song to play for someone that you care about.” He says that he really tried to get out of the song’s way in the studio and let the lyrics tell the story. “Going in there, it was with a 'less is more' mind-set. We took a very simple approach in the production and just dressed it up in the background and made it try to be the best vehicle for the song that it could."

The singer says the first time he heard the song, he knew it was special. “There’s a thing in Nashville where all the publishing companies get together and they hang out and play a bunch of songs. Usually it takes me a long time to gravitate toward a song. There are a few like ‘In Color’ or ‘Paint Me a Birmingham’ that are pretty instant. This one was like that -- the first listen. I’m glad I didn’t write the song because I got to feel the impact. I wanted to be the vessel of the song. I wanted people to feel that when they heard the song. I’m very thankful that I got to do the song first.”

The song’s lyrics pay tribute to the romantic influence a woman has in a man’s life, but Niemann says he also thought of some of the great female artists that have been a part of the format over the years. When asked about some of his favorites, he didn’t hesitate. “I always say Dolly Parton. She is such a mega-superstar, but taking her down to just her voice, and she’s just incredible. I also love people who built this town like Loretta Lynn, Kitty Wells and Tammy Wynette, of course. Patty Loveless would be another one, and Pam Tillis and ‘All the Good Ones Are Gone’ would be another. Alison Krauss and Lee Ann Womack both fit in a similar world to me. You can tell they listened to a lot of Dolly Parton,” he states.

“God Made a Woman” is the debut solo single for Niemann on Curb Records, after three albums with Arista Nashville. He says he feels he’s at a place that will be nurturing to his creativity. “I’m very grateful to anyone who has ever given me an opportunity, but I do feel that people fit in different scenarios better. Some labels are like giant assembly lines. When you come in with something like 2010’s Judge Jerrod & The Hung Jury, where it’s got some different flavors, people go ‘Where do we put this?’ So, with Curb being more of a boutique or a mom and pop shop kind of label, where you get everybody’s attention, they also want to know your vision. They’re not trying to fit you into their box, they are trying to create a space for you and help you grow as an artist. For me, it’s been unbelievable.”

But he says the environment doesn’t look completely different at Curb. “A lot of people who were on the promotion team at Sony are now at Curb, so I have so many friends there that I’m working with, and that’s great. Of course, having Lee there is great, and he holds his music up to such a high standard, as do Jon Stone and everyone else there, that I feel it breeds a healthy competition and makes you want to rise to the occasion and outdo yourself. You have cheerleaders there that are people who just want to see you succeed.”

Niemann knows that he tends to go against the grain with his music at times, and he says that Curb offers him an atmosphere where he can simply be Jerrod Niemann. “I’ve always said that if you got to be somebody, you might as well be yourself. All of my favorite artists are people who rose to the challenges -- Hank Jr, Willie, Waylon -- all of them started out clean cut but when life throws you some curve balls, you have to either give up or grow as a person and an artist and be yourself. I think that for me, once I realized that every door in my face had been slammed and locked, and I decided to make Judge Jerrod & the Hung Juryindependently, it was so much fun to stumble on to different sounds and things. I challenged myself to do something that was creative and unique. Once you do that, you don’t want to ever not do that. It’s hard to go back to the same old-same old. I just think that I would not enjoy it at all if I were forced to be like everyone else.”

Since he first hit with 2010’s “Lover, Lover,” Niemann says the business looks vastly different from the model he sees today. “It's completely changed. Technology is a big part of that because you can do a studio at your house. If you have a computer, you can have a studio.”

Is that a pro or a con? Niemann says, “I think it’s a pro like with anything, if you have every tool in the shed, you don’t need to pull out the biggest saw you got, if you can pull it off with something else. I think that for me, I can record and try stuff, put it on the drive, and take it into the studio with someone like Jimmie Lee Sloas, and we can dial it into realistic borders. When I first moved to town, it was intimidating to go into the studio with all these A-list guys, and anytime you had an idea, you felt that people would look at you like you were stupid. When you’re at home, you can try anything and explore with nobody to judge you. I’m sure people abuse it, but it works well for me.”