Joe Nichols Appreciates Fans and Fashion at ACAs

Joe Nichols is -- pardon the cliché -- just honored to be nominated. The singer is up for the American Country Awards' Single of the Year and Single of the Year: Male for his hit, 'Gimme That Girl.'

"It feels great because it's fan-voted," Joe tells The Boot, noting the ACA winners are determined solely by fans' online votes. "It's really hard to argue with 'Gimme That Girl' being one of the top singles of the year. I'm so excited for [songwriters] Dallas Davidson, Rhett Atkins and Ben Hayslip. Those guys are writing a lot of great music. It's really cool the song gets the recognition that it deserves, and I thought it had a shot at the CMAs for getting a nomination for that. I was a little disappointed that it didn't get nominated, but I understood all the other songs that were nominated were, of course, hard to argue with. When I got nominated for single at the ACAs, it's a huge honor. Those fan-voted things are always tremendously much more appreciated and meaningful to an artist, or to a songwriter or record producer. There's a certain place that touches in your heart. It means that you've reached the masses and they've responded, rather than you've accomplished something internally in the industry. At the end of the day that's what we're all supposed to be doing."

Joe will likely walk tonight's ACA red carpet with his lovely wife, Heather. He's hoping he'll stand out a little better than he did at his last Las Vegas carpet walk -- at the ACM Awards, where he encountered a bit of a fashion faux pas.

"I came across this really cool Dolce and Gabbana suit," he explains of his hunt for the perfect ACM attire. "The guy [who sold it to me] assured me, 'There is only one other person that has this jacket, and he is in Italy.' I said, 'Wow, so nobody has a jacket like this [for tonight]?' He said, 'Absolutely not!' So the next day on the orange carpet for the ACMs, I'm walking the carpet and I see Danny Gokey has the exact same jacket on. I wanted to choke this [salesman] because it was a very expensive jacket. There's no way I would have bought it if he had said somebody just came in today and bought this! Danny Gokey felt the same way. I looked at him, he looked at me and we were like, 'AHHHHHH!'"

Joe says the jacket, shiny silver with a black lapel, has only been worn once and will probably never be worn again. "I look at it in my closet and I just want to drop-kick that guy!" he jokes.

Look for Joe at the ACA Awards tonight (December 6) at 8:00 PM ET on FOX. We'll bring you all of the night's highlights -- including the fashion, of course -- right here on The Boot. And look for our full interview with Joe later this week!