Titled, appropriately enough, High Noon, the album is Niemann's third for Arista Nashville (he also recorded two independently released albums early in his career). And lead single "Drink to That All Night" is already grabbing attention (and radio spins), thanks to its catchy chorus and engaging beats, which take cues from electronic dance music (EDM) but at the same time keep the overall experience between the honky-tonk fenceposts. Written by Derek George, Lance Miller and Brad and Brett Warren, the song is sitting solidly in the country Top 10 and threatening to climb even higher.

Both the song and its accompanying video feel more like Pitbull than anything George Jones ever cut, but that's obviously a deliberate move. As Niemann says at the start of the video, "I'm ready for something a little different."

Niemann cowrote eight of the 13 songs on High Noon, and he also coproduced the album with Jimmie Lee Sloas. "We've been friends for years," Niemann said of Sloas, "and I knew he wanted to get into producing. I called him out of the blue, we had lunch a few times, and I told him I'd love to bring him in to work on this project. We went in and instantly had a great connection."

Niemann made a big splash with his 2010 album Judge Jerrod & the Hung Jury, which earned him a strong fan base thanks to hits like "One More Drinkin' Song," "What Do You Want" and his No. 1 "Lover, Lover." He followed with Free the Music in 2012, which included "Shinin' on Me" and "Only God Could Love You More."

"Drink to That All Night" is the first taste fans have gotten so far of new album High Noon, and it shows Niemann is taking his music in bold new directions.

"On my first two albums, I tried to cover all the music I enjoy," Niemann said. "This time, we mashed it all together and that's what you do when you're really attempting to create your own sound. And as it all gelled, I think it brought us into our own pure sound for the first time."