Eric Church TRIPLE Album Release Reaction, and How He Got To This Point In His Career Told Through the Ray-Bans of a Fan
I have a buddy that I went to Loyola with back in the day, who I met through my roommate who was on the golf team. His name is Jeff
but he goes by Augie or Augs. And he has a serious passion for "real" country music. He was telling me 15 years ago about this guy named Eric Church, that he'd seen at Joe's on Weed and what a big star he was going to become. He's the kind of guy that goes to Joe's with a crew, or solo if he has to, to catch one of the dozens of up-and-coming acts that owner Ed Warm scouts out and books.
We all have that one music artist that feels like they’re an extension of you. The one you’d fly around the world to see. For Augie, that guy is without a doubt Eric Church.
I texted him yesterday to ask his thoughts on the new album, Heart and Soul after he'd had a weekend to digest it. He told me to check my email. I opened up to the following. I thought it was so thorough and well done that it deserved to be blogged. So here it is-
…Thanks to those shows for Joe's Bar on Weed St. in Chicago (s/o Ed), I was put onto Church in the late 2000s before he blew up. This was Church without sunglasses in front of less than 100 people. (His iconic sunglasses look started as function over fashion… (0:35 if the video doesn't jump ahead).
In 2009, I flew to Vegas where he opened for Dierks Bentley at House of Blues in Mandalay.
2010, I flew back where he opened for Miranda Lambert at The Palms.
In 2015, drove to Nashville where he opened the new Ascend Amphitheater over two nights. The first night, from the pit, my wife and I drunkenly and inscenently yelled "Lightning" in between the last few songs because we never heard him play it live… he rarely does. The second night, he closed with it along with a shout out… still gives me chills when the light just went black at the end of the show after the final line. No post music, no nothing. That was it.
TWO THINGS SET ERIC CHURCH APART
One, his dedication to his fans. He's showcased this in recent years, let alone the beginning of his career playing acoustic in a parking lot sitting on a truck bed.
He broke his foot playing at the Syracuse, NY, state fair. Did a whole lotta boot stompin’ on a concrete stage. Did he call his future shows off? No. He sat on a stool with his foot propped up and kept tearing roofs off of venues.
To release his album The Outsiders in 2014, he played in 3 cities in one day, twice! First was Rootstown, OH and Indy to play acoustic. Then to Chicago and Joe’s Bar to join the band. It was February 13th and may/may not have stood outside for hours in sub-freezing temps to get it since it was old school first-come, first-served.
Oh, and he did the same thing the next night for Greenville, Charlotte and Atlanta.
His Double Down tours are legendary… he goes to a city and plays 2 shows in back-to-back nights and with double sets. No opener. 3-4 hours of giving-it-his-all music. What artist does that besides Springsteen?! (ironically, a title of one of Church’s songs that put him on to the masses).
He’s doing the same back-to-back nights for select cities on the Gather Again tour starting this September. He’s also playing festivals this summer, including Country Thunder in Twin Lakes, WI.
(I would mention first hand accounts of years at Country Thunder, but that would need it’s own blog. But quickly pertaining to Church, our crew was there the year he (pre-sunglasses) was on a late Thursday night side stage that got rained out. Always ponds worth of rain at Country Thunder.)
The second thing that sets him apart is his songwriting. I’m a biased fan, but I think he should go down as one of the greatest songwriters ever, genre aside.
With how good he and the band are live, it breaks my brain to think that wasn’t in the cards at the start of his career. He moved to Nashville as a songwriter and got a publishing deal with Sony/ATV Tree… who he’s still with today. But it was never in the original deck of cards for him to be a frontman.
THE NEW ALBUMS
HEART & SOUL were written and recorded in 28 days in the mountains of his home state, North Carolina. They converted an old restaurant into a studio. They would wake up, write, and record a song all in the same day. What they had at the end of the day is what they had for that song. Rinse and repeat 4 weeks straight.
It will be perceived as a quarantine project, but he did all this in early 2020, before lockdowns occurred.
Great meaning for the album titles:
Being a part of the Church Choir, we got access to the second two albums when the first album dropped this past Friday the 16th. The second album will be out on the 20th and the final the 23rd.
He’s released 9 songs previously, but when you have 24 songs to release, you can do that.
The first thing you notice is the imagery of HEART & SOUL. The Heart album artwork is red. The Soul is blue. Mix them together and you get the purple imagery on &.
The album was supposed to be a double album of HEART paired with SOUL. But there was a group of 6 songs that didn’t fit the themes of either album. They were going to the cutting floor until his manager, John Peets, suggested & as a bridge. Thankful for that.
LET’S SPIN THE VINYL
My plan was to give them one run through and scribble some notes along the way. But I realized quickly after one song, my mind was racing and it would need multiple run throughs. Twist my arm.
So, grab your beverages (plural) of choice, pop a gummy/vape/flower, pack a dip and let’s crank these fuckers up! Time to go for a ride…
HEART Album
Side A
HEART ON FIRE
Church jumps out the gate with energy - not shocking. He doesn’t waste time referencing heart and Joanna Cotten makes a big appearance on the first track - always welcomed. He makes tons of musical references… “All Shook Up”, “Take Me To The Leeve” and “Paradise City”. He even closes with a great Elvis impersonation.
Favorite lyrics: “Roosevelt Road was too rough for my old truck / Yeah, she’d shake and she’d shimmy like Elvis singin’ “All Shook Up”” and “Turned up radio but the static was heavy / Couldn’t make out any words but “Take Me To The Leeve””
HEART OF THE NIGHT
Back to back heart references. Cool rolling rhythm guitar, which is a classic for him, mixed in with cool transitions and pace changers.
Favorite: “Yeah put the lightning in this Thunderbird till the metal comes alive / The rhythm of the road will give these horses wings to fly”
RUSSIAN ROULETTE
This whole track showcases Church’s creative songwriting skills the way he illustrates trying to forget the memories of an old love. In this track, “I need a melody without a memory” is an antithesis to “Springsteen” from the 2011 album Chief, where he sings “Funny how a melody sounds like a memory”.
Favorite: chorus “Ain’t nothing gonna kill these horses tonight / But a song like a bullet from a dashboard light / Gettin’ shot through the speakers both left and right in stereo / Messin’ up my head, playin’ Russian Roulette with the radio”
PEOPLE BREAK
4th song in and we slow it down a bit as the lost love theme continues. He leaves the song up to interpretation, but seems like he has to break the news of a lost love to himself.
Favorite: “The ice on Hawk Lake this time of year / Broken and busted just like my bathroom mirror”
STICK THAT IN YOUR COUNTRY SONG - early release June 2020
The one of 2 tracks where Church doesn’t have songwriting credit… a rarity for him. But it doesn’t matter, it bangs… a great anthem song. When it came out in June 2020, I listened to it on a loop for a while. Theme is a big ole middle finger to the establishment. Venues better have the fire department nearby when they play this live. And be careful if the venue has a concrete floor or you’ll break your foot stomping to this one.
Favorite: “C’mon I wanna pound the dash / Stomp the gas, drive too fast / Rock me hard, stop my heart / And blow the speakers right out of this car” (C’mon and the way he says it is my favorite Church expression live… makes me wanna run through a brick wall).
Side B
NEVER BREAK HEART - early release Feb 2021
More heart and tackles the heavy topic of death but not in a depressing way as the song in set in more happier keys (don’t ask me which key; outside my wheelhouse). The message is more of a giving strength.
Favorite: Pins “Don’t let fear steal your brave heart / Don’t let doubt take your faith heart” against “Go on and be brave heart / Go and keep your faith heart”.
Also, “If love’s like drawin’ cards with whiskey gypsy / She’s a glass half full, take a pull, then a glass half empty” and “It’s okay to cry” cause it is.
CRAZYLAND - early release August 2020
When this first came out, I was indifferent about it. But it’s one of those songs that grew on me as I sat down and really listened to it.
Showcases more creativity with illustrating emotions as people who are at a bar.
Useful reading the lyrics on this one as he capitalizes the emotions to illustrate the people’s names.
Favorite: “That’s Sad in the corner with his heart on his sleeve / Talking to Regret who’s never gonna leave / Over there playing pool is Fool and Lost / And tending bar tonight that’s All My Fault”
BUNCH OF NOTHING
Little Big Town kinda sound for the intro… didn’t put my finger on it this first time around. It’s a fun, playful song.
Favorite: “I know how to tune a six string Martin / And kick Saturday in the ass”… The way he sings the latter, you can picture it. And he did exactly that at the ACMs last night after I gave this a listen. Didn’t need the proof but got it anyway.
LOVE SHINE DOWN
Can see this being the natural transition for tough love of HEART to the more positive SOUL. But of course, that was before & made it in.
Favorite: “Darlin’ don’t give up on me / That’s my message in the bottle on the sea / Lil S.O.S. from this S.O.B / Darlin’ don’t give up on me”
& Album
Side A
THROUGH MY RAY-BANS - early release Oct 2020
Creativity storytelling of how he sees his concerts through his lens. The message is how concerts bring unity and togetherness, regardless of our backgrounds or demons… something the world needs today, tomorrow and yesterday.
He already connects with his fans. This played live is going to drive that connection even further.
Favorite: you can already picture it with, “Everybody’s got their arms around everybody else’s shoulders / Guarding against the world outside like an army of Friday night soldiers”
DOING LIFE WITH ME - early release Dec 2020
Great lyrics galore:
“It ain’t easy putin’ up with / A road dog with a cup with a little Jack in it”
“Put a Tennessee breeze in my Carolina sail”
“Spend my livin’ giving thanks / For the ships I never sank / Every big every little in the everyday things”
‘Nuff said.
DO SIDE
Funky beat. Experimentation worked putting a lot of new sounds with what are seemingly sounds from past tracks. Just can’t put my finger on them yet.
Favorite: “Cool me says, no I ain’t, but the fool say, yes, I am / A don’t go end of a goodbye, do side of give a damn”
Side B
KISS HER GOODBYE
Love when artists talk during an intro even if you can’t make it out. More familiar sounds from older songs.
Favorite: “But I settled all unsettled scores / Now that last call don’t pick up no more / Yeah, if they knew what I knew / They’d do what I do / I’d drink a mile in my boots, wishin’ they could too” … maybe a loose reference to “These Boots”, a concert staple and he’s signed a lot of fans’ boots.
MAD MAN
Slows it down. Little synthesizer to open.. cool touch.
Favorite and relatable: “He ain’t lookin’ for a fight but that might be what ya get / If you light that fuse that looks to you like a half smoked cigarette / Just leave his glass half empty, he’s better of left alone / Kind of like a house up the road, the lights are on but no one’s home”
LONE WOLF
The message is juxtaposed (big J word) to Mad Man. He immediately connects the two referencing a cigarette. “Only pack I ever ran with were the cigarettes in my pocket / My only friend was the sun and the wind to my back on the road I was walkin’”
SOUL ALBUM
Side A
ROCK & ROLL FOUND ME
Immediately connects the & album with the & in the song title. A bright song that references The Doors "Light My Fire", plays on Don McLean’s “American Pie”, and makes note of Billy Jo McAlister, a character in the 1953 film inspired by Bobbie Gentry’s “Ode To Billy Jo”.
Favorite: “I turned on my amps and all at once my blind could see / Yeah when rock and roll found me”
LOOK GOOD AND YOU KNOW IT
Really cool intro to this jam. Connects rock and roll from the previous track with “Looks like your rock is on a roll” in the first verse. They really experimented with this one and it gets the bead bobbin’.
Favorite: "I’m just choking on the smoke of a bridge I burned"
BRIGHT SIDE GIRL
Put out a different sound with guitar. Hints of Dave Matthews.
Not everything hits. I'll be honest, this didn't land for me. Maybe it’ll grow.
Favorite: “She pulls me above the pale / Gives me cover from the gale”
BREAK IT KIND OF GUY - previous release March 2021
Alright, we're back! This will land live, no doubt. Experiments with his voice on the high end, and it lands. Joanna Cotten… wow. Talk about a challenging note to back up Church here… she crushed it.
Favorite: "Don't tell me how to do it / And don't tell me how to don't"
HELL OF A VIEW - previous release Nov 2020
This is a hell of a song. Anthem beat and sound.
Lines echoing in my head since the release:
"I'm good at rollin dice / No good at standng still"
"This town's our canvas baby / Let's paint it red tonight"
"You holdin' me holdin' you"
Side B
WHERE I WANNA BE
Groovy sound about being together. Church uses a fun, awesome, different rhythm of his voice for the chorus. And it has whistling… some great songs incorporate whistling. And his Elvis impersonation… made me laugh. Good stuff.
Favorite: “And I’m down, I’m game, I’m in, I’m free / Wherever she is that’s where I wanna be”
JENNY
Intriguing song… just waiting for the big loud drop the whole track and… it doesn't happen… plays it all acoustic. Nothing wrong with that. But I have a sneaky suspicion they're gonna drop it loud with rolling guitars and drums and slam the fans with the bright crowd lights.
Favorite: “Let’s blow this popcorn stand”
BAD MOTHER TRUCKER - previous release July 2020
This is one when I first heard it and was, meh. But it grew on me. Maybe it doesn't fit the scene of your headphones or in your house, but how can you not roll down the windows and have a heavy foot. And can't not be the #1 song played at all truck stops coast to coast. Surely that ranking list exists.
Favorite: Comes out the gate with, “She drove an ‘81 Peterbilt 18-wheeler / Jet black with pink mud flaps / It was a mean piece of metal / With lightning in the pedal”
LYNARD SKYNARD JONES - previous release Feb 2021
Church has referenced Skynyrd and Jones in past songs. Plot twist - this is the other track not written by him. It was a solo job by Casey Beathard. Cool storytelling song that also has a repeat reference to Curtis Lowe.
The two songs on this album that Church didn’t write are 2 of the 3 total in his career… the other being “Like Jesus Does” from the 2011 Chief album.
Favorite: “Well he found his salvation / In a pawn shop bought guitar / You can’t teach that kind of pickin’ / It’s got to come right from your heart”
That’s it, that’s the review. If you’ve gotten this far, appreciate you. And thanks to Eric Church and everyone who joined him in the mountains of North Carolina. The hard work whittled out a masterpiece. Carve some time out to drop the needle this week for Heart & SOUL… it’s well worth it. Can't wait for live music.