Even as he’s signed to one of Nashville’s biggest labels, Eric Church has amassed more than a little experience over the past nearly two decades in pushing back against the typical Music Row way of doing things, and thus, bursting the confines of how and when artists are expected to create and release albums, approach touring and build a fanbase.
Early in his career, Church was already stacking his albums with songs such as “These Boots” and “Sinners Like Me” that became fan-favorites, regardless of whether they became radio hits. Albums including Sinners Like Me and Carolina spawned hits that broke ever-higher through the ranks on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart, and by third album Chief, he earned a double-header of Country Airplay No. 1s with “Drink in My Hand” and “Springsteen.” He’s also been quick to pivot when needed to bring music to his fans the way he wants — like after he was let go from an opening slot on Rascal Flatts’ tour in 2006, when he booked a series of club shows in the same cities, on the same nights as the Flatts tour would play, and dubbed it the “Me and Myself Tour.”
Not content with the status quo, he’s shaken things up with songs such as the marijuana-centered “Smoke a Little Smoke,” and music videos for “Lightning” and “Homeboy” that were filmed the former Tennessee State Prison. He took his 2015 album Mr. Understood directly to fans first, with a surprise release to members of his fanclub. And more recently, he’s displayed his artistic freedom onstage at freewheeling residencies and/or shows at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, as well as at own Chief’s bar in downtown Nashville, and during festivals such as CMA Fest and Stagecoach.
So, it’s no surprise that many songs on Evangeline Vs. The Machine album, out today (May 2), center on the power of music as a healer, encourager, energy lifter, emotional solace and infinite creative source. However, the muses behind the steely-eyed defiance that vibrates through the album run far deeper and wider than the Nashville industry’s machinations. Inspired by the collaborative approach of New Orleans jazz, Church approached the new album with the all-encompassing, spontaneous nature of a live show, teaming again with producer Jay Joyce and bolstering his core blend of country, rock and soul with a choir, horns and full-bodied strings.
What his succinct, eight-song album lacks in length, it more than makes up for in depth of creativity and intention, with songs that stretch well beyond country music’s typical lyrical trifecta of relationships, trucks and alcohol. Evangeline Vs. The Machine finds Church writing and recording songs inspired by his own discomfort with being creatively bound, as well as by the natural disaster of Hurricane Helene and by the tragedy of the Covenant School shooting that took place in 2023.
Here, Billboard ranks the eight songs on his new project.
This solo write from Church brings in a cinematic feel, as he namechecks political, military, religious and familial figures while placing himself in a lineage of persons with hot-tempered personalities, who are unyielding against any battles they might face. The somber, military-like percussion and haunting mix of strings and horns further lend an edge to this song, though lyrically it stumbles a bit when it lands on cliche, inflated phrasings toward its end.
Church concludes the album with a rendition of Tom Waits’s 1985 song “Clap Hands.” A musical cocktail that’s simultaneously ominous and grooving, the song lays out bleak descriptions of a world turned inside out on lines such as “Sane, sane, they’re all insane/ Fireman’s blind, the conductor is lame.” Sultry backing vocals, Church’s snarling lead vocal, searing violin and thundering horns build rich sonic textures, frothing into a spontaneous jamband feel that nicely rounds out the album.
The oldest song on the album, “Evangeline” was written by Church, Luke Laird and Barry Dean, and also serves as the inspiration for the project. Funky, unconstrained and running on feel and sound, the song is a vessel for Church’s message that though he has a few more years on him than when he started down his musical journey, he’s as motivated as ever — or as he sings, he’s “still chasing a song between the verse and a bridge.”
The album launches with “Hands of Time,” which is also a current top 30 hit on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart. This song offers a bright spin on seemingly slowing down the unyielding, passing of time by turning to songs that make one feel young at heart. Acoustic and electric guitars, mandolin, bass and keys pulse alongside trumpet and trombone keep the joyous track spinning, as Church namechecks timeless songs including “Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love),” “Hollywood Nights” and “Back in Black.” Church wrote the song with Scooter Carusoe.
Church issued his first solo song in more than three years when he released “Darkest Hour (Helene Edit)” to aid those in his homestate of North Carolina who had been impacted by Hurricane Helene.
The horn- and choir-driven song, written solo by Church, adeptly meshes with his serrated, falsetto vocals as he sings about being a safe harbor for a loved one going through trying times. “I’ll do everything in my power to take even a minute off your darkest hour,” he sings, making for a striking, potent song of healing.
Twangy, bluesy guitar intros this song, an obstinate rebuff to the wiles and temptations of music industry cons attempting to woo musicians into trading in their artistic vision and integrity for promises of riches and fame. Written by Tucker Beathard, Casey Beathard and Monty Criswell, this track builds into a mix of trumpet, saxophone, trombone, percussion and a wall of voices, all echoing the passion and verve Church employs on lines such as “I’d die just a sinner with a guitar/ Johnny Cash middle finger in the air.”
The album’s weighty aims get a temporary reprieve on this exuberant track, as Church and company construct a track reveling in anticipation of a weekend night of partying after a long workweek. “We’ll be out until that big ole sun goes breakin’,” Church sings, as the mix of instruments pulses with fiery, swampy verve.
Church wrote “Johnny” with Luke Laird and Brett Warren, in the aftermath of the tragic school shooting at Nashville’s Covenant School in 2023. In the opening lines, Church muses how different his sons’ lives are from the childhood he lived, noting, “Now machines control the people/ and the people shoot at kids.” He flips one of country music’s most iconic songs, the Charlie Daniels Band’s “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” fusing it into new lyrics that plea for the CDB classic’s character Johnny to return. “There’s fire on the mountain/ and the flames are closing in,” he sings, as he appeals to Johnny to bring his fiddle and do battle with the devil again. Tender stringwork and brass instruments keep Church’s message front and center, making it one of the strongest songs on the album.
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