• ERIC CHURCH WAS A “DESPERATE MAN” WHEN MAKING HIS NEW ALBUM.

    Eric Church is getting ready to release his new album, Desperate Man, on Friday (October 5th), and he felt pretty desperate when trying to put together an album.

    “We were lost, in my opinion. I don’t know, I think there was a lot going on there. I had an interesting year personally, and, just in the studio, that safe-what we thought was gonna be the album wasn’t working with the creative energy. Two different things were going on,” says Eric. “So, what’s interesting about Desperate Man was when I went into the album making process, that song was not written. Like a lot of them on the record, they had not been created yet. I think that desperation of trying to find what this album is, led itself so that song and let it to the title of the album.”

    Eric announced his new Double Down Tour, which kicks off January 18th and 19th in Omaha, Nebraska.

    Audio / Eric Church explains the title of his new album, Desperate Man.

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    Eric Church (title of Desperate Man) OC: …of the album. 1:23
    “So, I guess the reason it’s called Desperate Man is from a point in time in the process where I became desperate to find an album. We approached this album just like we approach every album. We have a creative group of people. My manager, John Peets, my wife Katherine, Arthur Buenahora, Jay Joyce, the producer, and myself, and we go in and take a batch of songs that we’ve been working on and they rate them 1-4 stars. And the four stars songs across the board, I get two votes even though they’ll deny that, the maximum amount is basically 20 points that you can get. So, the songs that we started with for Desperate Man were the 20-point songs. The cannot miss, these are the ones and after three songs in the studio, none of those three songs are on the album. We were lost, in my opinion. I don’t know, I think there was a lot going on there. I had an interesting year personally, and, just in the studio, that safe-what we thought was gonna be the album wasn’t working with the creative energy. Two different things were going on. So, what’s interesting about Desperate Man was when I went into the album making process, that song was not written. Like a lot of them on the record, they had not been created yet. I think that desperation of trying to find what this album is, led itself so that song and let it to the title of the album.”

    Audio / LINER Eric Church (album available this week)

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  • ERIC CHURCH DESPERATE MAN ALBUM AUDIO TOOLKIT

    Eric Church‘s new album, Desperate Man, is available Friday (October 5th). Click HERE to download the album audio toolkit. A link to a one-hour radio special will be posted later this week.

  • LABOR DAY 2018 LINERS: Billy, Brandon, Brothers, Carrie, Clare, Darius, Eric, Jon, Jordan, Kacey, Keith, Kip, LBT, Luke, Maddie & Tae, Sam, Travis

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    LINER Billy Currington (Labor Day)
    Hey y’all! It’s Billy Currington, wishing you a very happy Labor Day weekend.

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    LINER Brandon Lay (Labor Day)
    Hey y’all! This is Brandon Lay, wishing you a happy and work-free Labor Day weekend.

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    LINER Brothers Osborne (Labor Day)
    This is TJ, and I’m John, and we are Brothers Osborne, wishing you a happy and work-free Labor Day weekend.

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    LINER Carrie Underwood (Labor Day Weekend)
    Hey everyone! I’m Carrie Underwood, hoping you have a happy Labor Day weekend.

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    LINER Clare Dunn (Labor Day)
    Hey! What’s up? This is Clare Dunn, and I hope you have a Happy Labor Day weekend.

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    LINER Darius Rucker (Labor Day)
    Hey! It’s Darius Rucker, and I hope you have a have a happy work-free Labor Day weekend.

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    LINER Eric Church (Labor Day)
    Hey! It’s Eric Church, and I hope you have a have a happy Labor Day weekend.

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    LINER Eric Paslay (Labor Day)
    Hey! It’s Eric Paslay, and I hope you have a happy and work-free Labor Day weekend.

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    LINER Jon Pardi (Labor Day weekend)
    Hey! It’s Jon Pardi, and I hope you have a happy and work-free Labor Day weekend.

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    LINER Jordan Davis (Labor Day)
    Hey! I’m Jordan Davis, wishing you a happy and work-free Labor Day weekend.

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    LINER Kacey Musgraves (Labor Day weekend)
    Hey! It’s Kacey Musgraves, hoping you have a happy Labor Day weekend.

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    LINER Keith Urban (Labor Day weekend)
    Hi everybody! This is Keith Urban, wishing you a very happy Labor Day weekend.

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    LINER Kip Moore (Labor Day)
    Hey—what’s happening guys? This is Kip Moore, wishing you a happy and work-free Labor Day Weekend.

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    LINER LBT (Labor Day)
    Hi! We’re Little Big Town, hoping you have a work-free Labor Day weekend.

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    LINER Luke Bryan (Labor Day)
    Hey! It’s Luke Bryan, and I hope you have a have a happy Labor Day weekend.

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    LINER Maddie & Tae (Labor Day)
    Hey everybody! I’m Maddie, and I’m Tae, and we’re Maddie & Tae, hoping you have a happy and work-free Labor Day weekend.

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    LINER Sam Hunt (Labor Day)
    Hey everybody! I’m Sam Hunt. Have a great and work-free Labor Day weekend.

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    LINER Travis Denning (Labor Day)
    Hey y’all. It’s Travis Denning, hoping you have a happy and work-free Labor Day weekend.

  • ERIC CHURCH PREVIEWS ANOTHER SONG FROM HIS NEW ALBUM, DESPERATE MAN.

    The third full track from Eric Church‘s upcoming album Desperate Man is “Monsters.” Get the track immediately when you pre-order the album and make sure to watch the full lyric video, which you can find below.

    Video / Monsters lyric video

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  • ERIC CHURCH IS “HANGIN’ AROUND” WITH LATEST SNEAK PEEK FROM HIS UPCOMING ALBUM, DESPERATE MAN.

    Eric Church has released a new snippet of  one of the new songs from his upcoming album, Desperate Man, available October 5th. Eric previewed “Hangin’ Around” with his fan club a day before it went public.

     

    The North Carolina native is currently making his way up the country charts with “Desperate Man.”

  • NEWS AND NOTES: Luke, Carrie, Eric, AJ, Strait

    Luke Bryan and Carrie Underwood have earned American Music Awards nominations. Luke is up for Favorite Male Artist Country, while Carrie is nominated for Favorite Female Artist Country. The 2018 American Music Awards will broadcast live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on October 9th at 8pm ET on ABC.

    Eric Church was just announced as one of the performers at the 12th annual Stand4Heroes event at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York on November 5th. Bruce Springsteen, Seth Meyers, Jim Gaffigan, Jon Stewart and many special guests will also participate. Tickets go on sale Thursday (September 13th) at Noon ET.

    UMG Nashville has teamed up with the Gaither Music Group to create a new Gaither Gospel Series titled Country Gospel Collection. The first volume will include classic country gospel songs from some of the biggest names, including Alan Jackson and George Strait, as well as songs by Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, Glen Campbell and Conway Twitty, among others. Country Gospel Collection Volume 1 will be released October 5th.

    Country Gospel Collection Volume 1 Track List:

    1. Just A Closer Walk With Thee- Patsy Cline
    2. How Great Thou Art- Alan Jackson
    3. What A Friend We Have In Jesus- Glen Campbell
    4. Shall We Gather At The River- Tennessee Ernie Ford
    5. Take My Hand Precious Lord- Roy Acuff
    6. I Saw The Light- Hank Williams
    7. Will The Circle Be Unbroken- George Jones
    8. In The Garden- Loretta Lynn
    9. You’ll Never Walk Alone- Conway Twitty
    10. Peace In The Valley- Johnny Cash
    11. I Saw God Today- George Strait
    12. Amazing Grace- The Statler Brothers
  • ERIC CHURCH PREVIEWS NEW SONG “HIGHER WIRE” FROM HIS UPCOMING ALBUM, DESPERATE MAN.

    Eric Church has previewed the song “Higher Wire” from his upcoming album, Desperate Man. The North Carolina native previewed the song for his fan club, the Church Choir, on Thursday (September 6th) before releasing the clip on his socials on Friday.

    Desperate Man is available everywhere on October 5th.

    Check out the clip below.

     

  • THE VIDEO FOR ERIC CHURCH’S ‘DESPERATE MAN’ IS AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE.

    Following a 48-hour exclusive with Amazon Music, the video for Eric Church’s new song, “Desperate Man,” is now available across the board.

    This is the first release from his forthcoming album Desperate Man due October 5th.

    The cinematic and high-flying video directed by Reid Long and John Peets captures Church executing his mission to fight for what’s right. Ray Wylie Hubbard, who co-wrote “Desperate Man” with Church, guests in the video.

    Video / Official Desperate Man video

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  • ERIC CHURCH PREVIEWS NEW SONG, “SOLID,” FROM HIS UPCOMING ALBUM, DESPERATE MAN.

    Eric Church exclusively previewed the song, “Solid,” from his upcoming album, Desperate Man, to his Church Choir on Thursday (August 30th). Check it out below.

     

    Desperate Man will be available October 5th.

     

  • LABOR DAY 2018: AJ, BILLY, BRANDON, CARRIE, CLARE, DARIUS, DIERKS, ERIC, JON, JORDAN, KEITH, KIP, LADY A, LUKE, MADDIE & TAE, TRAVIS

    For many decades, Labor Day was seen as a day for workers to voice their complaints and discuss better working conditions and pay.

    U.S. Congress declared Labor Day a national holiday in 1894, and on Monday, September 3rd, we will once again celebrate the people in every occupation whose work and dedication make this nation great. Labor Day in the United States is a holiday celebrated on the first Monday in September. It is a celebration of the American labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of workers.

    Labor Day weekend also signals the unofficial end to summer, and many of the hottest country stars are taking a look back at some of the toughest jobs they had prior to making their mark in music or talking about their dream job now.

    For Labor Day Liners, click here.

    Audio / Alan Jackson says that working man values have always been a part of his music.

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    AJ (working people songs) OC: … appreciate that. :28
    “I’ve always written songs and recorded songs, other people’s songs, about workin’ people, and workin’, the workin’ life ’cause I mean, that’s where I’m from. I mean, I worked…I’d already had jobs and worked as a grown person before I ever even thought about bein’ in the music business, so I come from that background, and…although I hadn’t had a job in a long time (laughs), I still remember a lot about it, you know, and I remember what the lifestyle is, and I still appreciate that.”

    Audio / Billy Currington recalls some of the jobs he had before landing his record deal in 2003.

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    Billy Currington (Labor Day) OC: …record deal. :40
    “I started working like at [age] 12, landscaping. This was summer, every summers, and roofing. I started when I was about 16 roofing houses, and that was probably one of my toughest jobs because down there in south Georgia, it gets hot, so doing that every day all summer long. The pawn shop when I moved to Nashville was one of my favorites, even though it was one of my least favorites. The concrete job was my least favorite of all – six years of that, and I couldn’t take it no more. After that job, that was my turning point. Either I’m going to do something else for a living [laughs] or quit and try to really focus on music and get this record deal.”

     

    Audio / Brandon Lay says he’s always enjoyed the Labor Day Weekend.

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    Brandon Lay (Labor Day) OC: …a good one. :13
    “You know, I can’t complain too much about Labor Day, ‘cause usually doing landscaping and it had slowed down a little, but the water’s still warm enough to hit the river. I’ve gotten to spend some time out on the lake for Labor Day, so Labor Day’s a good one.”

    Audio / Carrie Underwood talks about the jobs she had growing up and her best job -- performing for her fans.

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    Carrie Underwood (Labor Day) OC: …born to do. :59
    “I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad job. I’ve had hard jobs. I’ve had jobs that worked random hours. My first job was at a gas station, and that was a lot of fun actually. While I was working at the gas station, I took another job at a hotel down the street. There was nobody else working there. I had one day of training and then the next day I came in, and the lady that had worked there the longest and was training me just didn’t show. So, the second day at work I was now in charge ‘cause I was now the senior member that was working at the hotel. So, I feel like that one was really challenging to figure my way through it, but I did. My best job is definitely what I do now. I really like being on stage. I really like performing for people and just having fun and singing, because that’s what I feel like I was born to do.”

     

    Audio / Clare Dunn gets emotional when talking about driving a silage truck in Texas to make enough money to move to Tennessee to follow her dream.

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    Clare Dunn (Labor Day) OC: …had to do. 1:05
    “I was coming for school. I remember I was two weeks late for school [at Belmont], because I had stayed in Texas longer to drive a silage truck for harvest. Harvest was still going on and I needed the money, so I stayed down there. I called all my professors. I explained what I was doing. I said, ‘I’m not going to be there for the first two weeks.’ They all were very, I told them why, and they were all very accepting of that. So, I got home. I was worn out from driving this truck in Texas, and I remember getting home in like the morning or the night before and I left the next day. I literally just chucked as much stuff in a U-haul as I could, and my family was helping me get it all ready while I was on the truck. I remember, everybody cried. I’m probably gonna cry just talking about it, because it was so many unknowns, and I just drove myself out to Tennessee. It was very emotional for me, obviously, just seeing that Tennessee state line sign and being scared to death, but knowing that’s what I had to do.”

     

    Audio / Darius Rucker recalls one of his worst jobs before turning to music.

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    Darius Rucker (Labor Day) OC: …pizza. :15
    “I was fifteen, and I worked at a pizza place, and the guy decided that at fifteen, that I could not only clean the floors and wash the dishes, but I also had to make pizza. So, for two months, he taught me how to make pizza.”

    Audio / Dierks Bentley makes a living performing for his fans, and he can’t say enough about them.

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    Dierks Bentley (Labor Day) OC: …generosity. :26
    “Personally, the fans give me amazement. That’s the only word to really sum it up. I look out in the crowd, you know, usually see a lot of faces and fans are cheering. I know each one of these like from the road-the signs are from California…Michelle and Kayla live up in the Ohio area. They’re all, I just see them, and I’m like, ‘Wow!,’ they’re all from different regions. You know when you’re in a different region of the country and you just see certain fans. These people are way more hard core than I am, and I’m just amazed by their generosity.”

    Audio / Eric Church talks about one of his worst job.

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    Eric Church (Labor Day-odd jobs) OC: …bought at 2am. 1:27
    “I had an awful job. I’ve had a lot of awful jobs…my worst one was when I first came to Nashville. I got a job at the Shop at Home Network. I worked midnight, graveyard, midnight to eight. That was bad enough but then I would work all night, go home, shower and then I had writing appointments all day because I was trying to get a career started. I’d go write songs and get meetings just trying to get signed. And end up getting done at 3 of 4 with all of that, I’d go home, take a shower or sleep for a little bit and then I had to be at work again at midnight. So the schedule was bad enough, however, what I had to do at the job…I sold knives from midnight to 7 or 8am. And, anytime somebody calls you at 3 or 4am and needs 200 knives for $19.95, it’s automatically an alarming situation. And I just, I was young and I’d been in a lot of these people’s shoes, I had done this…I knew they were drunk. I knew what they had done. They’d just come home from the bar, flipped on Shop at Home and said, ‘You know what? I need that.’ So the reason the job didn’t last long for me is that I was maybe the worst salesmen in history because I ended up talking a lot of these people out of it, I’d say, ‘I’ll tell you what man, go to bed, call me, I’ll be here in the morning. If you get up in the morning and want these knives you call me back.’ Because I knew what was going to happen, you know. They bought 200 knives for $19.95…first of all some of these people you didn’t know whether you should call the cops. What do you need 200 knives for? Even though I’m selling them…what do you need them for? So, it was awful doing that job. And then they got rid of me because, they were like, ‘You’re the worst. I can’t believe you’re talking people out of it.’ I was like, ‘Man I know…I’ve been there.’ [laughs] I’d want some to talk me out of buying some of the stuff I’ve bought at 2am.”

    Audio / Jon Pardi talks about his worst job, which was at a grocery store.

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    Jon Pardi (Labor Day) OC: …so bored! :17
    “The worst job I ever had was at Hometown Grocery Store. I didn’t want to work. I was 15, and I did not want to work at the grocery store. Bagging was fun, but they sent me down the aisles to pull up cans and turn ‘em around and face ‘em, and I would just get so bored!”

    Audio / Jordan Davis, whose debut single is making its way up the country charts, talks about his worst job.

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    Jordan Davis (Labor Day) OC: …worst job. :41
    “[My] worst job was probably whenever I got out of school I started working for an environmental group in Baton Rouge, and I was doing actual environmental work at first. I went to my boss probably about four months in and told him that I was going to move to Nashville and write songs. Luckily enough, he let me stay on, but I became the weedeater guy for the landscaping side of the business. I seriously weedeated eight hours a day. The only break I would get would be in-between yard to yard. So, like we would be in the car and I would try to doze off for like 10 minutes. I was covered in grass in the middle of the summer in Baton Rouge. It was awful. That was definitely the worst job.”

    Audio / Keith Urban talks about performing for fans.

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    Keith Urban (Labor Day) OC: …amazing. :22
    “Seeing people connect to the music is absolutely, hands-down the biggest reward for me, especially when you go to a place you’ve never been to before and it’s all these people, I mean lots of people out there. You’ve never met a single one of ‘em and they’re singing every word, and you realize that it’s not just a pretty melody and everything, but they get the songs. It’s amazing.”

    Audio / Kip Moore recalls his worst job...ever.

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    Kip Moore (Labor Day-worst job) OC: …than that. :21
    “I’d have to say my worst job ever was laying sod in the south Georgia heat. There’s nothing than that, especially when somebody would think that you’re waiting for the next sod patch to be thrown to you and you got your back turned, and all of a sudden, that big ole piece of sod hits you right on the back. You got nowhere to clean up, and you’re just stuck with dirt on your back for the rest of the day. It doesn’t get any worse than that.”

    Audio / Charles Kelley of Lady Antebellum tells us what he used to do to make a buck before finding success as a musician.

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    Lady A (Labor Day) OC: …I had a lot of crummy jobs. :31
    CK “I used to…” HS: “… knock out asbestos walls.” CK: “I did that for a long time. But even before that, I used to do lawn care every summer. Oh, man, I do not miss that. Just glad those days are over. I get out here and play music for a living. It’s a lot more fun. But yeah, I used to do that, and I used to work as a bag boy at a golf course once. I did that for a couple of summers. I had a lot of crummy jobs.”

    Audio / Luke Bryan talks about the different jobs he worked in and around Leesburg, Georgia, before heading to Nashville to pursue a career in music.

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    Luke Bryan (Labor Day-jobs) OC: …Nashville… 1:07
    “At age 12 thru 13, I worked at Rubos IGA Supermarket in Leesburg, GA. I worked during the summers on Monday and Tuesday. I stocked and cleaned up the produce.  They paid me under the table…I peeled off all of the brown lettuce. Let’s see, when I was 15, I was a cashier at K-Mart for two months. I worked at K-Mart for two months, and then I reverted back to Rubos because it didn’t really make sense for me to drive all the way into Albany and work for K-Mart. The benefits were great though-you’d get an hour-long on the blue light special. So I started back at Rubos, and then I quit Rubos and worked for my Dad-just awful just driving tractors through cotton all day, and spraying pesticides that eventually would turn your hair green. And then at some point, I started playing guitar. And well, after college I went back and worked for my dad and continued to spray and haul fertilizer around. And then I moved to Nashville…”

    Audio / Travis Denning has never had another job other than playing music.

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    Travis Denning (Labor Day) OC: …right for it. :13
    “I’ve always played music. I mean, my first gig was when I was 16-years-old. That was what I did. And as soon as I found out I could make money doing it, I thought I’d much rather make money doing this than anything else, so I went right for it.”