Eric Church released his new album, Desperate Man, on Friday (October 5th), and while he felt the need to make an album, he didn’t want to rush the process.

“Everyone approached this initially as we need to make an album. We have to make a record, and I don’t believe you can ever make a record when you walk in going, ‘I have to make a record.’ I don’t think it works that way. Ever. Historically,” says Eric. “I think you just have to get in there, you have to tune your guitar and play nothing for three days. You gotta vibe it. You gotta feel it. And I think one that we don’t do very well these days is we don’t just let it happen. We don’t let the creativity happen. And I think for this album, Mr. Misunderstood and this one in our entire career, have been the most creative albums. We just let it happen. We walked in with less of plan than we have in the past, and we let the plan develop.”

Eric will kick off his new Double Down Tour January 18th and 19th in Omaha, Nebraska.

In August’s candid Rolling Stone cover story shortly after Eric Church announced his sixth album was in the works, readers learned exactly what the North Carolinian has been shouldering since his Holdin’ My Own Tour wrapped last May. It was the first time the songwriter had spoken out regarding the turmoil and angst of the last year, his processing of it all and the outcome: a collection of 11 songs that tell a broader story with today’s release of Desperate Man. 

His longest stretch amid albums, Church’s pause between Mr. Misunderstood and Desperate Man was intentional. “I still felt shook up pretty good,” he says of the time he took following a serious health scare and having performed at Route 91 Harvest festival in Las Vegas, where dozens of country music fans lost their lives. “I wasn’t ready yet, wasn’t settled from all that happened – I was still reeling from Vegas, I felt displaced and not really connected to anything. I had to get back to enjoying what we were making and finding refuge in the music as a bit of an anchor.”

But then came a breakthrough for the man Music Connection declares “a frankly magnificent songwriter,” in the form of two songs that represented an entirely new direction.

“The Snake” – the first song greeting listeners on the album described by Esquire as “brilliant” – is a menacing, spoken-word parable with a political undertone. “The rattlesnake and the copperhead—that’s left/right, blue/red, however you say it,” says Church. “They sit there and fight all day to rile people up and then go get a drink. They’re working together while the whole world is burning down.”

Then, immediately after, he wrote a simple song called “Hippie Radio,” an acoustic meditation on the ways that music is there to mark different phases in your life. And suddenly, Church started to get a notion of where this project might be headed – to a place Rolling Stone dubs “classic Church: expertly crafted and country radio-friendly, while also pushing boundaries in a way that sounds natural and unforced.”

His songwriting prowess serves as the backbone of the project, with Vulture noting that his “devastating pen is pushed to center stage” as “Desperate Man weaves excellence out of ordinary threads.” Church, who had a hand in writing all 11 songs on the album, is also praised by the LA Times as “one of Nashville’s most forthright truth-tellers,” resulting in “a warm, appealingly ragged collection infused with wisdom and reassurance” which American Songwriter declares as “his most adventuresome album yet.”

NPR opines in this week’s First Listen, “On Desperate Man, Church embodies his heroic image even more completely and convincingly than he has on the five albums that came before it.” As the New York Times acknowledges, “Church has never been an easy fit into Nashville’s familiar boxes – his music is as much rock as it is country” with Stereogum observing that this renegade spirit is what sets him apart: “Church is someone who’s at the top of his genre because he breaks its rules in big, exciting, arena-filling ways. If that’s not a rock star, I don’t know what is.”

The three-time Country Music Association and seven-time Academy of Country Music Award winner confessed to American Songwriter in their September/October cover story, “For how far we have evolved, we still have the same basic problems. We are all broken, and we are all going to break. It doesn’t matter how far we’ve come or how many pills we come up with or how much technology distracts us; we still want the same things. And you can get through anything in your life with a jukebox, and a bar,” [“Jukebox And A Bar” is one of three songs Church penned solo on the album].

And its closing track, “Drowning Man,” addresses the state of our times and the ways artists have (or haven’t) responded. “With what’s going on in the world, I felt forgotten, left behind,” says Church. “And if you go to any bar or concert in America, there are whole groups of forgotten people who are very much alike, who have more in common than not. There’s a lot of madness in the world that makes no sense, and it’s not all high tides and yachts.”

Desperate Man and tickets to Church’s 2019 Double Down Tour are available today, October 5. Get the album here and visit EricChurch.com for ticketing information.

Desperate Man Track List:

1. The Snake (Written by Eric Church, Jeremy Spillman and Travis Meadows)
2. Hangin’ Around (Written by Eric Church and Jeff Hyde)
3. Heart Like A Wheel (Written by Eric Church)
4. Some Of It (Written by Eric Church, Jeff Hyde, Clint Daniels and Bobby Pinson)
5. Monsters (Written by Eric Church and Jeff Hyde)
6. Hippie Radio (Written by Eric Church)
7. Higher Wire (Written by Eric Church, Casey Beathard and Scooter Carusoe)
8. Desperate Man (Written by Eric Church and Ray Wylie Hubbard)
9. Solid (Written by Eric Church and Anders Osborne)
10. Jukebox And A Bar (Written by Eric Church)
11. Drowning Man (Written by Eric Church and Casey Beathard)

Produced by Jay Joyce
Executive Producer Arturo Buenahora, Jr.

Eric Church releases his new album, Desperate Man, on Friday (October 5th), and we’ve got a one-hour radio special, featuring some of the tracks from the new album, as well as a few of his hits (see link below).

“What I thought this album was going to be—well, it wasn’t that at all,” says Eric Church. “But once we found the template and got on the right path, we were really knocking them down. It took a while, but then we got most of the album done in a few days.”

Church’s sixth studio album, Desperate Man, available October 5th, marks the end of the longest break in his career between putting out new music. In the three years since the sudden, surprise release of Mr. Misunderstood, though, he has experienced some of the highest peaks and some of the biggest challenges in his work and in his life and most are present in this new collection of songs.

Since his last recordings, Church had also been through a serious health scare and had performed at the Route 91 Harvest festival in Las Vegas, where dozens of country music fans lost their lives. “I still felt shook up pretty good,” he says. “I wasn’t ready yet, wasn’t settled from all that happened—I was still reeling from Vegas, I felt displaced and not really connected to anything. I had to get back to enjoying what we were making and finding refuge in the music as a bit of an anchor.”

He called his manager and said that he might need to take a break and hold off on the recording sessions (“that’s never happened to me before,” he notes). But then came a breakthrough, in the form of two songs that represented an entirely new direction.

“The Snake” is a menacing, spoken-word parable with a political undertone. “The rattlesnake and the copperhead—that’s left/right, blue/red, however you say it,” says Church. “They sit there and fight all day to rile people up and then go get a drink. They’re working together while the whole world is burning down.”

Then, immediately after, he wrote a simple song called “Hippie Radio,” an acoustic meditation on the ways that music is there to mark different phases in your life. And suddenly, Church started to get a notion of where this project might be headed. “It was making my Spidey Sense go up,” says Church. “It was different, soulful, a total left turn from what we had been doing. The coolness started to come in. Plus, it was saying something, and that’s what artists are supposed to do—give us guidance for where we are and where we’re headed.”

The sessions became more loose and experimental. The bulk of the material was written in the studio; he came up with “Hangin’ Around” in an hour and cut it that same day. For “Drowning Man,” Joyce secretly set up a microphone under Church’s foot, and the tapping forms the main kick on the final drum track. “My creative juices were really flowing,” says Church. “I was trying different sounds and calling more audibles than ever before. I really enjoyed the journey of where it was starting to take me.”

We are celebrating this new release with a one-hour special featuring several tracks from the new album, plus a few of Eric’s biggest hits.

The program is non-exclusive and commercial-free.

TOTAL RUNNING TIME:

@ One hour – delivery via link Wednesday evening (October 3rd)

CLEARANCE WINDOW:

Friday, October 5th – Sunday, October 14th

To download the album special, click here.

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.

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.

Eric Church had a lot of fun making the video for his latest song, “Desperate Man.” He says it’s probably the favorite video he’s ever done in his career, due in large part to the song’s co-writer Ray Wylie Hubbard, as well as the theme of the video.

“My favorite video of my entire career is ‘Desperate Man.’ It’s my favorite video. And I think that…you know maybe we’re all shady characters, but I thought everybody played their part so well in that video. I mean Ray looks like a drug dealer, polyester suit, all my band members are shady as s*%t, so the whole thing to me was just the perfect culmination at this part in our career,” says Eric.

He adds, “With Ray Wylie Hubbard, to me, he’s a legend, he’s an icon. He’s exactly, he’s a troubadour. He’s the reason we should all aspire to do this. It’s not about money. It’s not about fame. It’s about, it’s what you’re born to do. It’s what you were put here to do. And I love the honesty and the integrity with which he’s done that throughout his career. So, for him to have a song that’s on the country chart and to be a part of mainstream country music is maybe one of the most favorite things I have ever done or been a part of.”

Eric’s latest album, Desperate Man, is available beginning Friday (October 5th).

Photo Credit: Anthony D’Angio

Eric Church’s October 5 Desperate Man release is one of the year’s most anticipated albums, and now fans have even more reasons to look forward to its release day: 37 of them to be exact.

Church’s 2019 Double Down Tour will see this month’s American Songwriter cover artist visit 19 cities (list below) to perform six albums worth of material across two very different nights of music as well as a stadium-sized tour stop in Nashville, Tennessee, more than doubling the capacity where he previously set Bridgestone Arena’s attendance record upon the finale stop of his Holdin’ My Own Tour in 2017.

Eric Church is hitting the road with the Double Down Tour in 2019 with 19 cities; 2 nights in each city, 2 unique shows, plus one huge Nashville stadium show. Members of the Choir get priority access to presale tickets. Sign up for the Church Choir now at https://t.co/ccGLkyyZMp pic.twitter.com/Dvszw9UzJs

— Eric Church (@ericchurch) September 21, 2018

In a candid cover-story interview in July, Rolling Stone praised Church for “pushing boundaries in a way that sounds natural and unforced.” The same goes for his touring in 2019, again foregoing an opening act and instead treating fans to dynamic marathon sets across back-to-back nights.

In keeping with Church’s commitment to giving his fan club — known as the Church Choir — priority access, they will be able to purchase tickets during the fan club presale.

To keep scalpers at bay and to ensure tickets end up in the hands of real fans, after the fan club presale, tickets will be sold during Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan presale. All fans interested in priority access to tickets should get verified. Registration begins Friday, Sept. 21 at 10 am CT.

Tickets inside Church’s stage will be made available exclusively to Church Choir members and only through the brand new Eric Church app. Church is taking full control of the very best seats inside the stage and offering them using cutting edge technology. Church Choir members will also have the opportunity to take advantage of exclusive hotel deals in all Double Down Tour cities plus additional surprises related to the tour. More information is available at ericchurch.com.

Desperate Man is available for preorder now, with the title track, “Heart Like A Wheel” and “Monsters” available upon preorder.

Eric Church’s 2019 Double Down Tour dates are as follows: 
January 18, 2019     Omaha, NE                CHI Health Center+
January 19, 2019     Omaha, NE                CHI Health Center+
January 25, 2019     St. Louis, MO            Enterprise Center+
January 26, 2019     St. Louis, MO            Enterprise Center+
February 1, 2019     Boston, MA               TD Garden+
February 2, 2019     Boston, MA               TD Garden+
February 8, 2019     Minneapolis, MN      Target Center+
February 9, 2019     Minneapolis, MN      Target Center+
February 15, 2019   Detroit, MI                 Little Caesars Arena+
February 16, 2019   Detroit, MI                 Little Caesars Arena+
February 22, 2019   Cincinnati, OH           U.S. Bank Arena*
February 23, 2019   Cincinnati, OH           U.S. Bank Arena*
March 1, 2019         Kansas City, MO        Sprint Center+
March 2, 2019         Kansas City, MO        Sprint Center+
March 8, 2019         Toronto, ON               Scotiabank Arena+
March 9, 2019         Toronto, ON               Scotiabank Arena+
March 15, 2019       Greensboro, NC         Greensboro Coliseum+
March 16, 2019       Greensboro, NC         Greensboro Coliseum+
March 22, 2019       Chicago, IL                Allstate Arena*
March 23, 2019       Chicago, IL                Allstate Arena*
March 29, 2019       Milwaukee, WI          Fiserv Forum+
March 30, 2019       Milwaukee, WI          Fiserv Forum+
April 12, 2019         Dallas, TX                 American Airlines Center*
April 13, 2019         Dallas, TX                 American Airlines Center*
April 19, 2019         Cleveland, OH           Quicken Loans Arena*
April 20, 2019         Cleveland, OH           Quicken Loans Arena*
April 26, 2019         Greenville, SC           Bon Secours Wellness Arena*
April 27, 2019         Greenville, SC           Bon Secours Wellness Arena*
May 3, 2019            Pittsburgh, PA            PPG Paints Arena+
May 4, 2019            Pittsburgh, PA            PPG Paints Arena+
May 10, 2019          Denver, CO                Pepsi Center*
May 11, 2019          Denver, CO                Pepsi Center*
May 17, 2019          Los Angeles, CA       STAPLES Center*
May 18, 2019          Los Angeles, CA       STAPLES Center*
May 25, 2019          Nashville, TN            Nissan Stadium#
June 28, 2019          George, WA               The Gorge Amphitheatre#
June 29, 2019          George, WA               The Gorge Amphitheatre#
+on sale October 5 at 10am local time
*on sale October 12 at 10am local time
#on sale October 19 at 10am local time

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.

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