NASHVILLE – (Jan. 12, 2015) — After closing out 2014 with country music’s top-selling album, the Platinum-certified and genre-busting The Outsiders, Eric Church storms in to 2015 with four GRAMMY nominations (Best Country Album for The Outsiders, Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance for “Give Me Back My Hometown” and Best Country Group/Duo Performance for “Raise ‘Em Up with Keith Urban) and an expansion of his successful The Outsiders World Tour into the spring. The new tour dates stretch from Tampa, FL to Vancouver, BC and includes Austin, Boston, Cincinnati, Lexington, Jacksonville, Newark, Raleigh, Seattle, Washington DC and more.
Each stop will include one special guest for the new leg of The Outsiders World Tour, varying to include diverse artists as Brothers Osborne, Drive-By-Truckers, JD McPherson, and The Cadillac Three. The Lone Bellow will also be a special guest on several dates to be announced soon.
“Eric Church is our greatest working rock star” proclaimed Stereogum, referring to Church as “…. a down-home everyman whose conversational vocal delivery surges into something huge when it needs to and who comes off as a perfectly genuine human being even when leading the choreographed rigors of an arena show. And holy shit, he has songs.” The Philadelphia Inquirer described “how superior the North Carolina artist is, in style and substance, to other big-name pop-country acts packing sports venues these days,” while The Memphis Commercial Appeal predicted, “at this level, and on the strength of an album as sharp as The Outsiders, Church is arguably both the mainstream country artist of the year and the mainstream rock artist of the year and his show made a case for that blend….” The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette announced “…he’s a contender for the new Boss of his genre. That genre is country, but this late bloomer from North Carolina is the kind of Southern rocker who will ‘Pledge Allegiance to the Hag’ (as in Merle Haggard) while also splashing some of Slayer’s ‘Raining Blood’ into the intro to ‘I’m Gettin’ Stoned.’”
The first thirteen dates will go on sale this Friday, Jan 16, at 10:00 a.m. in each market. These dates are:
3/4/15 Austin, TX | Frank Erwin Center **
3/10/15 Washington, DC | Verizon Center **
3/18/15 Ft. Wayne, IN | Allen County War Memorial Coliseum **
3/28/15 Tampa, FL | Amalie Arena***
4/7/15 Grand Forks, ND | Ralph Engelstad Arena *
4/8/15 Winnipeg, MB | MTS Centre *
4/10/15 Saskatoon, SK | SaskTel Centre *
4/11/15 Calgary, AB | Scotiabank Saddledome *
4/12/15 Edmonton, AB | Rexall Place *
4/14/15 Vancouver, BC | Pepsi Live at Rogers Arena *
4/15/15 Seattle, WA | KeyArena at Seattle Center *
4/24/15 Hampton, VA | Hampton Coliseum ****
Opening Acts
(*) Brothers Osborne
(**) Drive-By Truckers
(***) The Cadillac Three
(****) JD McPherson
The following dates are also announced, with on-sale dates and opening acts to be revealed soon:
3/12/15 Albany, NY | Times Union Center
3/13/15 Wilkes-Barre, PA | Mohegan Sun Arena
3/19/15 Bloomington, IL | U.S. Cellular Coliseum
3/20/15 Rosemont, IL | Allstate Arena
3/21/15 Cincinnati, OH | U.S. Bank Arena
3/26/15 Tallahassee, FL | Donald L. Tucker Civic Center
3/27/15 Jacksonville, FL | Veterans Memorial Arena
4/23/15 Raleigh, NC | PNC Arena
4/30/15 Boston, MA | TD Garden Arena
5/1/15 Buffalo, NY | First Niagara Center
5/2/15 Newark, NJ | Prudential Center
5/7/15 Lexington, KY | Rupp Arena
5/8/15 Columbus, MO | Mizzou Arena
6/12/15 Orange Beach, AL | Amphitheater at the Wharf
8/27/15 Syracuse, NY | New York State Fair
Church returned to the road last week with powerhouse performances in New Orleans, LA (1/8), Tupelo, MS (1/9), and Nashville, TN (1/10) where his audience of 18,411 fans set a new event attendance record for the Bridgestone Arena. Catch him this week in Oklahoma City, OK (1/14), Las Vegas (1/16 and 1/17), and San Diego (1/18).
Church’s current album, The Outsiders, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart and theBillboard Country Albums Chart earlier this year, featuring his No. 1 hit “Give Me Back My Hometown” and his current single “Talladega.” The Outsiders is the follow-up to Church’s Platinum-certified album Chief, (named the 2012 Album of the Year by both CMA and ACM, and GRAMMY-nominated for Best Country Album) which featured five Top 20 singles: “Homeboy” (certified Platinum for sales in excess of one million singles); the Top 10 “Like Jesus Does” and the Top 5 “Creepin’” (both certified Gold for sales in excess of 500,000 singles each); and two No. 1 hits “Drink in My Hand” (certified Platinum) and “Springsteen” (certified Double Platinum for sales in excess of two million singles). Church’s 2006 debut album, Sinners Like Me (2006) and his sophomore album Carolina (2009) are both RIAA Gold-certified. Carolina had three hit singles: the Top 10 “Hell on the Heart” as well as Top 20 hit “Smoke A Little Smoke” and Top 10 smash “Love Your Love The Most,” which were both certified Gold. Sinners Like Me spawned three Top 20 singles: “How ‘Bout You,” “Two Pink Lines,” and “Guys Like Me.”
Brothers Osborne
Two sons from a working class family, John and TJ Osborne grew up in a small, Maryland water town. They spent most nights not in front of the television, but writing and playing songs for friends and family in their father’s shed. John (guitar) moved to Nashville first to play in other bands and two years later, TJ (vocals/guitar) joined him. It was then they formed Brothers Osborne and in April 2011 they signed with Warner Chappell/King Pen Music for publishing followed by a deal with Capitol Records a year later. Their blue-collar rural Maryland upbringing still informs the music they make as a twang-and-crunch duo that blends equal parts country and rock into one of the freshest, most identifiable sounds to come out of Nashville in recent years. Their latest single “Rum” was named one of the top country songs of 2014 byBillboard as well as Rolling Stone and Nashville Lifestyles recently named them one of the Top 25 Artists to Watch in 2015. They are currently in the studio finishing their debut album set to release in 2015.
Drive-By Truckers
Rolling Stone called the Drive-By Truckers “the boldest ‘n’ baddest Southern band in the land.” Throughout their twelve highly acclaimed albums, the Truckers have surveyed the modern South with a complex blend of realism-tempered pride and compassionate but uncompromising analysis. Their latest album, English Oceans, finds the group refreshed and firing on all cylinders. Both Mike Cooley and Patterson Hood penned songs independently that dovetailed brilliantly with each other on English Oceans, originating in a truly collaborative effort that the band has never utilized before. The album was recorded with a compact, retooled lineup. Jay Gonzalez, who joined the band in 2008 as keyboardist, stepped into an expanded role by adding guitar to his duties, while bassist Matt Patton was drafted from the Tuscaloosa group The Dexateens. The band hit the road non stop in 2014 and brought their live show to an all new level which was recently recorded over three nights at The Fillmore in San Francisco and will be released as a live album in 2015.
JD McPherson
JD McPherson’s new single, “Let The Good Times Roll,” premiered recently at The Wall Street Journal and can now be heard/shared via SoundCloud. The song is the title track to McPherson’s highly anticipated new album, which will be released February 10 on Rounder Records. Already receiving widespread critical acclaim, the album was recently included in World Café’s 2015 Music Preview. Of the music, Ann Powers praises, “There are people who imitate and people who work within that genre…that become original. And I really think that JD is doing that with his band…” This new music follows McPherson’s widely praised 2012 debut, Signs and Signifiers, which resulted in McPherson’s selection as a Rolling Stone “Artist to Watch,” an NPR Music “Artist You Should Know” and a WXPN “Artist to Watch.” He was also awarded “Best Rock/Hard Rock Album” at the 2012 Independent Music Awards.
The Cadillac Three
The Cadillac Three is a high-energy trio who describes their sound as “country fuzz.” Composed of three Nashville natives – Jaren Johnston (Guitar & Lead Vocals), Kelby Ray (Bass Steel Guitar, Dobro, Acoustic & Vocals) and Neil Mason (Drums, Percussion & Vocals) – all three guys have weathered wild adventures as a country group with a rockin’ edge. They have opened for acts like ZZ Top, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Eric Church and Eli Young Band. Johnston is known for penning Keith Urban’s No. 1 smash “You Gonna Fly,” two new cuts on Tim McGraw’s latest record Two Lanes of Freedom, and several other tunes for acts like Kenny Chesney, Jake Owen, Sara Evans and Dierks Bentley.
The Lone Bellow
Then Came the Morning, the second album by the Southern-born, Brooklyn-based indie-folk trio The Lone Bellow due out Jan. 27, opens with a crest of churchly piano, a patter of drums, and a fanfare of voices harmonizing like a sunrise. It’s a powerful introduction, enormous and overwhelming, as Zach Williams, Brian Elmquist, and Kanene Pipkin testify mightily to life’s great struggles and joys, heralding the morning that dispels the dark night. Working with producer Aaron Dessner of the National, the Lone Bellow has created a sound that mixes folk sincerity, gospel fervor, even heavy metal thunder, but the heart of the band is harmony: three voices united in a lone bellow. Then Came the Morning is the follow-up to the group’s critically-acclaimed, self-titled debut album which was released in 2013.