Eric Church tops the list of final nominees for this year’s CMA Awards with five nominations, tying with Little Big Town. The North Carolina native is nominated for his first Entertainer of the Year nomination, as well as Male Vocalist Single of the Year for “Talladega,” Song of the Year for “Like a Wrecking Ball,” which he wrote with Casey Bethard; and Musical Event of the Year for “Raise ‘Em Up” with Keith Urban.
The 49th Annual CMA Awards, hosted by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood, will be broadcast live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena Wednesday (November 4th) at 8pm ET on ABC.
Audio / Eric Church, who is nominated for CMA Entertainer of the Year for the first time, talks about what kind of energy he receives from his live crowds.
DownloadEric Church (performing energy) OC: …type of crowd. :43
“I think for me, I mean every night, I try to empty the tank. There’s always that energy floating around; it’s a palpable thing. It’s up to me to start that exchange and get the crowd to give it back to me and then watch it build on itself, and just to have that experience. I mean, we have one night here in whatever city we are in, whether it’s Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Monday. We got this night, I’m not going to see you for a while and you’re not going to see me for a while, you know? And I love being able to capitalize on that moment and trying to live in that moment and get as much energy exchanged between myself and the crowd as we can. I love that! That’s my favorite part of what we do. I love being around people…I’m very passionate about my music and I love people who are passionate about the music too, and I love playing a show for that type of crowd.”
Audio / ERIC CHURCH SAYS THE MOST INTERESTING THING ABOUT HIS LATEST SINGLE, “TALLADEGA,” IS IT’S ABOUT LIFE.
DownloadEric Church (Talladega connects) OC: …me of it. :32
“I think that’s the most interesting thing about the song is it’s about life, and it’s about freezing life and wishing you could freeze life, and we all wish we could do that. Really what the best of music is what it does is it transports you back to that time and that place that you wish you could’ve frozen, and in a way you can, because the song does. And it takes you back to when you were that age. So, for me, I’ve had a few experiences like that that will stand out forever, and it usually involves music in some way that reminds me of it.”
Audio / ERIC CHURCH SAYS THE FIRST TIME HE HEARD “RAISE ‘EM UP” -- THE SONG HE IS FEATURED ON WITH KEITH URBAN -- HE THOUGHT IT WAS A HIT.
DownloadEric Church (Raise ‘Em Up) OC: …beautiful song. :37
“The ‘Raise ‘Em Up’ quality, I mean there’s also a line in there about kids and about life. It’s about lighters. It’s about drinks. One verse is about, you know, black umbrellas, about a funeral. It’s a very serious song. Plain and simple, it’s a hit. I mean, there’s very few times that I’ve heard a song and said, ‘That’s [a hit].’ I don’t care what the circumstances are, it’s probably a hit in Portugese. It’s a hit. It’s just a damn hit, you know? It is, and it’s gonna be a big hit for Keith, and I’m glad. I’m glad to be a part of it, and I’m glad he asked me. It’s just a beautiful song.”
Audio / ERIC CHURCH SAYS “LIKE A WRECKING BALL” IS ABSOLUTELY ABOUT WHAT IT SAYS IN THE SONG.
DownloadEric Church (Like a Wrecking Ball) OC: …their life. :49
“I hate innuendo. I don’t like where people get cute. I’m 36 years old. I’m not 12. I don’t need people to disguise what we’re talking about. I think we can get so cute with stuff like that. Al Green didn’t get cute. Conway Twitty didn’t get cute. They said it. We’re adults, and this is an adult record. We’ve always made adult music. I like songs like that, and that’s what this song is. This song is about sex. It’s about not being home to see your wife or girl for a long time, and thinking about that, preparing for that and executing that [laughs] is what this song’s about. It has nothing to do with anything else. I mean…that’s what it is, and the honesty of that, I hope people find refreshing, because I’ve not found anybody that hasn’t felt that at some point in time during their life.”
