As the saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” And there’s the one that reads, “If you’re good at something, stick with it.” Either could apply to Eric Church and the approach he took to writing songs for his new album, The Outsiders. As he did for Chief – which gave Eric his first chart-topping hits, was certified platinum, earned him Grammy nomination, and was named CMA and ACM Album of the Year – Eric and his co-writers sequestered themselves a bit as they were working on songs for the new album. “I do better when I separate myself,” he explains. “I just do better when I completely stop everything else and my daily motivation is writing a song – morning, noon and night. Constant.”

As he did for Chief, Eric spent several weeks at a favorite cabin working on songs…but some tracks on The Outsiders were also written on the road, while others originated during a month spent in Florida. “The more I write, the sharper my tools get,” Eric says. “I just have to take the time to do that.” Eric did observe one difference this time around, though – “We wrote probably twice as many songs, so we had a lot more content to pull from.”

The Outsiders – featuring Eric’s latest hit, “Give Me Back My Hometown” – is being released on Tuesday (February 11th).

Catch Eric on CBS Sunday Morning With Charles Osgood this Sunday at 9am ET.