Eric Church’s relationship with his fans is undeniable, unconditional and often unconventional. And he delivers on that mission again with the release of live covers from his epic project 61 Days In Church.
The covers, which feature popular music by Soundgarden, Billy Joel, Little Feat, Bob Seger and more, is available Saturday, April 21 during Record Store Day. The musical milestone, released by EMI Nashville, is available on LP with 2,500 exclusive copies available to fans.
Church recorded the ambitious project in 2017 during his Holdin’ My Own Tour, which ran from January through May and was named a Tour of the Year by none other than Rolling Stone, which opined: “Over the years, Church concerts have always been parties. But in 2017, they went from merely ass-kicking to epic.”
During the 61-date tour, Church recorded 30 songs per night for a total of more than 200 hours of live music. The Record Store Day exclusive release is a selection of the very best cover songs from those shows (available only at participating record stores).
The collection includes the following eight special cover songs:
1. “Better Man” (Live At Tacoma Drive, Tacoma, WA, March 18, 2017)
2. “Turn The Page” (Live At CenturyLink Center, Omaha, NE, April 8, 2017)
3. “Dixie Chicken” (Live at Pepsi Center, Denver, CO, April 5, 2017 with Chuck Leavell)
4. “Six Days On The Road” (Live at PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, PA, April 21, 2017)
5. “Rusty Cage” (Live at Verizon Center, Washington, D.C., May 19, 2017)
6. “Allentown” (Live at Santander Arena, Reading, PA, May 18, 2017)
7. “Midnight Rider” (Live at Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, TN, May 27, 2017)
8. “American Woman” (Live at Pepsi Center, Denver, CO, April 5, 2017 with Glenn Hughes)
The Holdin’ My Own Tour was presented in two sets with an intermission. The tour reached nearly a million fans culminating with two sold-out shows at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. Performing nearly 40 songs a night, Church’s fans interact and engage with a fervor usually reserved for shows with traveling rock cult bands such as Phish and the Grateful Dead.
Fans connect with Church’s artistic independence and reciprocal loyalty. He cancelled 33,000 tickets destined for sale by scalpers. He went so far as to commission his own technology to vet suspicious online purchases to protect his fans and their hard-earned cash. In 2015 he released his album Mr. Misunderstood for free to the Church Choir (then 80,000 followers) – a day before it was available for sale on iTunes.
Bucking convention isn’t an easy path, but for Church there is no question about where he prioritizes his relationship with his fans and the lengths he will go to provide the ultimate musical experience for his steadfast audience of devoted Choir members.
For information and to sign up for the Church Choir, visit www.ericchurch.com.