Eric Church is closing in on the top of the country charts with his latest single, “Give Me Back My Hometown,” which he co-wrote with Luke Laird (“Drink in My Hand,” “Pontoon,” “Downtown,” “Keep It To Yourself”). He says the the tune fascinates him as a songwriter because of the opposition the main character feels — he’s supposed to feel safe in his hometown, but his former lover left her mark all over it and he can’t erase those memories from his mind.

“It’s about a guy that’s still in his hometown. He’s in the most familiar place, the place he knows better than anything, but because his female lover left him there, all those places that he knows so well, become so haunting and foreign to him,” says Eric. “To be at the place that you grow up at that is your home, and the person that left you there took that from you, there’s nothing lonelier than that. So, I love that dichotomy of ‘Give Me Back My Hometown,’ when the person’s in it, they’re standing in it, and that appealed to me as a songwriter.”

“Give Me Back My Hometown” is from the Boone, North Carolina native’s latest album, The Outsiders.

Eric will hit the road with The Outsiders World Tour September 11th in Bossier City, Louisiana.

Eric Church (Give Me Back My Hometown) OC: …songwriter. :41
“I love that it’s about ‘Give Me Back My Hometown,’ but it’s about a guy that’s still in his hometown. He’s in the most familiar place, the place he knows better than anything, but because his female lover left him there, all those places that he knows so well, become so haunting and foreign to him. The loneliness and sadness of it, it’s one of the sadder songs we’ve ever done. To be at the place that you grow up at that is your home, and the person that left you there took that from you, there’s nothing lonelier than that. So, I love that dichotomy of ‘Give Me Back My Hometown,’ when the person’s in it, they’re standing in it, and that appealed to me as a songwriter.”