There are certain things you need to know about
Eric Church.
He’s a songwriter first, he refuses to censor himself, and he loves Bruce Springsteen. Oh, and he’s a self-appointed ambassador to turn country music around.
At a recent show, Church was asked not to play “Two Pink Lines,” an honest song about teen pregnancy that came off his 2006 album,
Sinners Like Me.
“Had I been an artist that tried to censor, that song would have never been on the record,” Church said.
He went ahead and played the song anyway, which has the lyrics, “One means none and we're home free/Two means three and a diamond ring/Yeah I wonder what fate is gonna decide/We're just sittin’ around waiting on two pink lines.”
“To me, that’s music, that’s what art is,” he said.
Church thinks of himself solely as a songwriter and is influenced by “raw” country legends like Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson. He went to Nashville to write songs and describes the additional responsibilities of being a performing artist as “window dressing.”
“I’m not going to make many records in my career,” Church said. “But when I do, the I’s are dotted, the T’s are crossed, and it’s going to be a good album.”
When he writes, Church does not focus on what will be the single, in fact, by the time the record is finished, Church doesn’t know what the singles will be.
“Record-selling artists are the ones that built the industry,” he said. “We can’t live in a download to download world…that’s partly why record labels are failing.”
As for Church’s performances, he compares his live set to a Springsteen show, where everyone onstage is covered in sweat by the end of the set.
“Mentally, we’re going to kick everybody’s ass,” Church said. “It’s like a boxing match instead of a concert. Not from a gimmick side, but from a music side.”
Similar to Springsteen, Church built up his fan base slowly, focusing on his career from a live perspective.
“We don’t have a lot of bells and whistles, we just play music,” he said.
Church may seem like an outsider playing at festivals heavy with rock bands, but he is confident in his performance skills. And, it’s just one of his strategies as country’s ambassador.
“Rock has incredible energy,” he says. “Country is lacking in a raw show…It can be slow at times.”
If you’re headed to
Lollapalooza this weekend, make sure to stop by the BMI stage at 4:15 on Friday to get your ass kicked by Eric Church.
I headed up to Grand Rapids to check out Metro Station and Mayday Parade. I had never seen either of these bands live but had listened to them both. I first got to the Intersection and noticed not only were there "Sold Out" signs everywhere, but there was also a huge line. After getting into the place I was amazed to see the number of people there.
