{"id":1318349,"date":"2020-02-20T18:42:56","date_gmt":"2020-02-21T01:42:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/?p=1818114"},"modified":"2020-02-20T18:42:56","modified_gmt":"2020-02-21T01:42:56","slug":"eric-church-ive-never-been-able-to-play-somebody-a-song-and-get-them-to-get-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/music-news\/eric-church-ive-never-been-able-to-play-somebody-a-song-and-get-them-to-get-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Eric Church: \u201cI\u2019ve Never Been Able to Play Somebody a Song and Get Them to Get Me\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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by Alison Bonaguro<\/a><\/span>
\n26m ago<\/span>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

In 2007, Eric Church was just another one of the CRS New Faces. <\/p>\n

But at this year\u2019s 2020 Country Radio Seminar \u2014 13 years later \u2014 he was back as the event\u2019s keynote speaker on Thursday afternoon (Feb. 20). <\/p>\n

Church started with remarks about chasing creativity, how that\u2019s always been what has driven him, and has always kept things interesting. \u201cThere have been some spectacular crashes and some spectacular successes. That spirit. That freedom of when you play music here (in your heart) and not here (in your mind), it matters. I believe people feel that,\u201d Church said early in his hour-long session. \u201cI try to put myself in the most uncomfortable situations. I make sure it\u2019s hard, and make sure it\u2019s left footed. For me, it\u2019s about chasing that thing that\u2019s really hard to catch. It\u2019s elusive.\u201d<\/p>\n

The other New Faces that year were Miranda Lambert, Rodney Atkins, Jack Ingram and Trent Tomlinson.<\/p>\n

Five years after that 2007 CRS, Church had his first No. 1 song at last. \u201cDrink in My Hand\u201d and \u201cSpringsteen\u201d were both bona fide hits. That said, \u201cSmoke a Little Smoke\u201d and \u201cThese Boots\u201d weren\u2019t hits, per se. But the way Church defines what a hit songs is isn\u2019t necessarily the way radio stations define what a hit song is. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou can have 20 No. 1 hits \u2014 I don\u2019t know what that\u2019s like \u2014 but a lot of time there\u2019s no differentiation. You can also have no No. 1 songs,\u201d he explained, \u201cor you can name 7-10 songs. It\u2019s a lot about how that speaks to the audience. What it says and does it stand out. We spent our entire career trying to be different when a lot of the stuff is molded to be the same. We always wanted to make people go, \u2019What is this? Who is this?\u2019 That\u2019s how we build that story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Church cited his 2009 song \u201cLove Your Love the Most\u201d to make his point. It was his first song in the top 10, and he couldn\u2019t tell in the shows. \u201cI didn\u2019t feel any different. Then \u2019Hell on the Heart.\u2019 Same thing,\u201d he said. \u201cBut off that album (Carolina<\/em>), we had \u2019Smoke a Little Smoke.\u2019 And when we played that<\/em>, the crowd would tear the walls down. And that was taboo to have a pro-marijuana song at the time. That \u2019Smoke a Little Smoke\u2019 moment was the moment that we were able to be the artist I envisioned us to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rest of the discussion veered from path to path, much like his music does, and suited the industry crowd perfectly. <\/p>\n

On his country peers bypassing him on the radio charts:<\/strong>
\u201cThe journey for me going through those things was where I found out more about myself as a songwriter and as a performer. I had more stories to tell and more hunger and more passion. All those guys and girls that were passing me on the charts \u2014 that was bugging me. But I was able to put that in here (in my heart). I wanted the music to get the attention it deserved. I finally decided I\u2019m not going to be somebody else to have commercial success short term. I saw a lot of that. Guys and girls who had one or two or three hits, but then never got wider, and then the next artist came along.\u201d<\/p>\n

On feeling bold after the success of Chief<\/em>:<\/strong>
\u201cWhat I saw in front of me in the bars and clubs, it worked. It was no rules, let\u2019s just go for it. It worked, and I trusted that. But the most creative record we\u2019ve made to date would\u2019ve been The Outsiders<\/em>. Because my entire career, I\u2019m the guy over here on the left. Then Chief <\/em>comes along and I\u2019m right square in the middle of the format. And it weirded me out. So when it was time, I knew I didn\u2019t want to make Chief II<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

On how he measures success:<\/strong>
\u201cNo. 1 songs, at least for me, only line up every now and then where you have a song that creatively is what I want it to be and then it turns into a big commercial hit. That doesn\u2019t happen all the time. But then you\u2019ll have a song like \u2019Creepin\u201d which doesn\u2019t go top ten. But these songs leave an impact even though they didn\u2019t go up the charts. \u2019Desperate Man\u2019 was one, because I knew it was gonna blow people\u2019s hair back because it was weird and odd. I wanted that. It was \u2014 to this day \u2014 if you walk up to somebody who is one of our fans, and say where did \u2019Desperate Man\u2019 go on the charts, they would all say, \u2019No. 1, absolutely.\u2019 Those people think I have like 30 No. 1s.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the extreme close-up of his Chief <\/em>album cover:<\/strong>
\u201cThis is how thought out that was: my manager John Peet had a brand new camera and a new lens. And I had that on and the hat and shades. I was standing up against something, and he just walked up to me and snapped it. He showed it to me. I said, \u2019Tat\u2019s the cover.\u2019 I said, \u2019That\u2019s the guy.\u2019 The push back was, you can\u2019t wear a hat because you have hair. Then it was, you can\u2019t were shades because you have pretty eyes. I said, \u2019It\u2019s gotta be this because this is the guy the fans see every night. We have to be that guy.’\u201d<\/p>\n

On waiting patiently for long-term success:<\/strong>
\u201cIt rattled me at times, early on. We could\u2019ve put out singles, but I didn\u2019t want the best radio song. I wanted songs that best defined me. That told my story. It\u2019s like a book. You can\u2019t figure out what the story is by reading one chapter. You\u2019ve gotta read the whole book. Songs are like chapters. For me, everything I\u2019ve ever done has been album based. I\u2019ve never been able to play somebody a song and get them to get me. \u2019Two Pink Lines\u2019 was a choice we made, because I\u2019d never heard that subject matter, and we\u2019ve done that our whole career. I loved the noise of \u2019The Outsiders.\u2019 It debuted at No. 26 and that\u2019s as high as it got, and I\u2019m proud of that. You never know what\u2019s coming. It\u2019s about chasing things to different places.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the Church fan who misunderstood Mr. Misunderstood<\/em>:<\/strong>
\u201cWe always put our fans first. The fans heard that first. We just sent it out early on vinyl to the fans, before we released it. And there was a fan on some radio show or a television show and they\u2019re interviewing him because he got Mr. Misunderstood<\/em> in the mail. And nobody knew it was coming. And he\u2019s holding it. And they said, \u2019What is it?\u2019 He says, \u2019It\u2019s Eric Church\u2019s new album. Maybe he just sent it to me.’\u201d<\/p>\n

On the challenges of being creative after tragedy strikes:<\/strong>
\u201cThat was such a hurtful time for everybody,\u201d he said of the mass shooting at the Route 91 festival in 2017. \u201cThe hard thing for me in that was that what I love about music is that\u2019s my safe spot. It should be everybody\u2019s safe spot. Whether you\u2019re listening in your car or at a concert. That should be escapism. Where you\u2019re protected. And to have that happen, and have people who had our shirts on and didn\u2019t make it home. That was a really dark time.\u201d <\/p>\n

Church performed \u201cAmazing Grace\u201d a capella shortly after that tragic day, at the 2017 CMA Awards. And as he said, \u201cI\u2019m no Chris Stapleton.\u201d<\/p>\n

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