An Eric Church Six-Pack

The EC songs you really ought to hear.

RECORD YEAR

‘Slowly plannin’ my survival in a three-foot stack of vinyl…’ One of Church’s biggest hits is this rousing, cathartic love letter to the power of old vinyl LPs – not only Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, but also James Brown and Stevie Wonder.

BREAK IT KIND OF GUY

The sound of Memphis and Sun Records is alive and well on this duet with Church’s long-time backing singer Joanna Cotten. Over a revved-up Carl Perkins style rockabilly lick, a couple’s renegade lust is cast as a Bonnie & Clyde-style sequel.

DESPERATE MAN

Echoes of the Rolling Stones pair Sympathy For The Devil and Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker) run through the pulsing title track of Church’s 2018 album. Co-written with one of his songwriting heroes, Texas troubadour Ray Wylie Hubbard, and featuring mean slide guitar from Jay Joyce.

THE OUTSIDERS

When this came out in 2014, word around Nashville was that Church had “gone rock”. It’s definitely his most full-on outlaw moment, with thundering guitars and rap-style verses, all in the name of rallying his people – the ‘fighters and all-nighters, junkyard dogs and alley cats’.

DRINK IN MY HAND

Like modern country meets 70s Rod Stewart. A timehonoured ode to the working man’s weekend morphs into a swaggering, good-time rock‘n’roll anthem on the back of a classic Faces-style groove and sweaty guitars.

AIN’T KILLED ME YET

How do you sneak AC/DC on to country radio? Church mashes up Angus-style power riffage and a living-on-the-edge lyric with a more radio-friendly chorus. A 100 per cent proof distillation of the star’s appeal to both country and classic rock fans.