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“Push That Boundary”: Why Eric Church Has Never Followed Country Music’s Rules
In many ways, Eric Church is a bit of an enigma in country music. Oftentimes, he strays away from what many would consider to be classic hallmarks of the genre, including but not limited to rare uses of fiddle many of his songs and the outright refusal to use steel guitar on many of his songs post Sinners Like Me. Despite this, Church has remained not only one of the best artists in the genre over the two decades but also one of the most important, influencing megastars like Morgan Wallen and Luke Combs as well as alternative country standouts such as Carter Faith, Charles Wesley Godwin, Colby Acuff and more.
When you dive into his discography, which reached nine studio albums upon the release of the Grammy-nominated Evangeline vs. The Machine last year, what truly stands out to you is just how far he’s willing to go to chase whatever sound is currently inspiring him. Chief sounds nothing like Mr. Misunderstood, which also sounds nothing like Desperate Man.
On the other hand, Desperate Man clearly sounds nothing like the aforementioned Evangeline vs. The Machine. While it may drive some hardcore traditionalists up a wall (and it undoubtedly has throughout the years), for fans of Church (myself included) this is one of the key characteristics that define him as an artist: he’s simply not satisfied with the status quo in country as a genre and his sound as a whole.
It should go without saying that Church, by all measures, is firmly planted in the mainstream, making frequent appearances at the likes of the CMA, ACM and Grammy Awards nearly every year. With that being said, however, he operates much closer to the likes of Sturgill Simpson in terms of artistic integrity from album-to-album compared to the likes of many other artists currently occupying the Nashville machine.
Though he’s always pushed the envelope of the genre, primarily beginning with his rock-heavy The Outsiders in 2014, he’s transformed into something else entirely over the past three or so years. Notably, he was lambasted on social media back in 2024 at his Stagecoach performance, which featured an hour and a half acoustic set backed only by a gospel choir.
Calling it his “Dylan Goes Electric” moment, in reference to Bob Dylan’s legendary performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, the Chief has only leaned into the gospel elements heavier. Not only has the choir and now a full orchestra been present on a majority of his shows over the past two years, he turned Evangeline vs. The Machine into a culmination of all the musical elements he’d been teasing during the live shows. In turn, the album was an 8-track, 36-minute musical journey filled to the brim with fascinating production choices with the aforementioned choir and orchestral section that flowed seamlessly from song-to-song.
As previously mentioned, it’s always been a point of contention in country music to stray away from what many associate as the founding principles of the genre — fiddle, steel, the “three chords and the truth mantra.” However, for Church, it’s never been about forgetting and outright rejecting these genre-defining elements; instead, it’s always about thinking about it from a broad perspective and incorporating instruments others may stray away from when approaching a traditional “country” record.
In an interview with CBS Mornings today, Church would explain it’s an honor to last this long in the music industry and ultimately be able to experiment this much from album-to-album.
“First of all, I think that it’s an honor to be able to be in anything that you do a long time. To be able to do music, it was such a moonshot for me to ever be able to have one successful song or one successful album. I feel like the more successful you are, the more you should push that boundary…
People sometimes, when they get successful, they pull back and they do what made them successful ’cause they’re making money… they stay there. I think that’s actually the time you do push the boundaries.”
Additionally, the “Springsteen” singer would be asked about his thought process with the aforementioned choir and orchestral elements. Church would explain he wanted to push the boundaries by incorporating instruments that are not closely associated with country music in order to prove that music, at its core, is much more than any singular genre or style.
“I really was thinking that music is more than just what is in the genre. If you’re in rock or pop or rap or Latin, it’s all [like], ‘These are the instruments we use.’ But the instruments we use for this are instruments that have been used for hundreds of years in orchestra music.
And we tried to bring that in to show that you can still take the same song that I wrote on the first album many years ago, I can write the song now, and this is the changes that can be made musically to give a different interpretation.”
What more can you really say? It’s become abundantly clear since Church took country music by storm upon the release of Chief in 2011 that he was never satisfied by being just another cog in the Nashville machine. As we sit two decades into his career, I’d argue that he’s only gotten better with age.
Of course, this is all thanks to his outright refusal to adhere to whatever sound, style or movement is going on down on Music Row, and ultimately, it’s due to him viewing his artistry far beyond one singular genre or adjective.
Watch the full interview here:
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Apr. 11 || Tampa, Fla. || Benchmark International Arena || Ashley McBrydeThe post “Push That Boundary”: Why Eric Church Has Never Followed Country Music’s Rules first appeared on Whiskey Riff.
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