I want to hear this version of the album now. Eric Church has never put out a bad album, but my favorite from him is easily his 2015 album Mr. Misunderstood. The album, which dropped as a surprise when he mailed it to fans the day before it was officially announced in November 2015, includes singles like the title track as well as “Record Year,” “Kill A Word” and “Round Here Buzz,” as well as fan-favorite deep cuts like “Mistress Named Music,” “Holdin’ My Own” and “Knives Of New Orleans.” And despite some hiccups in the rollout (like when the announcement was overshadowed by Chris Stapleton’s breakout performance with Justin Timberlake at the 2015 CMA Awards), the album would go on to win Album of the Year at the 2016 CMA Awards. But as it turns out, when Church set out to make his fifth studio album, he had something different in mind. Church made an appearance on How Leaders Lead with David Novak, where he was asked about the process behind writing “Mistress Named Music.” And he revealed for the first time that the entire album was supposed to look completely different: “Initially, it was going to be a collaboration album. I had contacted Willie, I’d contacted Kris Kristofferson, I’d contacted Bob Seger, Billy Joel and all these people.  And I said, ‘Hey, I want to do this album where we get together and we make an album about what we all share, which is this journey in music.'”  Not gonna lie, that sounds amazing. So as he set out to make that album about his career in the music business, he ended up writing a song about being “married to a dream and a mistress named music.” “That’s really kind of where Mistress started, is that’s my journey. When you do this for a long enough time, everything else you do is trumped by music. I love my wife, I love my kids, I love everything. But they also have learned over time that music has this siren effect on me.  And that’s initially what that song was about. I started with where I grew up, in a Baptist Church, and it starts with Miss Bessie playing and that feeling of the first time I felt music and how that has affected my entire life. It was never a radio single but it’s a song that’s been a defining song in my life.” It really all makes sense now when you realize that song (which is a staple of Church’s live shows, and which he often turns into a medley of some of his own favorite songs from other artists) was meant to be a piece of a larger album, featuring some of the other legends of music, about their experiences in their music careers. And I still think an album about his musical journey is possible. I’ve thought about this before, and I’ve already got it all planned out for Church (because I’m sure he cares about my ideas). Over the years, Church has written several songs about chasing a dream and his journey in music that have never made it onto an album – and I think all those would fit together perfectly for somewhat of a “concept album.” Songs like “On The Road,” “Broadway Lights” that he played during his To Beat The Devil residency at his bar, Chief’s, “Old Friends, Old Whiskey, Old Songs,” which his wife has been wanting him to record anyway so no better time than now, and (I may be biased on this one) “New Old Me,” the song he wrote and debuted during his three-night run at Red Rocks earlier this year. I think we’ve got the start of an incredible album right there. Call it On The Road, add a few more from the notebook about his musical journey, maybe even include a live version of “Mistress” as a bonus track, one of the medlies that include songs from some of his own musical heroes. Call me Eric, let’s make this happen. Ok, sorry, got a little sidetracked there. But anyway, like I said, Mr. Misunderstood is still my favorite album of Church’s. It’s actually sitting on my record player right now, and I still spin it quite a bit a decade after it came out. But if he ever decides to release that collaboration album with Willie and Kris and Seger, I’m here for it. The post Eric Church Says ‘Mr. Misunderstood’ Was Originally Going To Be A Collaboration Album With Artists Like Willie Nelson & Kris Kristofferson first appeared on Whiskey Riff.