Well, if you’re following in the footsteps of a musical icon like Bob Dylan, you’re probably on the right track… In an interview with Variety just ahead of the release of his newest album Evangeline vs. The Machine, Eric Church talked pretty in-depth about his now-infamous (well, I guess it depends on your opinion on the set) from his headlining appearance at Stagecoach, where he played a gospel set to the shock of most attendees. It was an hour-and-a-half long acoustic gospel medley, complete with a full choir to back him up, and he of course pulled inspiration from his formative years in western North Carolina, where he grew up in the Baptist church singing old hymns that still resonate with him as an adult. The online reaction wasn’t great, to say the least, and a lot of fans up and left in the middle of it. He previously called it a “defining moment” in his career, and that remains true to this day. Eric told Variety that he likened it to Bob Dylan’s famous electric set at the Newport Folk Festival, which is probably a pretty accurate comparison in terms of how it changed expectations of what kind of music he “should” play and how different elements fit into country as a whole, similar to how Dylan turned the folk genre on its head. Of course, in 1965, Dylan was leading the American folk music revival, but he decided to take it in a new direction and start recording and performing with electric instruments. Much like how snap tracks and hip hop beats are controversial in country music today (and rightfully so), it was the same with Dylan making his folk music much more rock-influenced. At the Newport Folk Festival, Dylan was backed by a rock band, and got booed by a lot of people in the audience… it’s clearly not what they were expecting, or wanting, to hear that day. It’s a legendary, monumental moment in music, and I don’t think there’s ever been anything else that’s happened like it since. He continued in that new direction with albums like Highway 61 Revisited (1965) and Blonde on Blonde (1966), ultimately revolutionizing the industry as a result… at the time, he had some supporters, but many critics, though history looks very fondly at this famous set as a result, and I think Eric’s Stagecoach set is already receiving similar treatment. Eric says he had “never, ever” worked harder on something in his life, and he kind of expected a mixed reaction going into it. He say he’s since listened back to it, and feels it was “good” and “executed well,” so that’s all he really cares about: “Yeah, which I love. But I mean, for me, the biggest thing was, Was it good? When the reaction happened… I have never, ever in my life and career worked harder or had more invested in a show than I had in that show, because it was really me and (choral) voices — that was it. So it was on me for 90 or 100 minutes to carry this thing. You can argue the mechanism might have been wrong at Stagecoach, where you have 30,000 TikToks out there. I understand that. But I also knew that going in, and I knew the biggest megaphone for providing a creative moment like that… I would certainly get more reaction at a place like that than I would in a regular show in Iowa. So I think we knew what we were kinda getting into there. But the biggest thing for me was, as I listened back to it: It was good. It was executed well. And that’s what it comes down to, to me.” He went onto explain how Dylan’s Newport set was ultimately a “paradigm” shift, even though many in the crowd very much disliked what they saw at the time, but Eric was willing to take that creative risk and has no regrets about doing so: “It’s like Dylan goes electric at Newport, right? That didn’t go well, in the moment. People talk about that as a paradigm shift in music, but among people that were there in that crowd, and I talked to some people that were, it did not go well. And I think that sometimes you have to kind of put that out there creatively and go, ‘Hey, this is a one-time thing, and we’re giving it to this crowd for this moment. We’re doing it one time and we’re committing to the moment.’ And you’ve just kind of gotta follow that compass and go with it and let it go.” I think it’s clear that he still had some of those gospel elements in the aforementioned new album, and the 2024 Stagecoach set has only grown on me since last year. It will certainly be interesting to look back in even ten or 20 years, but even if it doesn’t stand the test of time the way Dylan’s Newport set did, I think Eric sleeps well at night knowing he followed his creative muse and did something so daring and different. I’m in no way saying these two events, or artists, are equal in terms of their longevity and impact, but I do think it’s an interesting perspective and way to get inside how Church himself now looks it that controversial set. Eric’s acoustic renditions of some of my favorite songs just doesn’t get old. If you never watched anything from his Stagecoach set, you’re missing out in my humble opinion: The post Eric Church Likens Controversial 2024 Stagecoach Gospel Set To Bob Dylan’s 1965 Electric Newport Folk Festival Performance: “A Paradigm Shift In Music” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.