Eric Church: Country Music Jesus

Hail To The Chief

 If you like your country rockin’ then Eric Church is your man. On Chief, his third full-length album, he sticks to what he does best: being his good old badass self. He lets less room in for the extraordinary ballads that peppered his first two albums in favor of pushing the rock and roll pedal to the floor. A partial exception might be his first single, “Homeboy.”

From the man who brought us “Smoke a Little Smoke,” we have more songs about imbibing; “Drink in my Hand” is about — well, that’s self-explanatory. “Hungover & Hard Up,” on the other hand, is — not hard to decipher, perhaps because “Jack Daniels” apparently kicked his ass last night. The lead track “Creepin’” is also about being hungover. A disastrous marriage results in the bride having a rock (diamond) so “I’m Getting Stoned.” The Inky Jukebox suspects he would have anyway. “Keep On” is a very sexy song that challenges a flirt to follow through, only to have the tables turned once she gets what she wants.

Eric Church preaches to a choir of sinners like him who nevertheless pray hard for their “Country Music Jesus” to come save them. Him or “Springsteen,” anyhow. His fans are deeply committed to tearing it up when the volume is turned up loud through those live amps. It will be interesting to see how he ignites the audience opening for Toby Keith this fall. With this new collection to add to his set list, he should pretty much burn it down, y'all.