I always mean to do more country deep cuts playlists (so far the only ones in a hundred plus volumes have been Brad Paisley, George Jones, Dwight Yoakam, Shania Twain, and Taylor Swift). Eric Church has long been one of my favorite contemporary artists who I thought I'd do a playlist for once his catalog got big enough. And with the release of his 6th studio album, Desperate Man, last month, it feels like now is the time.

Eric Church deep album cuts (Spotify playlist):

1. What I Almost Was
2. Pledge Allegiance To The Hag (featuring Merle Haggard)
3. Where She Told Me To Go
4. Leave My Willie Alone
5. Faster Than My Angels Can Fly
6. I'm Gettin' Stoned
7. Jack Daniels
8. Hungover & Hard Up
9. Country Music Jesus
10. Lotta Boot Left To Fill (live)
11. Before She Does (live)
12. A Man Who Was Gonna Die Young
13. Broke Record
14. Devil, Devil (Prelude: Princess of Darkness)
15. Three Year Old
16. Mixed Drinks About Feelings (featuring Susan Tedeschi)
17. Knives of New Orleans
18. Higher Wire
19. Some of It
20. Drowning Man

Tracks 1 and 2 from Sinners Like Me (2006)
Tracks 3 and 4 from Carolina (2009)
Track 5 from Caldwell County EP (2011)
Tracks 6, 7, 8 and 9 from Chief (2011)
Tracks 10 and 11 from Caught In The Act (2013)
Tracks 12, 13 and 14 from The Outsiders (2014)
Tracks 15, 16 and 17 from Mr. Misunderstood (2015)
Tracks 18, 19 and 20 from Desperate Man (2018)

You can tell just from album titles like The Outsiders and Mr. Misunderstood how self-consciously Eric Church patterns himself after the rebels and mavericks of 'outlaw' country. And that preoccupation with setting himself apart from his contemporaries or taking a stand for the essence of country is a big part of his albums, from "Lotta Boot Left To Fill" and "Country Music Jesus" to the ridiculous 8-minute suite "Devil, Devil (Prelude: Princess of Darkness)," where Nashville is essentially Satan. He also tends to salute his heroes with songs with silly titles, like the Merle Haggard tribute "Pledge Allegiance To The Hag" and the Willie Nelson hat tip "Leave My Willie Alone." It was funny, given Church's recent admission in Rolling Stone that he hates steel guitar, to notice the musical and lyrical tip of the hat to steel guitar on  "Pledge Allegiance."

Eric Church's chip on his shoulder about country music and his place in it isn't really what I go to his records for. If anything, it's something I tolerate because he's such a good writer when it comes to more introspective, emotional subjects and being able to turn words around in clever ways on songs like "Where She Told Me To Go" and "I'm Gettin' Stoned." The other day I sat next to my 3-year-old son, at the age of 36, and listened to "Three Year Old" and "A Man Who Was Gonna Die Young" on headphones and realized those two songs are exactly me at this moment in time. And "Some of It" from the new album has been hitting me hard lately.

In addition to Church's gifts as a lyricist, what I really like about his records is the sound he's cultivated by Jay Joyce, perhaps my favorite producer in country or in general in recent years. They've just really found some great guitar tones and drum sounds, and found a way to make a rootsy approach sound modern in subtle ways that I think a lot of artists could learn from, in and out of country. One pleasant surprise I stumbled across that I wasn't aware of before was the Caldwell County EP, 4 songs that he released 6 months before the biggest and best album of his career, Chief, ensured that he'd probably never release any stopgap EPs again.

Previous playlists in the Deep Album Cuts series:
Vol. 1: Brandy
Vol. 2: Whitney Houston
Vol. 3: Madonna
Vol. 4: My Chemical Romance
Vol. 5: Brad Paisley
Vol. 6: George Jones
Vol. 7: The Doors
Vol. 8: Jay-Z
Vol. 9: Robin Thicke
Vol. 10: R. Kelly
Vol. 11: Fall Out Boy
Vol. 12: TLC
Vol. 13: Pink
Vol. 14: Queen
Vol. 15: Steely Dan
Vol. 16: Trick Daddy
Vol. 17: Paramore
Vol. 18: Elton John
Vol. 19: Missy Elliott
Vol. 20: Mariah Carey
Vol. 21: The Pretenders
Vol. 22: "Weird Al" Yankovic
Vol. 23: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Vol. 24: Foo Fighters
Vol. 25: Counting Crows
Vol. 26: T.I.
Vol. 27: Jackson Browne
Vol. 28: Usher
Vol. 29: Mary J. Blige
Vol. 30: The Black Crowes
Vol. 31: Ne-Yo
Vol. 32: Blink-182
Vol. 33: One Direction
Vol. 34: Kelly Clarkson
Vol. 35: The B-52's
Vol. 36: Ludacris
Vol. 37: They Might Be Giants
Vol. 38: T-Pain
Vol. 39: Snoop Dogg
Vol. 40: Ciara
Vol. 41: Creedence Clearwater Revival
Vol. 42: Dwight Yoakam
Vol. 43: Demi Lovato
Vol. 44: Prince
Vol. 45: Duran Duran
Vol. 46: Rihanna
Vol. 47: Janet Jackson
Vol. 48: Sara Bareilles
Vol. 49: Motley Crue
Vol. 50: The Who
Vol. 51: Coldplay
Vol. 52: Alicia Keys
Vol. 53: Stone Temple Pilots
Vol. 54: David Bowie
Vol. 55: The Eagles
Vol. 56: The Beatles
Vol. 57: Beyonce
Vol. 58: Beanie Sigel
Vol. 59: A Tribe Called Quest
Vol. 60: Cheap Trick
Vol. 61: Guns N' Roses
Vol. 62: The Posies
Vol. 63: The Time
Vol. 64: Gucci Mane
Vol. 65: Violent Femmes
Vol. 66: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Vol. 67: Maxwell
Vol. 68: Parliament-Funkadelic
Vol. 69: Chevelle
Vol. 70: Ray Parker Jr. and Raydio
Vol. 71: Fantasia
Vol. 72: Heart
Vol. 73: Pitbull
Vol. 74: Nas
Vol. 75: Monica
Vol. 76: The Cars
Vol. 77: 112
Vol. 78: 2Pac
Vol. 79: Nelly
Vol. 80: Meat Loaf
Vol. 81: AC/DC
Vol. 82: Bruce Springsteen
Vol. 83: Pearl Jam
Vol. 84: Green Day
Vol. 85: George Michael and Wham!
Vol. 86: New Edition
Vol. 87: Chuck Berry
Vol. 88: Electric Light Orchestra
Vol. 89: Chic
Vol. 90: Journey
Vol. 91: Yes
Vol. 92: Soundgarden
Vol. 93: The Allman Brothers Band
Vol. 94: Mobb Deep
Vol. 95: Linkin Park
Vol. 96: Shania Twain
Vol. 97: Squeeze
Vol. 98: Taylor Swift
Vol. 99: INXS
Vol. 100: Stevie Wonder
Vol. 101: The Cranberries
Vol. 102: Def Leppard
Vol. 103: Bon Jovi
Vol. 104: Dire Straits
Vol. 105: The Police
Vol. 106: Sloan
Vol. 107: Peter Gabriel
Vol. 108: Led Zeppelin
Vol. 109: Dave Matthews Band
Vol. 110: Nine Inch Nails
Vol. 111: Talking Heads
Vol. 112: Smashing Pumpkins
Vol. 113: System Of A Down
Vol. 114: Aretha Franklin
Vol. 115: Michael Jackson
Vol. 116: Alice In Chains
Vol. 117: Paul Simon
Vol. 118: Lil Wayne
Vol. 119: Nirvana
Vol. 120: Kix
Vol. 121: Phil Collins
Vol. 122: Elvis Costello & The Attractions
Vol. 123: Sonic Youth
Vol. 124: Bob Seger
Vol. 125: Radiohead

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 13, 2018 at 9:34 AM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.