Eric Church performs as Artist-in-Residence at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on Aug. 29, 2023 in Nashville.Photo:Jason Kempin/Getty
Jason Kempin/Getty
Eric Churchis known for his musical surprises, and he was primed for an epic one when theCountry Music Hall of Fame and Museumnamed him its 2023 artist-in-residence. For two nights, Nashville’s intimate CMA Theater would be his, but what would he do?
Roll out a wild and rollicking three-hour set, as he does on tour? Perhaps turn in an expansive acoustic medley, like he did (for a half-hour) at the 2019 CMA Fest? Or maybe drop a slew of new music, like he did in 2015 withMr. Misunderstood?
In the end — not surprisingly — Church went for something he’s never done before, and it was indeed epic: a musical journey through his life and career in a setting that felt more like a living room than an 800-seat theater. (Or at least a living room where a six-piece band and three backup singers regularly drop in.)
Over an 85-minute set, the 46-year-old artist didn’t utter a spoken word until introducing his final song. Instead, he simply took a stool, played his guitar and let 19 flawlessly curated songs tell his story.
“Eric Church is a country music sellout,” a news commentator’s voice opined as Church, alone on stage, patiently played his opening notes on an acoustic guitar. “His songs are unfortunately forgettable.”
Eric Church performs as Artist-in-Residence at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on Aug. 29, 2023 in Nashville.Jason Kempin/Getty
It was the sort of naysaying that he’s attracted, particularly in his early career, and Church deftly rebutted it, sailing through the insistently memorable “On the Road.” It’s a new song, debuted in a North Carolina concert in August.
As his band’s guitarists and drummer joined him in a cluster over his left shoulder, Church then rewound to the very beginning, performing an emblematic version of his 2006 debut single, “How ’Bout You” — after a video introduction that lamented, “It’s a shame that Church’s debut sounds so anonymous.”
The point-counterpoint continued as Church soared through “Carolina,” the title song from his second album in 2009, and “Smoke a Little Smoke,” his controversial radio single from 2010, before he landed on a cut from 2011 breakout albumChief: “Country Music Jesus.” By now, of course, many of his Church Choir devotees consider that song a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The next five selections reflected Church’s vertical rise to superstardom: “Springsteen” (fromChief), “Talladega” and “Give Me Back My Hometown” (from 2014’sThe Outsiders), and album title track “Mr. Misunderstood” and “Record Year” (also fromMr. Misunderstood).
But just as the evening seemed headed toward a greatest-hits showcase, Church jerked the wheel toward his real-life trials in recent years. The electronic narrator first reminded the audience ofhis brush with deathfrom a blood clot in 2017.
Church’s musical response, “A Man Who Was Gonna Die Young,” actually backtracked to 2014 when he recorded his astonishment over making it to his 36th year. This time, he updated the lyrics to reflect his current age: “This morning I turned 46 / and you just remember half of it / it’s a wonder that you outlived Hank and Jesus.”
Church then turned in two more older-and-wiser selections from 2018’sDesperate Man,“Some of It” and “Monsters,” before confronting what surely is country music’s darkest day,the Route 91 Harvest Festival massacrein 2017. He played the Las Vegas event two nights before a lone gunman killed 60 concertgoers and wounded over 400 more. Three days after the shooting,the grief-stricken artistdebuted his haunting response, “Why Not Me,” before a somber Grand Ole Opry audience.
As he did that night, Church performed solo, to his own guitar accompaniment, before a hushed theater crowd. Then, as he played the final notes, he rose from the stool and inexplicably wandered offstage. Mere moments later, perhaps Church’s biggest shocker of the evening emerged from the shadows: Country Music Hall of FamerVince Gill,who took the stage solo to sing his stirring signature anthem,“Go Rest High on That Mountain.”
Vince Gill performs onstage for Eric Church as Artist-in-Residence at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on Aug. 29, 2023 in Nashville.Jason Kempin/Getty
The video voiceover made clear that Gill was delivering Church’s tribute to his younger brother,Brandon, who died, at age 36, in 2018 from consequences of chronic alcoholism.
After Gill exited to a standing ovation, Church re-emerged with full band to perform the life-affirming “Never Break Heart": “Go on, get hurt, heart / Live and let learn, heart.” That song, along with the next selection, “Through My Ray-Bans,” appeared on Church’s latest album, 2021’s three-disc “Heart & Soul.”
Vince Gill and Eric Church attend Eric Church’s performance as Artist-in-Residence at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on Aug. 29, 2023 in Nashville.Jason Kempin/Getty
Then finally, Church spoke, calling the residency “the greatest honor of my life.”
“Everything you saw tonight is who we are,” he told the audience, “and that, unbelievably, is how we got in this room.”
And still Church had one more surprise: After resisting for years, he said, he was finally ready to declare that his all-time favorite song is “Holdin’ My Own,” a cut offMr. Misunderstood.Before performing it, he made sure to mention that hiswife of 13 years, Katherine,and their two sons,Boone, 11, and Hawk, 8, were there to hear it.
Perhaps it was telling that, of all the labels that had been submitted over the course of the evening — outsider, boundary pusher, icon and iconoclast — Church’s final word left his audience with an impression of a seasoned man, a family man, and most of all, a grateful man.
Church donated his performances to the museum; all proceeds support its educational mission. The two concerts were mounted in conjunction with the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s exhibit, “Eric Church: Country Heart, Restless Soul,” open through June 2024.
source: people.com
