Eric Church is more of a rocker than a country twanger. If anyone's ever doubted that, check out "The Outsiders," the powerful title track from his upcoming fourth album.
"For a long time, it wasn’t cool to play the kind of music we did," the Boone, North Carolina native recently told American Songwriter. "It wasn’t cool to talk about what we talked about. We were pariahs, and when we got fired from the Rascal Flatts tour, we were troublemakers." Church got the boot for playing too long and too loud, cementing his outsider reputation.
Church's latest "high tune" starts with a smokey guitar riff by former Black Crowe Jeff Cease. '"They’re the in crowd," Church sings. "We’re the other ones/ It’s a different kind of cloth that we’re cut from… That's who we are/ That's how we roll… Yeah, we’re the fighters, the all-nighters/ So fire 'em up and get a little higher."
As the song goes on it takes several surprising twists and turns before coming back to the theme.
Talking more about his outsider ways, the Southern rocker told Fuse TV, "I've always been a big proponent of that side of life and that side of music. Some of my favorite music was made by artists who were blasted out of their minds. I'm a big fan of that - the blasting and the music."
Church doesn't have any official tour dates planned until he heads out with George Strait in January, and there's no official word on when the album will be released. He's featured in the ABC documentary, For the Love of Music: The Story of Nashville, on Nov. 3 and will perform at the CMA Awards on Nov. 6. Stop by Church's website to pick up some of his marijuana-themed merchandise.
