The three-time Country Music Association and seven-time Academy of Country Music Award winner cemented his reputation as a maverick when he released his 2015, RIAA Platinum-certified album Mr. Misunderstood as a surprise, delivering it to fans before announcing its existence at the 2015 CMA Awards and putting it on sale. Since then, the 2016 CMA Album of the Year has produced his most recent No. 1 single, “Round Here Buzz,” his anti-hate, RIAA Gold-certified single “Kill A Word” which AXS called, “one of the most important singles” Church has put out, and the Platinum-certified, No.1 hit, “Record Year,” which Rolling Stone dubbed “the most moving moment” on the widely lauded album.
After enjoying the success of Mr. Misunderstood for nearly three years, Eric Church is back with Desperate Man, set to release October 5, 2018. In a video speaking directly to his fans, Eric Church told his faithful Church Choir that the new album is done and the first single, “Desperate Man,” is available now.
The artist that Vulture called “one of the brightest lights in any genre” embarked on his cross-continent, 60+-city Holdin’ My Own Tour in 2017 that was named the No. 1 most attended music tour in the world at the time of the tour by Pollstar. The double-set/sans-opener show, that gave fans 3+ hours of pure Eric Church, sold out every stop, consistently staying on Billboard’s Country Boxscore chart despite cancelling more than 33,000 tickets listed on the secondary market in an effort to reduce ticket scalper activity. The tour hit major markets, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia, and ended with a two-night run in Nashville, Tenn. breaking Bridgestone Arena’s attendance record the first night and topping himself to set a new record the second.
To commemorate the rare undertaking of the Holdin’ My Own Tour, Church released 61 Days In Church, a collection of 100+ live recordings from the stops that have been released in batches exclusively to Apple Music before they were made available on all streaming services. The full collection was also released as a Vinyl box set, including a road case, tour book and poster, shipped in increments every month of 2018.
The North Carolina native’s previous album, The Outsiders, debuted at No. 1 on both the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart and Top Country Albums Chart with the highest debut and sales of any release in the format that year, making Church 2014’s top-selling country music artist. The album garnered GRAMMY, CMA and ACM Album of the Year nominations and featured his No. 1 hits “Give Me Back My Hometown” and “Talladega,” as well as multiple nominee “Like A Wrecking Ball.” The Outsiders was the follow-up to Church’s 3x Platinum-certified CHIEF, named the 2012 Album of the Year by both CMA and ACM, and GRAMMY-nominated for Best Country Album. The LP featured five Top 20 singles: “Homeboy” (certified Platinum for sales in excess of one million); the Top 10 “Like Jesus Does” and the Top 5 “Creepin’” (both certified Platinum); and two No. 1 hits “Drink in My Hand” (certified Platinum) and “Springsteen” (certified Triple Platinum for sales in excess of 3 million singles). Church’s sophomore album, Carolina, (2009) is RIAA Platinum certified and his 2006 debut album, Sinners Like Me is RIAA Gold certified.