Eric Church has just announced his brand new project – Heart & Soul – a three album project coming in April. In keeping with his constant prioritisation of his fans, Church created the middle album exclusively for his fans. More details below.
Eric Church continues to put his fans – the Church choir – first. Speaking directly to his fans, the reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year confirmed that he is set to release three new albums in April of this year. ‘They came out of my 28 days in the mountains of North Carolina, where the songs were recorded and written. The collection is entitled Heart & Soul.’ Committing himself to his fans, the middle album in the project – & – has been specifically created for the Church choir and will be exclusively available to those fans as a vinyl record on Tuesday 20th April, with the other albums available on Friday 16th April and Friday 23rd April respectively. Pre-orders will open on Friday 29th January.
Church, as always, continues to push the limits of his artistry in the month-long creative process that went into the creation of this collection. “I’ve always been intrigued when a song is born in a writer room – there is a magic that happens there,” shares Church of the unique process that went into making this project. “I wanted to put that in the studio form. So, every day, we would write a song in the morning and we would record the song that night. Doing it that way allowed for the songwriters to get involved in the studio process and the musicians to be involved in the creative process. You felt a little bit like you were secretly doing something that was special, and you knew it… You started going, ‘hmm, wait ’til the world finds out about this.’” The final result is a stunning 24-song collection that features an elite list of songwriters who joined these secluded writing and recording sessions, alongside his longtime producer Jay Joyce and backing vocalist Joanna Cotten.
“The interesting thing about this process is that Jay kept asking me the last three or four days, ‘Are we done?’ and at that time I didn’t know what the project was,” notes Church. “I kept saying ‘God, this is going to be really hard. There’s a lot here. Is this a double album? And if it’s a double album, how do we leave out these five or six songs?’ I am the hardest critic on making sure every song deserves to be on the record, and I beat this thing to death going ‘this can’t be that good.’ But, it was just a special, special time and a special, special project that I think will be among our best.”
Concluding his video message to fans, Church reflected, “It’s been a long 10 months. With the power of music and love for each other, we will get through this, we will gather again soon. I cannot wait to play this music for you live.”
For the latest information and to learn how to join the Church Choir, visit www.EricChurch.com and follow on Facebook and Twitter @ericchurch and Instagram @ericchurchmusic.
Heart Track List
- Heart On Fire (Eric Church)
- Heart Of The Night (Eric Church, Jeremy Spillman, Jeff Hyde, Ryan Tyndell, Travis Hill)
- Russian Roulette (Eric Church, Casey Beathard, Monty Criswell)
- People Break (Eric Church, Luke Laird)
- Stick That In Your Country Song (Davis Naish, Jeffrey Steele)
- Never Break Heart (Eric Church, Luke Dick)
- Crazyland (Eric Church, Luke Laird, Michael Heeney)
- Bunch Of Nothing (Eric Church, Jeff Hyde)
- Love Shine Down (Eric Church, Casey Beathard, Jeffrey Steele)
& Track List
- Through My Ray-Bans (Eric Church, Luke Laird, Barry Dean)
- Doing Life With Me (Eric Church, Casey Beathard, Jeffrey Steele)
- Do Side (Eric Church, Casey Beathard)
- Kiss Her Goodbye (Eric Church, Casey Beathard)
- Mad Man (Eric Church, Casey Beathard)
- Lone Wolf (Eric Church, Jeff Hyde, Ryan Tyndell)
Soul Track List
- Rock & Roll Found Me (Eric Church, Casey Beathard, Driver Williams)
- Look Good And You Know It (Eric Church, Jonathan Singleton, Travis Meadows)
- Bright Side Girl (Eric Church, Jeff Hyde, Scotty Emerick, Clint Daniels)
- Break It Kind Of Guy (Eric Church, Casey Beathard, Luke Dick)
- Hell Of A View (Eric Church, Casey Beathard, Monty Criswell)
- Where I Wanna Be (Eric Church, Casey Beathard, Jeremy Spillman, Ryan Tyndell)
- Jenny (Eric Church)
- Bad Mother Trucker (Eric Church, Casey Beathard, Luke Dick, Jeremy Spillman)
- Lynyrd Skynyrd Jones (Casey Beathard)
Heart & Soul Musician Credits
Vocals: Eric Church
Additional Vocals: Casey Beathard, Craig Wright, Jason Hall, Jay Joyce, Jeff Hyde, Jeffrey Steele, Joanna Cotten, Jonathan Singleton
Acoustic Guitar: Bryan Sutton, Casey Beathard, Charlie Worsham, Eric Church, Jay Joyce, Jeff Cease, Jeff Hyde, Jeffrey Steele, Kenny Vaughn, Luke Dick
Electric Guitar: Charlie Worsham, Driver Williams, Eric Church, Jay Joyce, Jeff Cease, Kenny Vaughn, Luke Dick, Rob McNelley
Steel Guitar: Luke Dick
Slide Guitar: Jeff Cease
Banjo: Charlie Worsham, Jeff Hyde
Mandolin: Bryan Sutton, Charlie Worsham, Jeff Hyde
Dobro: Bryan Sutton
Resonator: Bryan Sutton
Bass: Lee Hendricks
Synth Bass: Billy Justineau
Drums: Craig Wright
Percussion: Craig Wright
Tambourine: Jay Joyce
Piano: Billy Justineau, Moose Brown
Mellotron: Billy Justineau
Electric Organ: Billy Justineau, Jay Joyce, Moose Brown
Keyboards: Jay Joyce
Synthesizer: Billy Justineau, Jay Joyce
Programming: Jay Joyce
Hand Claps: Billy Justineau, Brian Snoody, Casey Beathard, Charlie Worsham, Craig Wright, Driver Williams, Eric Church, Jason Hall, Jaxon Hargrove, Jay Joyce, Jeff Cease, Jeff Hyde, Jimmy Mansfield, Joanna Cotten, John Peets, Lee Hendricks, Luke Dick
