ERIC CHURCH - THE OUTSIDERS (2014)

*All songs co-written by Eric Church

**Produced by Jay Joyce

***Lyric booklet is included, but print is to damn small

As a member of Classic Rock Bottom, you may ask yourself why in the world would RJ be writing an album review on a country album and posting it here. Let me answer. Because I like country music. Good country music that is. Something edgy. Not that "bro country" crap like Florida Georgia Line. The only time I wanna see Florida and Georgia together is at the world's largest outdoor cocktail party. Anyway, on The Outsiders, Eric Church fits the mold I like and only once or twice ventures slightly in the wrong direction.

Church really came to my attention with the song Springsteen from his previous album. At first I didn't care for it, but after hearing it a bit more changed my mind. Then came his performance at the CMA's. It was a rendition of his new song The Outsiders. That happens to be the song that kicks the album off. With a bang I might add. It's a country anthem for sure, the beginning having sort of a modern day Hank Jr. feel. But it gets heavy. And proggy. Can you believe that, a prog country song? It has multiple time changes and stays pretty heavy all the way through. If I can find a clip on youtube, then I'll post it below. After that song ends, then next track is totally different. A Man Who Was Gonna Die Young is a very simple, quiet tune. Just a vocal over a simple electric guitar accompaniment. But it's a killer track.

Then it's back to that non-country country song. Girl breaks up with boy, boy laments the fact that she snags a cold beer from the cooler as she walks away, leaving him one beer short of a twelve pack. It sounds stupid but I totally dig this song. We have more prog elements as the time signature changes as a cool little acoustic guitar piece ensues, followed by a frantic electric guitar solo. Then back to the original pace as the song finishes up. The first quarter of the album finishes up with the funky little tune Roller Coaster Ride. This could easily be a cross-over hit. The vocal is very smooth and there are a lot of music making instruments of some kind, but I couldn't tell you what they are. These first four tracks are phenomenal.

The next two tracks, Talladega and Broke Record stray to close to that cheesy country stuff that I don't care for. But Like A Wrecking Ball gets it back on track. Nope, nothing like the Miley song. It's a slow groove, perfect for a slow dance at the country club. I even get a J. Geils Band feel from the keyboards. I'm thinking Angel In Blue. Up next is That's Damn Rock & Roll. Why is a country artist singing about Rock & Roll? Actually, it's not uncommon. But at least this artist has a lot of rock elements in his music. This song features a cool female backing vocal that gives the song a Rolling Stones feel, sort of like Gimme Shelter. It has a nice drum and bass intro with a spoken vocal verse.

Things then turn dark. Naturally, the next song is Dark Side. You know, the man with the rough and troubled past, has a family now and the last thing he or anybody else wants is for his dark side to come out to play. It's a totally cool track that rolls right into Devil, Devil (Prelude: Princess Of Darkness). The prelude is about the cut throat music biz. It's vocal is also spoken. The main body of the song is good, but I'm not sure how the two are connected. Next is Give Me Back My Hometown, a straight up country song. Then the album closes with The Joint (basically, the "joint" daddy used to frequent is the only "joint" that mama ever burned, which left daddy with no place to go).

Overall, this is a fine album. I love the prog elements. And the darker lyrics are right up my alley as well. Except for the two skip worthy tracks I mentioned earlier, this is a fine listen. Probably the fourth best country album I've purchased this year (right behind Sturgill Simpson, Whiskey Myers and Noah Gundersen). Heck, it might even be slightly ahead of Gundersen.