February 2017

Crossover country king Eric Church talks to Country Music’s own Teri Saccone. Just because he’s been heralded as the crossover king of country with his rock ’n’ roll swagger, don’t make the mistake of presuming that Eric Church sees himself as being confined to any musical categories whatsoever… “The interesting thing about country is that it’s such a big umbrella,” Eric says. “It’s so broad that it can include a lot of things. Personally, the heart of country for me is Americana music.” Church has been deemed “outlaw country” for his slightly subversive lyrics and sometimes rebellious nature. Furthermore, he and ultra-tight band The Outsiders are cohesive and explosive both on stage and in the studio, the latter evidenced on five incredibly commercial yet critically-praised albums. Country Music magazine sat down with the North Carolina native and found that although practically worshipped in the USA, he remains focused, grounded and engaged. Assuredly, this singer-songwriter has tapped into the galvanising nature of music: “Funny how a melody sounds like a memory” is the chorus from his monster hit Springsteen, essentially a fan letter to The Boss. Church grew up in the picturesque and sleepy enclave of Granite Falls, North Carolina, where he was both high school valedictorian and basketball star. Definitely a weird hybrid when you also consider there was music in the mix. When not shooting hoops or studying, Church was practising guitar, as he’s a self-taught player who preferred songwriting to socialising as a teenager. In November last year, Church released Mr Misunderstood with zero promotion nor even an announcement, which was audacious for not only its bold and quiet birth but also the fact that he managed to keep the music off the radar from even his record label until he actually released it. Mr Misunderstood came about largely due to Church experiencing an almost otherworldly visit from his songwriting muse. “The songwriting spigot was turned on full blast and the songs spilt out for a reason. I’ll never know why, and no one expected an album at the time. Rather than putting it on a shelf to fire up the promotion machine, we just dropped it out there. We kept it a secret until the day it came out. In order to do that without fanfare and publicity we had to buy our own record processing factory in Germany.” That small factory will remain under the ownership of Church, at least for now, so he reports: “The good news is, with vinyl, there’s lots of demand. And there’s not a lot of places that do that.” Quiet Moment The intensely productive period that gave rise to Mr Misunderstood was definitely a welcome occurrence but it was an absolute fluke, an aberration according to Eric. “I’ve had nothing since that happened last summer,” he adds with a laugh. “There are no more songs right now dying to come out like there were suddenly inside me last year. Whatever it was that happened to me during that time is gone. Nothin’ ever since,” he explains as a cheeky smile spreads across his face. Mr Misunderstood was also different from other albums because Church didn’t attempt to get into a songwriting frame of mind in order to get focused on his music and lyrics, as he’d done previously. It was just as though proverbial lightning struck and he caught it in a bottle. “Normally with songwriting I’ll take my time, try to separate myself from home and family distractions. But this album was totally unplanned and it was different, as the songs came to me so fast that I wrote one song, which immediately led to another and then another and so on. It was almost embarrassing that they came to me like they did and I felt I was losing my mind at one point getting all of these songs coming through me – and they felt like the best songs of my career, too.” Growing up in the South, Church was immersed in the bluegrass tradition, and he is versed on the guitar, banjo and mandolin staples of that scene. “I grew up playing a host of instruments but guitar is my first choice and it’s what I use as my writing tool.” Although there remains a south/north cultural divide in the US, Church is no Southern apologist. “I am proud of being from the South and I can’t shy away from that, and I think it’d be a crime to hide from that,” he admits. “I’d prefer people to not like me or my music rather than me pretending to be something or someone I’m not. It’s who I am. I’m a Southerner. Period.” What Church has always been on some level is a rebel of sorts, a reputation he has earned over the last few years. He and his band were fired from an early tour when opening for Rascal Flatts for essentially blowing them off the stage. “I’ve always been competitive and I am musically competitive too,” he admits. “I don’t always play by the rules and maybe we played too long and a little too loud for them.” Another aspect of Church and The Outsiders’ live shows is that they tend to encompass not only the hits but also the odd rare track from early on in his career. Mixing things up is interesting not only to his hardcore fans, but to Eric too. “I know most fans come to see us to hear the big hits. For me, it doesn’t always have to be about that big song,” he says. “The fans also love it when they hear maybe Lightning or Can’t Take it With You. And that’s who the show has become more about. It’s the people who have been there for the long haul as much as the newcomers. There’s always going to be people coming on and falling off fan-wise depending on what you’re doing commercially – that’s the nature of the business. But our fanbase is built on those

The Shires, the UK’s most celebrated country duo, are back with another barnstorming album, ‘My Universe’, as Helen Jerome reports. The Shires’ back story feels like a classic tale of meteoric rise and astounding success out of nowhere, conquering the UK charts and Nashville. But their real history is one of years of toiling individually as wedding and pub circuit singers, studying, selling mobile phones, almost quitting altogether, and then magically hooking up on Facebook to form the perfect country music duo. Crissie Rhodes lives in Bedfordshire and Ben Earle was based in Hertfordshire when they met – hence the name The Shires – and they were only about half an hour’s drive from each other. Ben’s moved even closer to Crissie now, so when they need to rehearse they’re just around the corner from each other. Although they went straight into the UK Top 10 with their debut album, Brave, Crissie says they actually get recognised more in Nashville, four thousand miles away, than they do back home. Big Step Forward Meeting them one month before the release of My Universe, their second album, the most striking thing is how well they get on, finishing each other’s sentences, complimenting and complementing each other, and both still giddy with their success. They know they’ve made a big step forward from their debut, which was “very much Lady Antebellum, Civil Wars”, towards a newer country sound. They’ve pushed on. Even on the first album’s cover, Ben feels they look like kids. “Confidence is the biggest difference now, especially going into the studio.” 2016 has been remarkable in other ways too, as Ben became a father on the same day The Shires headlined Glastonbury’s acoustic stage. “It was the most surreal day anyway,” he says. “And it took a long time, 36 hours from the first contractions. Then, when [my son] River came out… I mean, we’ve had some pretty euphoric moments, played some huge stages, but this is completely different. It’s impossible to put into words. He was a week late, and it had to be at 1.30 in the morning of the day we were headlining at Glastonbury! I had to drive down myself and I was knackered. I will never ever forget that day, ever.” But still neither of them really feels they’ve ‘made it’. “I don’t think we’ll ever feel like we have,” says Ben. “Brave did better than we’d hoped, but I want us to be in the charts in US Country, in Germany, Australia. We want to keep making better and better music.” Crissie’s just pleased that they no longer get laughed at for being into country music. “People understand it more,” she says. “The perception has changed and now we don’t have to be ashamed, and that’s been a big stepping stone. A lot of people have taken to us; it’s opened their world to country, the sound of the music, so many genres are crossing in with country. And there’s lyrical content people can relate to; not so much rhinestones and cowboys!” Choosing the new album’s title saw them almost opt for another track, Common Language. But, as Ben says: “My Universe seemed to sum up everything. For us it’s about, ‘What is your universe?’, ‘What is my universe to you?’. And that changes over time. I definitely thought that with River being born. And country music was our universe as well. So that title felt right.” For the cover of the album, Crissie, “the visual one”, was thrilled that their new creative director achieved her vision of being on railroad tracks, and a deserty kind of look. “I absolutely loved that.” Nashville Writing and recording this second album in Nashville, was, says Ben, like walking into a memory. They used the exact same band, same producers minus one, same engineers, same studio, same everything, as on Brave. There’s just one different player, Dave LaBruyere, on bass, with whom Crissie connected straight away. “We were all yoga and holistic things, and went off in our own little world!” Writing meant a three-week trip to Nashville in March, working pretty much every day. Ben loves sitting in a room with fellow writers, evolving a song from a title or lyric. “That’s what I find really inspirational,” he says, “that’s where we enjoy ourselves most. You get into this zone. It’s amazing what they do out there. The way they keep coming up with new stuff.” Auditioning co-writers is sort of like speed dating, according to Crissie. “We set up a lot of the writes with a Nashville songwriter called Jeff Cohen. You go into the room and bring what you’ve got, feelings wise, to the table and start writing on that. They’re there to enhance and work with you.” Drinking Fireballs Inspiration can appear at the strangest times and, for Ben, it came after a heavily-delayed flight and a heavy night of drinking fireballs – whiskey with cinnamon: “Literally the most drunk I’ve ever been. But I do believe there’s something about when you’re hungover, you’re a bit more honed in creatively.” Ben’s other major strength is working out how the album will flow. Everyone, including producers and A&R folk, emailed their opinions on contenders and also-rans for the album. Meanwhile, out of 35 tracks, Ben came up with the entire running order straight away. He realises that with streaming and downloads the order isn’t as important to people now, but it is for him. And with the album being released on vinyl, he’s going to have to go out and buy a record player! The Shires – Their Fave Country Artists Ben “Lady Antebellum, and Eric Paslay – I love his songwriting, which is that next level.” Crissie “Leann Rimes – growing up through the 90s and early 00s, I turned to her for every vocal I was learning. Plus Faith Hill, Martina McBride and Alison Krauss… Those were my leading ladies.” Personal and Heartfelt Right at the heart of the new album is a