Eric Church is playing a big old game. The prize is money and fame and the challenge is found in retaining dignity and creative control on Music Row. What’s true and what’s not? Sometimes it’s hard to tell.
Eric started off at country radio with a will to doing exactly what he wanted. Signed to major label Capitol Nashville his second single was the polarizing ‘Two Pink Lines’, following two teenagers waiting for a pregnancy test to develop in the hope that it would show up negative. At a time in the country format when it was still controversial to discuss underage sex and dare to wish against the blessings of children (you could say not much has changed), it was the type of song that Kacey Musgraves has become particularly known for. Speaking of Kacey, Eric has been one of her biggest supporters since the beginning, inviting her onto the No Shoes Nation tour with Kenny Chesney and co and standing up to applaud when she won the CMA for Song of the Year last November.
In a world that is so fraught with advertising, smoke and mirrors and false representation, it can be hard to know just what an artist thinks. Certainly Eric has painted himself quite deliberately as an outlaw, from the mysterious teaser videos prior to his album release (including a clip of Taylor Swift thanking him for getting kicked off the Rascal Flatts tour so she could take his place), the naming of his album ‘The Outsiders’ (as well as a hard rock/heavy metal first single that divided fans and graced the CMA stage), the boasting of raucous crowds at his shows (apparently known to fight and have sex during performances), and those famous ray bans. When Eric is being Eric Church, he steps into those shades (and at one point, that tired old trucker hat) and becomes a larger than life persona who apparently does what he wants.
But does he? While it is easy to see that much of his branding and marketing is extremely calculated, right down to the support of non-mainstream acts (he has invited such acts as Brandy Clark, Brothers Osborne, Halestorm, Dwight Yoakam, Colt Ford, Drake White, Blackberry Smoke, the Drive-By Truckers and Sonia Leigh to open up for him), it can be difficult to tell what is really him, and what is the pandering to a certain demographic. I want to believe that, despite the cringe-worthy nature of some of his “outlaw” imagery, he really is bucking the system and he really is just being himself, albeit a more emphasised alter ego. But knowing how the industry can twist people and the representations of their lives into entirely different things (take the varying PR surrounding Taylor Swift throughout her career, for example), I am cast in doubt. Has Eric just happened upon a brilliant marketing plan, and sticks with it because it makes him a lot of money and provides him with amazing opportunities? Has he been winging it and merging fact and fiction along the way? Does Eric even know the difference himself?
Often, acts have no say in choosing the acts that accompany them on tour. Usually it’s a case of label politics, who is currently hitting, and who knows who. Sometimes, to my knowledge an act can go out on a limb for an artist they believe in, but that artist still has to pass by the real decision-makers. If they don’t think it’ll be good for branding or ticket sales, they can simply choose someone else, no matter what the artist wants (unless, I suppose, you’re someone like Taylor Swift who could kick up a fuss if she so wished). I would like to think that Eric had some role in picking the more independent, lesser known and sonically non-mainstream acts that have opened for him on tour, but then again it would still have to be approved by management who would probably think such a selection would help his level of integrity and anti-establishment attitude. And they’re right, it has.
When it comes down to it, Eric is one of Music Row’s biggest cash cows. He helped popularize harder rock within mainstream country and thereby attracted a new, younger, more male demographic that the format was chasing. Now he’s positioned as the serious, more genuine musician at a time when country is full of sexist frat boy idiots, even if he was the one who pulled half of them in. Songs like ‘Give Me Back My Hometown’, ‘Talladega’ and ‘Drink In My Hand’ are unavoidably Nashville, even if they have that unique Eric touch that makes it clear it’s him. His album delves into alcohol and drug addiction and criticizes the city and the music industry establishment itself in spoken poem ‘Princess of Darkness’. He calls Nashville the devil’s bride and launches a huge inflatable Satan across his crowds as a deliberate metaphor for Music City. He has the format in the palm of his hand because he’s a huge success both inside and outside of country, and he can do what he want as long as he’s boosting sales and not pushing boundaries too far off the edge (singles ‘The Outsiders’ and ‘Cold One’ off his latest project fell flat compared to other releases due to sonic experimentation).
Eric Church is Music Row. He is at once authentic and at the same time a complete illusion. He is about sales and yet also about creating great music. He pushes boundaries and he reigns them back in. He knows how to conform and how to stand alone. He, his team, his label, they’ve got this down. And sometimes, with that complex level of marketing and manipulation, you have to stand back and applaud, even if you’re none the wiser as to the authenticity of any of it.
