Eric Church plays country but his country is a broad church, so to speak.
This album comes as a winter surprise, Beyoncé-like, unheralded as if testing his popularity. Though he pays due homage to Nashville tradition, Church also likes to dabble in blues and gospel as well as namechecking those outside his own orbit.
In the past he has cited Springsteen, and he remains a major influence, but here he also salutes the likes of James Brown and Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy whose quirky music is echoed in the title track about the little weird kid who makes good.
This is Church territory – the lot of the outsider. In these grim, Trumped-up times, anybody championing diversity is welcome.
On the debit side he can’t resist a crash chord, but there is much to admire – intense, thoughtful songs performed with confidence and craft.
