Eric Church
Robert Earl Keen
Sat, August 18, 2012
Doors: 6:30 pm / Show: 7:30 pm
CMAC (Canandaigua, NY)
Canandaigua, NY
$45, $35, $25 advance lawn / $30 day of show lawn
Tickets
This event is all ages
http://www.bowerypresents.com/event/108257/
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Eric Church
Revolution has cast a spark in mainstream country music, and outlaw rebel Eric Church is to blame. Since the release of his first album, Sinners Like Me (2006), Church has led his pack one-by-one through retrospective songwriting, invigorating live shows, and a hard-boiled attitude soaked in blood and sweat, and ice cold beers. Perhaps that’s why his recent No. 1 single “Drink In My Hand,” has accomplished RIAA Gold certification and his first headlining arena tour, aptly titled Eric Church: The Blood, Sweat & Beers Tour, is experiencing record-breaking sales and prompting rave critical reviews. Moreover, there’s no doubt since the release of his ground-breaking third album CHIEF, his tenacious tribe of disciples is demanding the world’s help in catapulting their ‘chief’ of country music from smoky barroom songster to headlining arena superstar.
On board with the upheaval in naming CHIEF one of NPR’s Top Albums of The Year, renowned critic Ann Powers writes:
“Mainstream music is full of macho dudes in faded designer jeans, but it’s rare to find an artist with enough sophistication and self-awareness to make the outlaw persona feel genuine. Enter Eric Church: The North Carolina native honky-tonker who fully embraces country clichés, but sharpens them with wit, chronicling wild nights and epic hangovers with just the right amount of critical distance, and single with the cool world-weariness of someone who’s lost a few lovers and parking-lot fights.”
Rolling Stone, SPIN, iTunes, and the Los Angeles Times also joined the crusade in granting Church coveted end-of-the-year ‘top album’ accolades, and the release of CHIEF earned RIAA Gold Certified sales in only six weeks, helping to launch fan-favorite party anthem and third single release “Drink In My Hand,” to No. 1 on the country radio charts. Furthermore, positioned at the apex of life-long achievements for Church, he experienced the exhilaration of his first-ever GRAMMY nomination with CHIEF for Best Country Album.
Having kicked off Eric Church: The Blood, Sweat & Beers Tour on January 19 in Fort Smith, AR, Church is bringing his raucous live show to arena-filled venues from New York, NY to Minneapolis, MN, Chicago, IL, Nashville, TN and everywhere in between in 2012 with special guest Brantley Gilbert.
"Normally, you have No. 1 singles before you have No. 1 albums and arena tours, but for us, it was the other way," says Church who began planning the arena tour months before ever reaching the singles summit with “Drink In My Hand." Cultivating a devoted fan base without sacrificing musical integrity and self-expression, Church has built up his following slowly, but the hard work is finally proving to have paid off.
Reflecting on his creative process when crafting the game-changing album CHIEF, Church used his opportunity to make a new record provided by his success to push his creativity and live show even further. “I have a theory that all of us only get a small window of time to make records when people will really listen and care,” he says. “It's up to us to move the needle. People like Waylon and Cash or Garth and Strait - they all took the format and said ‘We're going over here,’ and they all changed the direction of the music a little bit.”
Although his debut album, Sinners Like Me, established him as one of the most acclaimed new songwriters in country music; and the follow-up, 2009’s RIAA Gold Certified Carolina, produced the singles “Love Your Love the Most” and “Smoke a Little Smoke,” which—along with the continually escalating popularity of his hard-charging live show—elevated Church to the top ranks of today’s country stars in early 2011 at which point Church decided to take a step back to give some thought to his next creative direction.
“I took about a month off and went to a cabin in North Carolina,” he says. “We’ve always blazed our own trail and I was trying to figure out where it needed to go and, honestly, I wasn't sure. So, I didn't go anywhere for a month. Writers came out and we just wrote songs all day and all night. That really stoked the creative flame. Then, I spent the next six months on tour writing whenever I could.”
The songs that resulted illustrate Church’s impressive range. Some of the titles like his first career No. 1 Billboard single “Drink in My Hand” or “Hungover and Hard Up,” instantly show that he’s still comfortable with the expectations of his rowdy live audience. “You’ve got to know what's going to fire them up,” he says, “but, you also need to give them a twist, something they can't just go back and get from the other two records.” Other songs, like the ambitious “Springsteen” or “Like Jesus Does,” reveal complicated emotions and sophisticated song structures.
Perhaps the bravest track on CHIEF is the first single, “Homeboy,” a provocative appeal from one brother to another to get back on track and make peace with his family that was recently RIAA Gold Certified.
“‘Homeboy’ deals with social issues and with everyday life,” says Church. “It was pretty challenging for me to take that term ‘homeboy’ and use it as slang, as a destination, and then at the end, as a spiritual place. Sonically, it's like three or four different songs. It’s not something people are used to,” he continues, “and there can be a price to pay for that. I’ve had people say ‘that's strange,’ ‘it's odd’—things that some people might run from but, I think it's fantastic.”
When it came time to record the album, Church had a sound in mind that felt different from his first two releases. “This record, more than anything else I've done, is breathing and alive,” he says. “There’s a wildness to it. It’s untamed and not very harnessed.”
This energy started with the singer’s own role in the sessions. Much of CHIEF was cut live in the studio. Church played guitar with the band (and for the first time on record, electric guitar on “Like Jesus Does”) and some of the final versions even use the original tracking vocal.
Church gives credit to producer Jay Joyce, with whom he has made all three of his albums, for helping to bring this excitement out on the tracks. “There’s just a comfort level with Jay,” he says. “We’ve both learned to sit back and let each other try different paths and get farther out there. A lot of stuff we just tried, like the handclap loop on ‘Homeboy,’ just because we weren’t afraid. We never thought there was anything we couldn’t do. I think it’s the most aggressive record I’ve made because of that.”
Though Church’s focus on CHIEF is on looking forward rather than looking back, he does acknowledge that the surprising success of chart-topping single release “Smoke a Little Smoke” allowed him to explore and experiment with his new songs. Church explains, “This was the first time I picked a single because of the reaction on the road and it paid off.” And his desire to capture the intensity of his live show on record is indicated right in the title of the new album. "‘Chief' is my nickname on the road," Church reveals. "When it's show time, I put on the sunglasses and the hat, and that's how people know it's game time. This album was made from a live place; we recorded it with the live show in mind, so it just seemed right to make that the title."
If there is one thing country music needs more of, it’s the attitude that is driving Eric Church, the approach behind every song on CHIEF, the fearlessness that lets an artist swing for the fences and try to leave a mark on history. “There were safer choices I could have made for sure, but I just can't feel that helps anybody,” he says. “If you have any respect for the music, you'll use each chance you get to try to be one of the ones who moves the flag.”
On board with the upheaval in naming CHIEF one of NPR’s Top Albums of The Year, renowned critic Ann Powers writes:
“Mainstream music is full of macho dudes in faded designer jeans, but it’s rare to find an artist with enough sophistication and self-awareness to make the outlaw persona feel genuine. Enter Eric Church: The North Carolina native honky-tonker who fully embraces country clichés, but sharpens them with wit, chronicling wild nights and epic hangovers with just the right amount of critical distance, and single with the cool world-weariness of someone who’s lost a few lovers and parking-lot fights.”
Rolling Stone, SPIN, iTunes, and the Los Angeles Times also joined the crusade in granting Church coveted end-of-the-year ‘top album’ accolades, and the release of CHIEF earned RIAA Gold Certified sales in only six weeks, helping to launch fan-favorite party anthem and third single release “Drink In My Hand,” to No. 1 on the country radio charts. Furthermore, positioned at the apex of life-long achievements for Church, he experienced the exhilaration of his first-ever GRAMMY nomination with CHIEF for Best Country Album.
Having kicked off Eric Church: The Blood, Sweat & Beers Tour on January 19 in Fort Smith, AR, Church is bringing his raucous live show to arena-filled venues from New York, NY to Minneapolis, MN, Chicago, IL, Nashville, TN and everywhere in between in 2012 with special guest Brantley Gilbert.
"Normally, you have No. 1 singles before you have No. 1 albums and arena tours, but for us, it was the other way," says Church who began planning the arena tour months before ever reaching the singles summit with “Drink In My Hand." Cultivating a devoted fan base without sacrificing musical integrity and self-expression, Church has built up his following slowly, but the hard work is finally proving to have paid off.
Reflecting on his creative process when crafting the game-changing album CHIEF, Church used his opportunity to make a new record provided by his success to push his creativity and live show even further. “I have a theory that all of us only get a small window of time to make records when people will really listen and care,” he says. “It's up to us to move the needle. People like Waylon and Cash or Garth and Strait - they all took the format and said ‘We're going over here,’ and they all changed the direction of the music a little bit.”
Although his debut album, Sinners Like Me, established him as one of the most acclaimed new songwriters in country music; and the follow-up, 2009’s RIAA Gold Certified Carolina, produced the singles “Love Your Love the Most” and “Smoke a Little Smoke,” which—along with the continually escalating popularity of his hard-charging live show—elevated Church to the top ranks of today’s country stars in early 2011 at which point Church decided to take a step back to give some thought to his next creative direction.
“I took about a month off and went to a cabin in North Carolina,” he says. “We’ve always blazed our own trail and I was trying to figure out where it needed to go and, honestly, I wasn't sure. So, I didn't go anywhere for a month. Writers came out and we just wrote songs all day and all night. That really stoked the creative flame. Then, I spent the next six months on tour writing whenever I could.”
The songs that resulted illustrate Church’s impressive range. Some of the titles like his first career No. 1 Billboard single “Drink in My Hand” or “Hungover and Hard Up,” instantly show that he’s still comfortable with the expectations of his rowdy live audience. “You’ve got to know what's going to fire them up,” he says, “but, you also need to give them a twist, something they can't just go back and get from the other two records.” Other songs, like the ambitious “Springsteen” or “Like Jesus Does,” reveal complicated emotions and sophisticated song structures.
Perhaps the bravest track on CHIEF is the first single, “Homeboy,” a provocative appeal from one brother to another to get back on track and make peace with his family that was recently RIAA Gold Certified.
“‘Homeboy’ deals with social issues and with everyday life,” says Church. “It was pretty challenging for me to take that term ‘homeboy’ and use it as slang, as a destination, and then at the end, as a spiritual place. Sonically, it's like three or four different songs. It’s not something people are used to,” he continues, “and there can be a price to pay for that. I’ve had people say ‘that's strange,’ ‘it's odd’—things that some people might run from but, I think it's fantastic.”
When it came time to record the album, Church had a sound in mind that felt different from his first two releases. “This record, more than anything else I've done, is breathing and alive,” he says. “There’s a wildness to it. It’s untamed and not very harnessed.”
This energy started with the singer’s own role in the sessions. Much of CHIEF was cut live in the studio. Church played guitar with the band (and for the first time on record, electric guitar on “Like Jesus Does”) and some of the final versions even use the original tracking vocal.
Church gives credit to producer Jay Joyce, with whom he has made all three of his albums, for helping to bring this excitement out on the tracks. “There’s just a comfort level with Jay,” he says. “We’ve both learned to sit back and let each other try different paths and get farther out there. A lot of stuff we just tried, like the handclap loop on ‘Homeboy,’ just because we weren’t afraid. We never thought there was anything we couldn’t do. I think it’s the most aggressive record I’ve made because of that.”
Though Church’s focus on CHIEF is on looking forward rather than looking back, he does acknowledge that the surprising success of chart-topping single release “Smoke a Little Smoke” allowed him to explore and experiment with his new songs. Church explains, “This was the first time I picked a single because of the reaction on the road and it paid off.” And his desire to capture the intensity of his live show on record is indicated right in the title of the new album. "‘Chief' is my nickname on the road," Church reveals. "When it's show time, I put on the sunglasses and the hat, and that's how people know it's game time. This album was made from a live place; we recorded it with the live show in mind, so it just seemed right to make that the title."
If there is one thing country music needs more of, it’s the attitude that is driving Eric Church, the approach behind every song on CHIEF, the fearlessness that lets an artist swing for the fences and try to leave a mark on history. “There were safer choices I could have made for sure, but I just can't feel that helps anybody,” he says. “If you have any respect for the music, you'll use each chance you get to try to be one of the ones who moves the flag.”
Robert Earl Keen
"I would love to have been one of the great singers in the world -- like Vince Gill or someone like that -- even if it was just for one hour," says Robert Earl Keen. "But I really feel like my gift is writing songs. That's just there and it's always been there. I don't know why, but I always have stories -- they don't all have to be true, just good. If I could put a subtitle on my best songs, it would be 'based on a good story.'"
With his latest Lost Highway album, The Rose Hotel, Keen re-confirms his place among the Lone Star State's great storytellers, capable of painting rich, poignant landscapes worthy of Cormac McCarthy and spinning satirical yarns that'd do Kinky Friedman proud. The disc's rough-hewn tone -- it's one of the more immediate, organic efforts in Keen's varied catalog -- emphasizes both ends of that emotional spectrum, with Band-styled organ washes dappling the evocative title track and a hoedown-worthy breakdown propelling the wry "Wireless in Heaven" to its conclusion.
"I've done rustic records, polished records and live records," says Keen. " And this time, I wanted to do one that sounded rich and robust. I wanted it to sound big. I wanted it to have a lot of voices. I think it sounds great. The feedback from everybody has been outstanding."
Keen and producer Lloyd Maines (known for his work with his daughter's little combo, The Dixie Chicks, and many many others) got a lot of voices onto The Rose Hotel in both figurative and literal senses. The album is loaded with tunes designed to get toes to tap and hips to swivel, and peppered with guest appearances sure to pique interest -- from the unmistakable deadpan tones that Billy Bob Thornton adds to the shaggy-dog saga "10,000 Chinese Walk Into a Bar" to the rough-and-ready baritone of Greg Brown, who swaps verses with Keen on his own "Laughing River."
"I've always been a huge fan of Greg's and I knew that he was in town when we were recording, so I called up the club where he was playing and asked him if he'd be on the album," recalls Keen. "I promised him I'd make it easy as possible. My whole family came down for the session."
A familial vibe extends throughout The Rose Hotel, as is usually the case when Robert Earl Keen enters the studio with his band, a tight-knit group that's navigated the globe together for the better part of a decade-and-a-half. Keen prides himself on the fact that the albums he and his compatriots turn out are almost completely self-contained and 100 percent free from artificial colors and flavors.
"These songs are real," he says. "They're hand-made. When people come to see us live, they're seeing the people who created them play them and that's not all that common these days. It's the kind of magic that doesn't happen all the time."
Well, Keen and his band have been making that kind of magic happen for quite a spell, ever since the singer started putting his writing -- a pastime that had been part of his life since before he started elementary school -- to music while a student at Texas A & M University. Keen dipped deep into the waters of his native state's musical tradition early on, digging out nuggets from such touchstones as Bob Wills and Lightnin' Hopkins.
By the time he recorded his first full-length studio album, 1989's West Textures, Keen had already established himself as one of the most engaging live performers on the roadhouse circuit, capable of coaxing a two-step out of the most reticent audience member and planting a tear in the beer of the toughest customer. That persuasive style -- captured on four different live albums over the course of his two decades on the road -- also helped him win friends and influence contemporaries like Jack Ingram, Pat Green and Todd Snider, all of whom have sung his praises.
Keen has had no trouble translating that appeal in the studio over the years, from 1994's highly acclaimed Gringo Honeymoon to the top 10 breakthrough disc Gravitational Forces -- the latter of which showcased the sheer breadth of his stylistic reach. He and his band always find a way to connect with the pleasure center of the listener, and -- as the genial, good-natured tone of the songs on The Rose Hotel prove -- they manage to have a mighty good time of their own in the process.
"I wrote most of the songs at the Scriptorium, this little shack about 10 miles from where I live," says Keen. "I usually just end up hanging out there -- I'm a world-class hanger-outer -- but the songs really started coming to me. I had no intentions. But I ended up with these songs and found that I had enough for a record."
Those songs address everything from, well, his ability to simply hang out (the gently rollicking "Something That I Do") to his years of soaking up the atmosphere in clubs of all shapes and sizes (the woozy waltz "Goodnight Cleveland"). They flow from the grooves the way they flow from Keen's own spirit -- naturally, affably and with a lack of fanfare that's remarkably refreshing in this age of glitz.
"I was in flux before this project, I wasn't sure there was a purpose in compiling these songs in this old-fashioned way. But then I realized, well, it doesn't matter if there's a point -- this is my life, this is what I do and I'm proud of it."
With his latest Lost Highway album, The Rose Hotel, Keen re-confirms his place among the Lone Star State's great storytellers, capable of painting rich, poignant landscapes worthy of Cormac McCarthy and spinning satirical yarns that'd do Kinky Friedman proud. The disc's rough-hewn tone -- it's one of the more immediate, organic efforts in Keen's varied catalog -- emphasizes both ends of that emotional spectrum, with Band-styled organ washes dappling the evocative title track and a hoedown-worthy breakdown propelling the wry "Wireless in Heaven" to its conclusion.
"I've done rustic records, polished records and live records," says Keen. " And this time, I wanted to do one that sounded rich and robust. I wanted it to sound big. I wanted it to have a lot of voices. I think it sounds great. The feedback from everybody has been outstanding."
Keen and producer Lloyd Maines (known for his work with his daughter's little combo, The Dixie Chicks, and many many others) got a lot of voices onto The Rose Hotel in both figurative and literal senses. The album is loaded with tunes designed to get toes to tap and hips to swivel, and peppered with guest appearances sure to pique interest -- from the unmistakable deadpan tones that Billy Bob Thornton adds to the shaggy-dog saga "10,000 Chinese Walk Into a Bar" to the rough-and-ready baritone of Greg Brown, who swaps verses with Keen on his own "Laughing River."
"I've always been a huge fan of Greg's and I knew that he was in town when we were recording, so I called up the club where he was playing and asked him if he'd be on the album," recalls Keen. "I promised him I'd make it easy as possible. My whole family came down for the session."
A familial vibe extends throughout The Rose Hotel, as is usually the case when Robert Earl Keen enters the studio with his band, a tight-knit group that's navigated the globe together for the better part of a decade-and-a-half. Keen prides himself on the fact that the albums he and his compatriots turn out are almost completely self-contained and 100 percent free from artificial colors and flavors.
"These songs are real," he says. "They're hand-made. When people come to see us live, they're seeing the people who created them play them and that's not all that common these days. It's the kind of magic that doesn't happen all the time."
Well, Keen and his band have been making that kind of magic happen for quite a spell, ever since the singer started putting his writing -- a pastime that had been part of his life since before he started elementary school -- to music while a student at Texas A & M University. Keen dipped deep into the waters of his native state's musical tradition early on, digging out nuggets from such touchstones as Bob Wills and Lightnin' Hopkins.
By the time he recorded his first full-length studio album, 1989's West Textures, Keen had already established himself as one of the most engaging live performers on the roadhouse circuit, capable of coaxing a two-step out of the most reticent audience member and planting a tear in the beer of the toughest customer. That persuasive style -- captured on four different live albums over the course of his two decades on the road -- also helped him win friends and influence contemporaries like Jack Ingram, Pat Green and Todd Snider, all of whom have sung his praises.
Keen has had no trouble translating that appeal in the studio over the years, from 1994's highly acclaimed Gringo Honeymoon to the top 10 breakthrough disc Gravitational Forces -- the latter of which showcased the sheer breadth of his stylistic reach. He and his band always find a way to connect with the pleasure center of the listener, and -- as the genial, good-natured tone of the songs on The Rose Hotel prove -- they manage to have a mighty good time of their own in the process.
"I wrote most of the songs at the Scriptorium, this little shack about 10 miles from where I live," says Keen. "I usually just end up hanging out there -- I'm a world-class hanger-outer -- but the songs really started coming to me. I had no intentions. But I ended up with these songs and found that I had enough for a record."
Those songs address everything from, well, his ability to simply hang out (the gently rollicking "Something That I Do") to his years of soaking up the atmosphere in clubs of all shapes and sizes (the woozy waltz "Goodnight Cleveland"). They flow from the grooves the way they flow from Keen's own spirit -- naturally, affably and with a lack of fanfare that's remarkably refreshing in this age of glitz.
"I was in flux before this project, I wasn't sure there was a purpose in compiling these songs in this old-fashioned way. But then I realized, well, it doesn't matter if there's a point -- this is my life, this is what I do and I'm proud of it."
Venue Information:
CMAC (Canandaigua, NY)
3355 Marvin Sands Drive
Canandaigua, NY, 14424
http://www.cmacevents.com/
CMAC (Canandaigua, NY)
3355 Marvin Sands Drive
Canandaigua, NY, 14424
http://www.cmacevents.com/
