{"id":1605,"date":"2014-10-21T10:34:36","date_gmt":"2014-10-21T15:34:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/?page_id=1605"},"modified":"2014-11-24T23:47:10","modified_gmt":"2014-11-25T05:47:10","slug":"chief-2011","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/music\/chief-2011\/","title":{"rendered":"Chief (2011)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by Will Glass. 21 Oct 2014.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"chief\"<\/a>In July 2011, Eric Church released his sophomore album Chief<\/em>. While teaming up with EMI Records, Church\u2019s focus was to create an album that would be different from other artists and producers at the time. With this in mind, Church fused his North Carolina country roots with his rock\u2019n\u2019roll sensibilities. According to Alan Cackett, in his article \u201cEric Church: Bridging The Gap Between Twang and Rock\u201d, \u201cChief<\/em> is arguably the most adventurous, mainstream country record to come out of Nashville in 2011\u201d (Cackett).\u00a0Chief<\/em> led to a Grammy nomination, turned out to be his second gold disc, and kicked off his first headlining tour, titled, Blood, Sweat & Beers tour.<\/p>\n

In the 1970\u2019s, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and some others started the original \u201cOutlaw\u201d movement in country music. Their goal was to record the songs they wanted without harassment from record labels and to be true to themselves. The term \u201cOutlaw<\/a>\u201d was used to refer to the movement they inspired and also to their lifestyles. I see Eric Church\u2019s Chief<\/em> as a more recent Outlaw album compared to what some other artists are doing today. The mix of rock\u2019n\u2019roll and country genres helped Church\u2019s achievements in Chief<\/em>. For one, as Daryl Addison writes in his review, \u201cEric\u2019s approach and delivery is rooted in outlaw country tradition as he incorporates aspects of different genres with country melodies\u201d (Addison).<\/p>\n

Church also creates a newer \u201cOutlaw\u201d movement by straying away from the path of how other artists promote themselves using different forms of media. Church states in Cackett\u2019s article that nowadays it\u2019s artists going into the studio and making something that fits the formula, and he says that\u2019s not his way of doing things. Church felt this was a great time to develop something different. He states in Rob Harvilla\u2019s article, \u201cEric Church Marks His Territory\u201d, \u201cI don’t like everybody. I think that’s normal. I think that’s real\u201d (Harvilla). Being real to himself is the key factor of what separates him from other artists.<\/p>\n

He says he\u2019s been honest to his fans that he doesn’t abide by Twitter, Facebook, or any social media. He later notes, \u201cThe music is what you’re gonna get, and the show. We\u2019re gonna focus on it. It\u2019s all I think about. It\u2019s all I do\u201d (Harvilla). Church does not like the idea of musical reality shows as we found out after there was some beef between him, Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert. He believes many artists get caught up with the media rather than focusing on creating albums from the heart. Church is a southern boy to the core that’s true to himself, and figured it was time for a switch up of pace for country music whether the country listeners realized it or not. In Carlton Fletcher\u2019s article, \u201cChurch\u2019s instincts paid off on \u2018Chief\u2019\u201d, Church says: \u201cI came into the studio and gave the guys in the band a little speech\u2026I told them we were going to make the most creative album we\u2019d ever made, and if that led us off the cliff, then so be it\u201d (Fletcher).<\/p>\n

\"2011<\/a>Church is trying to get a good response from the fans by doing it his own way. Church can reach out to a much broader audience by combining different genres of music in his album. Cackett notes that Church\u2019s voice has matured since the beginning of his career, and has found a way to emotionally use his voice to connect to the audience. The songs for Chief<\/em> were written in an old log cabin way back in the woods in North Carolina. \u201cPeople probably think it was bad that I locked myself away to just write songs, but the other thing is it helped me to really hammer down the whole sound and really take that we wanted\u201d (Cackett). When talking about Chief<\/em>, Church says: \u201cWe really let the creativity flow. And not one time did we worry or analyze, or think what would people think or the fans or anything\u201d (Cackett). His main goal was to have fun, and just to let the music roll. Church opens his album with the single \u201cCreepin\u2019\u201d. Addison says, \u201cIt’s ambitious. It\u2019s artistic. It\u2019s a sonic challenge to the listener to keep up\u201d (Addison). Some songs are slower than others in the album, but all speak out to the listener. Whether Church is accompanied solely by an acoustic guitar or by heavy rock\u2019n\u2019roll electric guitars, the album draws the audience closer and closer as Church gets deeper into the playlist.<\/p>\n

\"church\"<\/a>It\u2019s true that country listeners love to hear a good story, and Church makes sure they hear plenty in Chief<\/em>. For a long time most record labels have been telling artists what they can and cannot record. EMI records, which produced Chief<\/em>, let Church have his freedom when creating this album. Thom Jurek of AllMusic.com notes, \u201cChurch is having it both ways: he scores consistently enough to keep his label interested, but also maintains his independence to a degree, which turns on his fans.\u201d While Church wanted to release something different, the audience did not care what they heard as long as it was in some form of country. Church states: \u201cCountry is the coolest format, it\u2019s where the true singer-songwriter lives. It\u2019s where the true troubadour lives\u201d (Cackett).<\/p>\n

Church conveyed his \u201cOutlaw\u201d approach to music by targeting an audience that was not the norm. He says, \u201cWhen I first came out, everybody was marketing to the soccer mom\u2026I had nothin\u2019 for \u2018em. I\u2019m not a soccer mom, my wife\u2019s not a soccer mom\u2026So we focused on the males\u201d (Harvilla). Since EMI Records lets Church create his music with freedom, they don\u2019t care who hears it as long as there\u2019s an audience. Being a part of the audience myself, I can vouch that we want to be able to relate our own lives to the stories in the songs. Country music doesn’t cater to a certain race or gender, but rather to the people that understand the artist\u2019s stories and can put themselves in their positions.<\/p>\n

By using his country roots and desiring to perform something different in today\u2019s era, Eric Church creatively develops this album to where listeners can relate. From the beginning with \u2018Creepin\u2019, to the end with \u2018Over When It\u2019s Over\u2019, Church takes the audience on a roller coaster ride by interlacing different instruments and lyrics to start his own \u201cOutlaw\u201d movement of the 21st<\/sup> century. Similar to what Willie and Waylon did back in the day, Church uses the development and release of Chief<\/em> to get across his thoughts to the fans of country music.<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a0Tracks:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. “Creepin'” (E. Church)<\/li>\n
  2. “Drink in My Hand” (E. Church)<\/li>\n
  3. “Keep On” (E. Church)<\/li>\n
  4. “Like Jesus Does”<\/a> (E. Church)<\/li>\n
  5. “Hungover & Hard Up” (E. Church)<\/li>\n
  6. “Homeboy” (E. Church)<\/li>\n
  7. “Country Music Jesus” (E. Church)<\/li>\n
  8. “Jack Daniels” (E. Church)<\/li>\n
  9. “Springsteen” (E. Church)<\/li>\n
  10. “I’m Gettin’ Stoned” (E. Church)<\/li>\n
  11. “Over When It’s Over” (E. Church)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Bonus Track: “Lovin’ Me Anyway” (E. Church)<\/p>\n

    \n

    \u00a0Works Cited<\/span><\/p>\n

    Addison, Daryl. \u201cGAC Album Review: Eric Church\u2019s Chief<\/em>.\u201d Great American Country<\/em>. n.p., 25 July. 2011. Web. 12 Oct 2014. <http:\/\/blog.gactv.com\/blog\/2011\/07\/25\/gac-album-review-eric-churchs-chief\/>.<\/p>\n

    Cackett, Alan. “Eric Church.” Maverick<\/em> 114 (2012): 42-44. Music Index<\/em>. Web. 6 Oct. 2014. <connection.ebscohost.com\/c\/articles\/77978132\/eric-church>.<\/p>\n

    Fletcher, Carlton. \u201cChurch\u2019s instincts paid off on \u2018Chief.\u2019\u201d Albany Herald<\/em>. 4 Mar. 2012. Web. 12 Oct 2014. <http:\/\/www.albanyherald.com\/news\/2012\/mar\/03\/churchs-instincts-paid-chief\/>.<\/p>\n

    Harvilla, Rob. \u201cEric Church Marks His Territory.\u201d Spin<\/em>. n.p., 4 Feb. 2014. Web. 19 Oct 2014. <http:\/\/www.spin.com\/featured\/eric-church-marks-his-territory-february-cover-story\/>.<\/p>\n

    Jurek, Thom. Rev. of Chief<\/em>, by Eric Church. All Music<\/em> 26 July 2011. Web. 12 Oct 2014. <http:\/\/www.allmusic.com\/album\/chief-mw0002165105>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Written by Will Glass. 21 Oct 2014. In July 2011, Eric Church released his sophomore album Chief. While teaming up with EMI Records, Church\u2019s focus was to create an album that would be different from other artists and producers at … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"parent":18,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1605","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1605"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2723,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1605\/revisions\/2723"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/18"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}