Still the Chief: Eric Church’s Legacy, Longevity, and New Era in 2025

A country outlaw in aviators, armed with a forever evolving, hit-packed discography?

There's only one man you could genuinely be talking about.

Eric Church, a creative rebel at heart, has built his career on independence. That statement is made all the more impressive when you consider that, with over 9 million monthly Spotify listeners, 7 ACMs, 4 CMAs and 10 Grammy nominations, there's very little doubt today that The Chief remains one of country music's biggest names.

It's been a long road, but with his ninth studio album, Evangeline vs. The Machine, lined up for release on May 2, it looks like Church still has a few miles left. With a career spanning nearly two decades, the proud outsider has proven his longevity is undeniable, and his final destination isn't coming up anytime soon.

A North Carolina boy through and through, Church was born in the small town of Granite Falls. At the age of 13, he found his way to a guitar and wasted no time discovering his songwriting skills. By the time he left high school and arrived at Appalachian State University to seek a marketing degree, his love for music was starting to outweigh everything else.

After establishing his first college band, appropriately called The Mountain Boys, Church was utterly enamored with the live music scene, the creativity of songwriting, and the incomparable feeling of being a "Friday night hero". By senior year, he had reached the classic crossroads of many aspiring musicians: settle into a solid, sensible, if unchallenging, corporate career or head to Nashville to chase his neon-tinged dreams.

Blazing his way into Music City, he dove headfirst into songwriting, starting off as simply the name behind the hits. Named as a co-writer on Terri Clark’s ‘The World Needs A Drink’ and Dean Miller’s ‘Whiskey Wings’, Church was already establishing writing relationships in Nashville.

However, Church's now treasured debut album, Sinners Like Me, arrived in 2006 with three singles: 'How 'Bout You', 'Two Pink Lines', and 'Guys Like Me'. These gave Church his first Top 20 entries on the Billboard Hot Country Songs Chart.

Church had quickly made an impression, but it didn't come without a few early stumbles. In his case, they were often fuelled by passion and encouraged by a love for being on stage.

In 2006, he hit the road with Rascal Flatts, opening for the trio on their Me and My Gang Tour. Unfortunately, the ride didn't last long. At the time, Church had an unfortunate habit of extending his opening set, leading to an infamous firing. It sure helped out another rising talent at the time, as a certain Taylor Swift was brought in to replace him. In a promise made and kept, Swift gifted Church her first Gold record as a "thanks for playing too long and too loud on the Flatts tour" gift, which is the kind of thank you gesture only found in country music.

Never forgetting his hometown roots, Church's sophomore album, simply and affectionately titled Carolina, came in 2008. It brought the country up-and-comer his first Top 10 hit—'Love Your Love the Most'—which was closely followed by his second with 'Hell on the Heart'. It led him to sign with the brand new MCA (formerly Universal Music Group) imprint, EMI Records Nashville, as only their second artist.

At the height of summer 2011, he released Chief, the album that would take him to the No.1 spot on both the Country Album charts and the Billboard 200.

Hidden within the soon-to-be Grammy-nominated album sat two of Church's biggest hits - the endlessly fun 'Drink in My Hand' and bittersweet "what-if" anthem 'Springsteen'. "Chief was a different animal when it came out… I never ever, ever, ever thought that would be something that happened to us," Church said in an interview back in 2014.

Graduating from playing clubs to arenas felt like it had come out of nowhere, but with his determination fuelling his ride, there was potential for stadiums ahead.

A song like the now 8x Platinum 'Springsteen' is the kind of gem that makes that happen.

It's not often that the second social media is inundated with summer posts captioned "When life starts to sound like this song…" they're all recalling the same tune.

The nostalgic, sunshine-soaked 'Springsteen' might just be what turned Church into Chief. Even The Boss himself was a fan, penning Church a note on the back of a setlist letting him know how much he and his family enjoyed the anthem, signed "I hope we cross paths somewhere".

The following year, the accolades arrived. A CMA Album of the Year trophy for Chief, a CMT Artist of the Year honour and a co-headlining spot on Kenny Chesney's No Shoes Nation Tour. Chief, Church's most rebellious and innovative piece of work yet, would launch him into the stratosphere.

"Chief is the most fearless record we've made," he told The Recording Academy in 2011, explaining that he thinks music is often made based on a fear that it won't be a hit. Church didn't want to walk that line: "Consequences be damned… we were going to make a record that was up against it… really try to stoke that creative flame."

You'd forgive Church for taking a moment and relishing in his success; he didn't even look back. His fourth studio album, The Outsider, was released in 2014, and only a year later, he surprisingly released the heavy-rock-leaning album Mr. Misunderstood.

Dropping the album with no promo, social media hype, or pre-releases, it was nominated for Album of the Year at the 2016 ACM Awards and secured Church a huge radio hit in 'Record Year'. It changed the concept of what a country artist could do, particularly on their own terms.

As Church continued to live out on the road, his creative penchants showed no signs of slowing.

Perhaps it’s that non-stop attitude that fuels Church to write, record, release. Having built up a reputation of being a tireless touring artist, being slowed by an industry expected release schedule can just get in the way of what’s important - getting music out and getting to the people that want to hear it. Sometimes the right moment to release a song into the world is that moment itself, by doing this Church remained completely true to himself.

Desperate Man followed in 2018, before a string of singles throughout 2020 and 2021 led to the release of Heart & Soul, an epic triple album of 24 songs. In a video addressed to his fans, Church explained that he wrote and recorded most of the songs on a month-long trip to the North Carolina mountains. Written in the morning and recorded that same night, the album offers an emotional immediacy that seemed all but necessary amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Church explained just how unique the Heart & Soul process was: ‘I was writing everyday, it was in my head. It was a daily deal, so you’re getting what’s in here in real time’ he stated, with a hand on his heart. Taking that creative process away from a Nashville studio setting and back to the solitude of his home state allowed him to find the soul too; it might have been a triple album, but there was a unity in the way the record was made.

Following another non-stop touring run, Church dropped 'Darkest Hour' in October 2024. It marked his first solo performance in three years and was dedicated to his home state, the profits from the song going directly towards recovery efforts after the devastation of Hurricane Helene.

It's difficult to pinpoint one singular thing; he just seems to have it. It has kept him progressing for the better part of two decades, never losing his relevance and keeping fans constantly on their toes. If Church's success had to be pinned on something, it might have to be the fierce independence that blazed his trail every step of the way, one that started with writing.

"I always wanted to be a songwriter. I think the artist thing found me more than I went looking for it," he said back in 2014. Listening to his writing develop over the course of his career, this sentiment hasn't left him. Church's songwriting leaves a lasting impression, and its brutal honesty draws listeners in.

His releases have always been album-based. If a song is a chapter, then an album is the whole story. Nine studio albums? Well, that's a life story.

The tagline for Church's whiskey brand, Whiskey Jypsi, is "born of poets and pioneers," which may be the best way to summarise the man himself.

He's refused to conform to industry norms or expectations from the beginning. He's taken walks down the roads of country, blues, rock, soul and more simply to see what's at the other end. The one thread through it all is that he's written fiercely singular songs along the way… If that's not a pioneer, then we're not sure what is.

Preferring to remain an "Outsider," Church has found a way to be somewhat unlabelable inside and outside the music scene. His musical diversity, two-decade career, and lyrical vulnerability have built a fanbase as fierce as the Chief himself.

Although a proud North Carolina boy, he's also made Music City his home. His "not just another Broadway bar" Chief's sits proudly on Nashville's Broadway, built with his Church Choir in mind. While each brick of the building is devoted to The Choir's members, mementoes and memories from throughout his career litter the walls. With a live broadcasting studio and performance stages from the bottom floor to the rooftop, Church made his vision a reality while shaping a space for everyone.

This experimentation and commitment to finding something new keeps The Chief's fire lit, even as he questions what's next. Nine albums deep into his career, he's aware of his own (temporary) expiration date. "I don't know if I really want to keep doing this, and I don't want to feel like I have to," he suggested to Esquire about touring in 2023.

As we've mentioned, Church has never been one to follow the rules. By that notion, he won't keep doing anything he has to do; instead, he'll continue to do what he wants to. His consistent restructuring and reinvention of his sound make him authentically original, but often, with an artist's sonic change comes a character transformation and the emergence of a new persona to fit that album.

Perhaps the key to Church's success and the respect he receives from fans and fellow artists is that he doesn't change. His innovation, creativity, and commitment to reinvention alter the music he creates, but The Chief himself? He's stayed firmly rooted in the same artistic values from 2006 to 2025, making him the ultimate outlaw.

Outlaws keep moving, and Eric Church has evolved, shaped, remained unpredictable, and hit the highway since the day he left North Carolina in his rearview. He's had bumps along the way, mistakes, and musical mishaps–some "spectacular crashes and some spectacular successes," in his words—but nothing has stopped him from moving forward along the road less travelled.

"I love thinking about where we're gonna go," Church explained. "It may work, it may not. But to not chase that feels wrong to me… honestly, it's probably going to get wilder."

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