Eric Church - Desperate Man

Eric Church
Desperate Man
2018
Spotify

Eric Church is not your typical country pop star. I've written this a few times about a few artists over the years, but His album Mr. Misunderstood from 2015 was really a revelation. It was an honest and exciting brand of country where so many were relying on typical pop tropes to try and make their music relevant again. Church has always stuck with the horse that brought him here, a blend of 70s rock and honky tonk. The play has garnered him millions of fans to the point where he is packing stadiums. This album however has a bit of a specter hanging over it. Church was one of the Headliners at the Route 91 Country Music Festival where 58 people were killed by a maniac with a high powered rifle, Church had already left the event when the massacre occurred, performing the previous night. Still the event affected Church greatly and the song He recorded in the victims' memory "Why Not Me" but that song does not appear here. Yet there is still a cloud of sadness on this record that is new for Eric Church. He will typically have a couple of sad songs as most of Country artists do, but here the entire vibe feels down. It's not a bad thing, because through that empathy and sadness He is able to find some really wonderful moments. "Monsters" is a particular highlight. diving into what it feels like to be a kid and how the monsters we fight in adult life are pretty similar to those we face as children.

This album is far more confused than his previous releases. I don't mean musically just in a general frustration with how the world works. This album feels heavier than his previous ones, his sense of fun and frivolity isn't gone, but it's taken a significant break. The album takes a much more downtempo turn towards the end, casting a reflective blanket over the record. Church is searching for answers to life's biggest questions, but not finding much solace outside of his religion and family. At least Church is asking himself questions here and trying to find answers rather than hunkering down and blasting the rest of the world. That has always been his biggest asset, His ability to connect at a level that is far bolder than a simple pop song. He still says the things Country fans like as He does on the pretty on the nose track "Hippie Radio", but "Jukebox and a Bar" is about a whole lot more than what the title indicates. Desperate Man is not his finest album, but it is his most wide open and bare. It's wonderful to see all the dimensions of Eric Church, and maybe He will be that person who makes you stop saying "I love all music, except country".

7.9 out of 10