Eric Church, the only Outsider left in country music, or whats left of country music, gave us his newest

offering on Tuesday: the highly anticipated new album The Outsiders. And was it ever outside. Outside of what country music has seen recently that is. Theres a lot of things to say about this album and Ill try to sum my feelings about it up in this one short page. First of all I want to start off by saying this. I love this new album. Eric Church is on a short list of artists that I instantly download or purchase their music without even listening to a sample on Itunes. I am a tad bias because Eric Church does strike a chord with me. There is something about his image that I like. Regardless of how fabricated or marketed it is. Make no mistake the bad boy image is as much a marketing scheme as any advertisement or commercial you catch on television. Branding is what Eric Church is doing here. The Outsider is a refreshing image to a saturated genre of music that has become defined by the words sun tan, beer, tractor, water tower, Panama City, and any other pop garbage slang words that hypnotize and confuse the listener in believing that theyre listening to country music. The sad fact is that country music doesnt exist anymore. Blue Collar divorcees who have a legitimate drinking problem and have nothing to do but pick a guitar and hope to God someone in Nashville will notice them are a thing of the past. The country that my generation claims to miss (this is strange to me because none of these people were alive when real country existed) is the same country that they are telling artists they dont miss by purchasing Luke Bryans newest beach Frisbee disc part 3. Eric Church at least tries to kick that trend and for that I give him credit. He has cornered the market and found a target group of consumers who will buy his albums because he is not Florida-Georgia Line, Billy Currington, Kenny Chesney, Luke Bryan..(insert artist here). This is not only Eric Churchs greatest strength but his greatest weakness. This album was promoted with an idea of some revolution. You wouldve thought it would have completely destroyed the idea of what country music is and should be. But it didnt. If I look past the fact that I enjoy this album and like the message that is trying to be conveyed then I realize that no message is being conveyed at all. For instance: The title track comes out ripping and roaring with a heavy dark almost epic sound followed by a A Man Who was Gonna Die Young that shows some reflection and sentimentality about life. Thats fine. Then not 3 songs into the album, we get a song that sounds like it isnt the same old song youd hear on country radio today unless you listen to the lyrics. Cold One? Ok Eric, Im going to let that one slide. While my idea of this album has now been disrupted, I still see where youre going. Unfortunately two songs later we hear the song Talladega. Once again, at its surface this is a great song. I confess it will be played over and over again by me. Its a catchy song. Catchy. Guess what songs are catchy. You guessed it, pop songs. This is a song we have heard 100+ times on country radio and every listener knows it. Change the words and add a touch of this or that and you have Talladega. Now Im really confused. This was supposed to be a hell raising album about bucking the trend, sticking it to the man, and doing what you want not what youre told. It isnt until the second portion of the album with the song Thats Damn Rock & Roll that we hear that outlaw sound. But that outlaw sound sounds an awful lot more like AC/DC than it does Waylon and Willie to me.

Heres the issue. Eric Church has marketed himself as something that no longer exists. He has professed how he is this country outlaw when in reality a country outlaw is nothing more these days than a rock artist. That is what this album is. Pop/Rock. That is the problem with it and the reason why that it doesnt form one cohesive unit or complete an idea. The album is very scattered. Thats fine as long as you dont market it as a revolutionary idea at throwing out the system that you in fact make a living out of. This same man that professes that he is a country music outlaw is the same man that put out a single about Bruce Springsteen ( a ROCK legend) and probably made enough money off of it to pay for his house. Truthfully Eric Church is at his best when he has stripped down vocals and a guitar. That is a close to outlaw country as it gets these days sadly. Eric Church put out an album that is as good and better than most of his peers most recent albums. The only downfall is the way he presented and promoted it. Am I saying this album is a failure? Absolutely not. Commercially and even musically at times this album works. Artistically did it fail at doing what it was supposed to do? Yes. This is by no means something that we havent heard before as a whole. It is the edgiest thing out in country music right now but if you look at the genre as a whole then its not very hard to be edgy. The way this all played out reminded me of Kanye West and Yeezus. Good idea, nice effort(I guess in the case of Yeezus) but lets face it: This didnt turn out the way you expected it to. Thats okay. Because he will no doubt make a load of money off of this album (which after all if you make music for a living is the point from a financial standpoint) and mark my words the song Talladega will absolutely explode on country radio just as Springsteen did. I would be mistaken if I told you not to buy this album or not to give it a try. However, I would also be mistaken if I told you to that you would be a believer in the revolution by the end of the album. Take it at its surface and enjoy the songs individually.