Country's Most Underrated Artist and His Antithesis.

When Eric Church's "Drink in my Hand" went #1 on the Country charts recently I was stunned to learn that it was his first song to reach the top. I have been a fan of Church since he debuted in 2006 with "How Bout You." Since then I have been paying more attention to the high quality of his music than his position on the Billboard charts, but after doing a little research I was completely floored that the highest he had gotten on the Country singles chart before "Drink" was #10! This guy has been making GREAT music for nearly six years now!

If you aren't familiar with Eric Church and you have even a passing interest/tolerance in Country music, then you owe it to yourself to get acquainted with his music. Two of his songs, "Sinners Like Me" and "His Kind of Money (My kind of Love)" are absolutely fantastic and never even cracked the Country top 40 as singles, but definitely deserve a listen. As well as "Those I've Loved" which was never even released as a single, but is an excellent heartfelt ballad. Of course his latest single "Springsteen" is absolutely incredible and has been getting rave reviews and a ton of radio airplay.

It does puzzle me however, how the Country music industry and radio can be so slow to accept him. Yet on the other hand they are so quick to jump on the bandwagon of people like Luke Bryan who produces almost nothing, but crap. His second single "We rode in Trucks" was decent, it had a good first verse and decent chorus, but overall was too wordy and a little cliche'. He has gone steadily downhill since then with such duds as "Country Girl Shake It" and "Rain is a Good Thing." "Country Girl" has to be one of the worst Country songs of all time and pretty much re-enforces every negative stereotype about Country music. There is literally a line in the chorus imploring the "country girl" to shake her ass for "the catfish swimming down deep in the creek." Now I'm sure the catfish enjoyed it, but I did not. The video also seems to reveal Luke's taste for whorish women...errrrr....cuntry girls...Who tell us at the beginning about coming from a small town ("The audition process is never easy," some bimbo quips. "But it does get a whole lot easier when you fuck Luke Bryan!" Okay I admit I added that last part.) and they inform us at the end what they find appealing about the country lifestyle. Like we're that stupid...

At some level I get it. Luke Bryan is kind of a country pretty boy, he has sparkling eyes and the ladies love him. But his songs suck and he is an absolute chauvinist. Eric Church on the other hand is what I would describe as a "man's man." He is not the best looking guy, nor does he have the smoothest voice, but he sings amazing, to the point, heartfelt songs. I am glad to see him finally getting the recognition he deserves and at a larger level it gives me some hope for the genre as a whole. If we have to have artists like Luke Bryan at least there is room for people like Eric Church. Artists who may not be the flashiest or present the most sex appeal, but sing genuine American music that comes straight from the soul. If you haven't already, check out "Springsteen" by Eric Church. Its already up to #10 and could very well be his second #1 hit!