Eric Church released his latest album, Evangeline vs. the Machine, on May 2, giving fans another facet of the 48-year-old singer’s music to experience. The 8-track project features a choir, horns, strings and more, all contributing to a different feel that Church says is the point of each new album he makes.
Speaking to Willie Geist on the Sunday Sit Down podcast, Church shared that he has “always” tried to challenge his fans. “To me as an artist, it’s my job when you make an album that you’re not just making another album that could have been tied on to something else,” he said. “I want some jarring moments. I want some things that make ’em go, ‘Whoa, I didn’t think we were heading there.’”
Evangeline vs. the Machine consists of eight songs proving that Church is never one to release the same album twice, and when it came to approaching this project, the North Carolina native looked back hundreds of years for inspiration.
“When it came to this album, we’ve been out a while. We’ve done a lot of things. We’ve made a lot of albums,” he explained. “Orchestra, choir, those things intrigue me because it’s the oldest form of music, right? Strings and horns. You can go back to Mozart I was intrigued by, in a world that’s going more and more technological, we’re going more into the tracks and how we make music, going back hundreds of and seeing if it would work.”
“For me in my career, creativity’s been the thing that I’ve always leaned into,” Church added. “Anytime that I’m not sure where my gut is, I always go to the creative side. And on this one, it’s creative.”
Church will support his new project on the road with his Free The Machine Tour, and as with every Church tour, he wanted to make the experience a unique one for his fans. This time, that means bringing a full orchestra on the road.
“We’re having an orchestra with us on stage, and they’re going to be playing not only Evangeline vs. The Machine, but they’re going to join all our other songs,” he shared with Country Now, adding that he plans to have the show move through multiple phases beginning with the grand scale of an orchestra before transitioning into Church and his band and ultimately ending acoustically.
“So the show will start in a big way, orchestra wise, and then we’ll move into an OG world, which is kind of the band and Joanna [Cotten], and then I’ll probably end up ending it acoustic,” he said. “So we’ll do the whole thing big to small, which people have never seen us do it that way.”
And, naturally, no two nights will have the same set list. “And then the songs always change,” Church promised. “I always change ‘em.”
The Free The Machine Tour begins on September 12 in Pittsburgh and visits arenas in Boston, Lexington, Indianapolis, Boise and more through its two-month run before wrapping in Inglewood, California on November 15. Church will be joined by Elle King, Marcus King Band and Charles Wesley Godwin for various dates throughout the trek.
