Eric Church Teases 2021 Tour
Eric Church. Photo: Reid Long
Eric Church hopes to return to the road before the end of the year. In a video message shared with fans, Church said, “We are working on a North American tour. We’re waiting for the right timing to officially announce all the details, but I want you to know that a tour is coming, and we are very excited to play new music for our old friends… I cannot wait to see you on the road.”
Friday (Feb. 5) Church also dropped a new song, “Lynyrd Skynyrd Jones,” from his forthcoming three-part project, Heart & Soul. The track is featured on the third album in the collection, Soul, set for release Friday, April 23. Meanwhile, Heart will be released Friday, April 16 and the Church Choir exclusive vinyl-only middle album, &, will be released Tuesday, April 20.
Church had this to say about his new story-song ballad, “‘Lynyrd Skynyrd Jones’ was such a tough one for us to get, but it ended up as one of my favorite performances of my career. Casey Beathard had written that song and I first played it laying back on my bed for a guitar vocal. I tried to play it the same way a thousand times after that, but there’s a way that song develops that we never could recapture–something about relaxing and laying back; there’s a lope to that song. I started to worry about the soul going away the more we tried, so Jay Joyce said, ‘let’s let Bryan Sutton have a shot at it.’ We let him hear it one time and then he was feeling it as we went. There’s some extra pauses and spaces in the back of the recording as he figured it out–I think that’s what makes that song. It’s compelling and that’s a lot to do with Brian and Jay.”
Church will take to the field in Tampa Bay on Sunday, Feb. 7 to perform the national anthem with R&B star Jazmine Sullivan ahead of Super Bowl LV. Following the game, he will perform as part of Verizon’s “Big Concert for Small Business” benefit, streaming live at 10 p.m. CT.
