Eric Church Slates New Album, ‘Evangeline Vs. The Machine,’ For May Release

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Eric Church. Photo: Robby Klein

Country icon Eric Church has announced his new album, Evangeline vs. The Machine, releasing May 2 via EMI Records Nashville. The eight-song project marks Church’s first new album since 2021’s Heart & Soul trilogy.

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“An album is a snapshot in time that lasts for all time,” Church shares of the creative approach behind the highly-anticipated new project. “I believe in that time-tested tradition of making records that live and breathe as one piece of art—I think it’s important.

“I’ve always let creativity be the muse. It’s been a compass for me,” he adds. “The people that I look up to in my career and the kind of musicians I gravitate to never did what I thought they were going to do next—and I love them for it. I never want our fans to get an album and go, ‘Oh, that’s like Chief or that’s like this.’ Painstakingly, I lose sleep at night to try to make sure that whatever we do creatively, they go, ‘Wow, that’s not what I thought.’ I think that’s my job as an artist.”

Evangeline vs. The Machine features the previously-released “Darkest Hour,” a track Church used to support relief efforts in his home state of North Carolina after Hurricane Helene, donating all of his publishing royalties to the cause. Also included is “Johnny,” a soul-stirring reinterpretation inspired by “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” and the Covenant School tragedy. Church has offered limited previews of the track during his “Chief’s To Beat The Devil” residency and at the recent Country Radio Seminar, leaving audiences in awe.

The album’s lead single, “Hands Of Time,” which will be shipped to country radio on March 24.

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“As I get older, I’m looking for things that make me feel not as old,” Church explains of the track. “I can honestly say that when I hear music or see something from my past, I feel like I did then; I relate to what it was then. I really believe that a good way to handle that is with music.”

Evangeline vs. The Machine Track List:
1. “Hands Of Time” (Eric Church, Scooter Carusoe)
2. “Bleed On Paper” (Tucker Beathard, Casey Beathard, Monty Criswell)
3. “Johnny” (Eric Church, Luke Laird, Brett Warren)
4. “Storm In Their Blood” (Eric Church)
5. “Darkest Hour” (Eric Church)
6. “Evangeline” (Eric Church, Luke Laird, Barry Dean)
7. “Rocket’s White” Lincoln (Eric Church)
8. “Clap Hands” (Tom Waits)

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