A glitch in the machine…
Earlier today, eagle-eyed international Apple Music users noticed a new Eric Church album had popped up on the streaming service.
Of course we were the first to report it, but others quickly picked up on the news – and now that the cat’s out of the bag, Church is confirming it himself.
In an email sent to his fan club members, the Church Choir, the new album called Evangeline vs. The Machine will be available on May 2:
“It’s been a while since we put out an album. Almost five years, to be exact. But I’m extremely proud of this one. We’ve always prided ourselves on challenging ourselves creatively so that we can give you the kind of product that we think you deserve, and we did that this time – and we had fun in the process.”
Apparently the news of the album wasn’t supposed to get out quite yet, but after it was leaked, Church wanted to make sure that his fan club members heard it straight from him:
“Earlier today album information that was scheduled for a later time escaped from the machine. We are monitoring the situation to ensure that, as always, you get important information first.”
The album has 8 songs, including the already-released “Darkest Hour” and the upcoming single “Hands of Time,” which is set to be released tonight. It also contains “Johnny,” a powerful new song that Church performed during his To Beat the Devil residency at his Nashville bar, Chief’s, and performed publicly for the first time during CRS last month.
Church first confirmed that he had a new album in the works last year, in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, when he dropped the surprise new single “Darkest Hour” to benefit North Carolina:
“I was in the studio for a project next year. Kinda doing what we always do, which is trying to be different and challenge myself creatively. Playing with an orchestra and symphony and choir, doing some really interesting stuff.”
As Chief said, it’s been a few years now since we’ve gotten a new project from Chief, who last released a full-length album in 2021 with his Heart & Soul triple album. Of course he’s also been busy with plenty of other projects, including his Nashville bar, Chief’s, his whiskey line, Whiskey JYPSI, and most importantly, his charity work in his home state of North Carolina.
Recently, Church and his team announced that through his foundation Chief Cares and the money they raised during their star-studded Concert For Carolina, they had purchased land outside of Newland in Avery County to build at least 40 homes for those who lost everything during Hurricane Helene.
They’re set to break ground on the project this April, and they’re targeting for 100 homes to be move in-ready by June, with keys in hand for the new owners. In fact, the foundation even opened a full-blown office in Newland.
Recently, The Avery Times also confirmed that Chief Cares opened an office that is located at the Newland Town Hall, where they will work on applications and the rest of the process for those receiving homes as they get closer to being build. Chief Cares team members will be their daily from 9 a.m to 1 p.m., for anyone who has questions or interest in the project.
Hurricane Helene made landfall in western Florida in September, and here we are now in March, and the devastation is still overwhelming, particularly in western North Carolina. The Category 4 hurricane brought sustained winds over 100 miles per hour, and mostly as a result of the flooding that followed, over 230 people people lost their lives. More than half of them in North Carolina.
Eric Church is of course a North Carolina native, and he immediately stepped up and released “Darkest Hour,” signing over all the rights to the song to the people of North Carolina. Then, he teamed up with fellow North Carolina native and country music superstar, Luke Combs, for the aforementioned Concert for Carolina, an all-star charity show at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. The two were able to raise a whopping $24 million for those affected by the storm.
The project is officially titled “Blueprint for the Blue Ridge,” and Eric said this about it:
“Any time a community needs help, it’s always the community next door that comes running to help. And there are no communities next door. They’ve all been devastated. So we’ve made it our mission at Chief Cares that we’re going to be the community next door…
We’re going to go and keep those people in their community, put a roof over their head, let ’em interact with their community, let ’em be a part of their community, and let ’em help rebuild the community.
It goes way beyond 100 homes. I hope it’s a lot of homes. A lot more than 100 homes. I hope it’s about building the businesses and building the community back. That’s what we’re committing to at Chief Cares, and we would love your help.”
He also talked about how special the area is to him personally:
“I’ve wrote every album of my career but one in Avery county, right here. So creatively it’s been real special to me, but spiritually it’s the place that my soul’s at rest. It’s the place that I get away from what I do in the world to come here and recharge. So it’s the most special place in the world to me, the mountains of this area.”
Eric has a home in Avery County himself, so obviously this is all very personal to him. In fact, the project would’ve actually been done sooner had winter weather not delayed the build, but they also had to have engineers come in to look at everything and lay new roads, as well as sewer and water lines. The new neighborhood is also expected to have a community center and hiking trails.
Luckily, Church was able to find time to drop a new album amidst everything else he’s got going on – and from what I’ve heard so far, it’s going to be a good one.
