It may be the one that made him a superstar, but there’s another one that means even more.
Eric Church is 20 years into his career now, with 9 full studio albums under his belt (along with two EPs & and Caldwell County). And obviously I’m biased as a longtime Eric Church fan, but it’s hard to argue that he’s ever put out a “bad” album.
Of course there are some that are better than others, but there aren’t any albums that you can write off as a miss from the Chief. In fact, there are multiple albums that you could easily make the case for being one of the best albums of the last two decades, including his debut album Sinners Like Me and of course his breakout album Chief, which is consistently included on lists of the greatest country albums of all time.
Several artists have pointed to those two albums as their inspiration for their own careers, with Luke Combs and Hannah Dasher both crediting Sinners Like Me for getting them into country music, while country rocker HARDY has pointed to the single “Homeboy” from Chief as opening his eyes to what was possible for his own musical sound.
But Church also has albums like Carolina that gave us hits like “Smoke A Little Smoke” and fan favorites like “Those I’ve Loved,” “Lotta Boot Left To Fill,” and of course the title track “Carolina.” Desperate Man gave us the #1 hit “Some Of It” along with songs like the title track and “Drowning Man” that regularly still appear in Church’s live shows. And his Heart & Soul triple album was PACKED with songs that were either hits like “Heart On Fire” and “Hell of A View,” or should have been hits like “Russian Roulette,” “Mad Man,” “Heart Of the Night,” and so many others.
Then there’s Church’s latest album, which pushed the boundaries by including an orchestra, horn section and choir with powerful songs like “Johnny,” “Storm In Their Blood,” and “Darkest Hour.”
With all of those great albums though, my favorite (which, let’s be honest, is subject to change depending on my mood) is still Mr. Misunderstood.
The 2015 album was a surprise release from Church, originally mailed out to his Church Choir fan club members after being kept a secret even from his label. And top to bottom, I’d argue it’s Church’s strongest album to date, from the title track to songs like “Mixed Drinks About Feelings,” “Mistress Named Music,” and the mysterious “Knives Of New Orleans” that’s become a fan favorite.
It’s the album that’s currently sitting on my record player, despite being over a decade old at this point. And as it turns out, it’s also Church’s favorite album of his career so far.
Church recently hit the lake with Marshall Thundering Herd legend Randy Moss (I guess he’s an NFL legend too but as a Marshall alum and a West Virginia native myself I have to claim him for my alma mater) for his fishing series Chasing 10. The two spent the day ripping lips on the lake that Church has built on his property just outside of Nashville, discussing their respective careers in between reeling in smallmouth bass.
During the conversation, Moss revealed that his favorite Church album is Mr. Misunderstood. And in what came as a surprise to Randy, Church said it was also his favorite album he’s released too.
As Church explained:
“It’s the one that at that time in my life, I was a young dad then. There’s a song on there called Three Year Old, but at my son actually was three years old. So if I look at all the albums, it’s the one that was the most representative of who I was. That’s where, that time of my life, that was me. It was true, it was authentic.
Albums are kind of like kids, you like ’em all, but to this day Mr. Misunderstood is my favorite album.”
(The conversation quickly changed as Randy heard what he thought was a moose in the woods by Church’s lake. I don’t think we have those here in Tennessee, but who knows).
When you listen to Mr. Misunderstood, it’s easy to hear why Church feels that it’s the album that’s the most representative of his life at the time of its release. He was just coming off The Outsiders, which had a decidedly rock edge, and moving into parenthood for the first time. The music softened, with the album pulling more from the sounds of artists like Bob Seger and Bruce Springsteen than the influences of Metallica and AC/DC that could be heard on his last album. But there’s no doubt that Church had softened in his personal life too, from the hard-charging rock star to the dad who was focused on his family and his music.
Like I said, I don’t think Church has ever put out a “bad” album, and it’s hard to even point to a bad song in his entire body of work. (There might be one that I can think of, but last time I said I wasn’t really a fan of a particular song somebody called me out on it in front of Church…)
Overall though, I would still rank Mr. Misunderstood as my favorite album from the Chief, with Sinners Like Me not far behind.
It’s good to know that Church agrees with me too.
If you haven’t watched his entire fishing trip with Randy Moss, it’s well worth your time.
