This past Friday Eric Church released new music for the first time since 2015 dropping a single titled ‘Desperate Man’ off the upcoming and just-announced album of the same name. Members of his fan club The Church Choir were able to stream the song starting Thursday.
The song tells the story of a man in need of some help. He’s tried everything from trips to Joshua Tree to prayer but eventually ends up at a fortune teller who tells him he has no future “at all.” However, he chooses not to listen to the “black heart gypsy”. That interaction with a fortune teller actually happened to co-writer Ray Wylie Hubbard. As Hubbard explained on Twitter “eric said lets (sic) write about a desperate man. i said i once was so desperate i went to a fortune teller to get my future read and she said i didn’t have one. he smiled, laid down a groove and we rode it to town..”
The song starts out with a funky riff before going into a swampy southern rock. The song is unique, very different from mainstream popular country music today. The first listen left us pondering what we just heard, the 2nd had us tapping our feet and by the third we were all but dancing. The song is great through headphones but will certainly be even better live. Both in its sound, and in that respect, it reminds us of a slightly lighter version ‘Chattanooga Lucy’ off of Church’s ‘Mr. Misunderstood’ album. In Thursday’s live stream, Church signed off with “I look forward to seeing you on the road,” so we hope we’ll have an opportunity to do hear it live soon. During the live stream, an album also titled ‘Desperate Man‘ was announced for 10/5 release.
Church has always taken care of his fans and with this past week’s announcements its clear that is going to continue. To get a free or paid membership to The Church Choir, or just to check out tour dates be sure to visit ericchurch.com
Favorite Lyric: Fortuneteller told me ‘No more last chances- You got no future at all.’ Oh but I ain’t listenin’ to black-hearted gypsy…