Eric Church Releases Surprise Album, Mr. Misunderstood

NailTamie Nisan 30, 2021

Artist: Eric Church
Album: Mr. Misunderstood
Label: EMI Nashville
Release date: Nov. 4, 2015

Eric Church surprised fans this week with a surprise album release of an effort titled Mr.Misunderstood.

The album marks the fifth of Church’s career and is his first release since The Outsiders in 2014.

Rather than embrace the modern day technology to tease his surprise release, Church mailed out physical copies of the new record to members of his fan club Tuesday. The surprised fans were able to dive into the 10-track album before anyone else.

The new record is produced by Jay Joyce and executive producer Arturo Buenahora Jr. and is being released through Nashville-based EMI Records. The album opens with the title track and moves into a song called Mistress Named Music before closing with a song called Three Year Old.

Church said in a statement that the album was recorded using a guitar that his son named “Butter Bean.”

“My son names my guitars,” Church said. “He named the one that would make my fifth album ‘Butter Bean.’ I’ve always believed that instruments have stories to tell. It’s up to the keeper of the instrument to turn those stories into songs.”

Church said he wrote the first song for the new album late in the summer, and in the span of 20 days, he had 18 songs before hitting the studio to record the final 10 that would make the album 20 days later.

That recording process, Church said, was just 30 days ago. The record released to the public on Wednesday. Physical copies in the form of CD and vinyl as well as digital copies on iTunes are available now.

“It always takes me time to look for inspiration to make a new album,” Church said. “This time, inspiration came looking for me. Together, we found Mr. Misunderstood. Today, it’s yours.”