The past seven months have been pretty incredible for Eric Church, who has watched his career emerge from the middle of a pack of male country stars to arena headliner status just since the release of his third album, “Chief,” last July. That album took the industry by surprise when it debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200, in addition to holding the top spot on the Top Country Albums chart for two weeks.

During that same seven-month period, Church has enjoyed three other firsts in his life: He was nominated for his first Grammy Award, his first CMA Award, and became a first-time father when son Boone (pictured below) was born last fall.

And just since the beginning of this year, he’s landed his first No. 1 single, “Drink In My Hand,” and been nominated for album and video (“Homeboy”) of the year at the Academy of Country Music Awards, where last year he won the new solo vocalist of the year prize. Prior to his first No. 1 last month, Church had previously scored just two top 10 singes at country radio, 2009’s “Love Your Love The Most” and 2010’s Hell On The Heart.”

His first headlining arena tour, the Blood, Sweat & Beers tour, kicked off last month, and will encompass 50 shows, but he plans to take a quick break from touring this weekend to attend the Grammy Award in Los Angeles, where he is up for best country album.

He spoke with Stark Country about all the changes in his career, his life, and what’s next.


Q. How does it feel to be a Grammy nominee?
A. It’s just been a crazy year. I think people will look back on our career as pre-“Chief,” “Chief” and after-“Chief.” It’s been an amazing record and an amazing ride. The Grammy is the Holy Grail, It’s Fort Knox. If you want an award, you want a Grammy, and if you want a Grammy, you want the Grammy for album of the year. It’s the most coveted, so it’s quite an honor. It’s my first nomination, and I’m looking forward to kind of taking it all in.

Q. So you’ll be there?
A. I don’t have any expectations, but I’m going to go. I haven’t had any expectations all year. We put the record out and never thought it would be No. 1. Anything that’s happened [in the last] year has far exceeded anything I thought would happen, so I’m just going to continue seeing where this record takes us, and continue riding this path.

Q. How much fun was it for you when the album debuted at No. 1 and all the conversation among critics and people who don’t follow country music was “Who is this Eric Church guy?”
A. A lot of fun. We were in New York and everybody was talking about Adele and Kelly Rowland, and everybody was kind of jockeying for who would be the No. 1 album, and when we came out No. 1—pretty loudly—I loved that everybody out there was [asking] "Who in the hell is Eric Church?" I thought that should have been its own ad.

Everybody kept saying ‘You can’t do it the way we’ve done it. You can’t get to that No. 1 spot. You can’t sell those records doing it this way anymore.’ So it really restored my faith in music and the industry that it could still be done that way. There are ways to break through if you don’t have No. 1 singles at radio. You don’t have a lot of TV exposure and media exposure, but you can still get it done if it’s good music and it’s authentic and you’re passionate about it. You take it to the road and let your fans have it.

Q. How’s fatherhood so far. Do you feel like it’s changed you?
A. Everybody keeps asking me that, and… I don’t really analyze that as of right now. I know it’s going to change me. I just don’t know how it affects me musically. I’ve got a ways to go on that one. But it’s been great. The schedule is unbelievable. It’s 24/7, full time. I knew that, but you don’t [really] know it until you go through it… [But] it’s been fun getting to know him and we’ve had a lot of fun at home.

Q. So fatherhood hasn’t influenced your songwriting just yet?
A. I put so much into “Chief,” that I’ve not even written [for the next album], really. I emptied the tank on that one, so it’s going to be a while before I get that going… I haven’t even thought about writing yet. I’m taking a pretty extended break from the writing process.

Q. Given how well “Chief” did, are you thinking of going back to that cabin in the woods where you wrote it?
A. Maybe just for superstitious purposes. I think that’s what made this record unique. I’d love to maybe figure out what’s going to make the next record unique and, again, we’re early in the cycle. We’re on the second single for “Chief,” and we’re talking about doing five or six singles on this record because it’s a success, so we’ve got a lot of time before we have to figure out exactly what is next and how we’re going to tackle that next challenge.

Q. Your current single, “Springsteen,” made Rolling Stone’s top singles of the year list before it even was a single.
A. That’s what’s been so unique about “Chief,” it made NPR’s records of the year, Rolling Stone’s records of the year, Spin magazine, so it’s in places that country records usually aren’t and being recognized. I love that it’s got that width. It’s very wide across the industry and across different genres… It’s quite an honor that it’s not just people in the format that are exposed to this. I think it bodes well and gives me a lot of excitement for where we go from here.

Q. That puts a lot of pressure on your shoulders, though, to be the only country artist a lot of people may be listening to.
A. I still think there’s a lot of stigma out there about country music and about what we do. If people hear that record and like it, and they decide to come check out some of the other stuff that’s really cool, I think it’s OK. If they don’t like it, you’re right, some of them may hate the whole format. So I’m hoping I can make them check out some other stuff.

Q. What are fans seeing on the new tour?
A. It’s our first arena headline tour. It’s very in your face like our shows always been. It’s my job to figure out how to create the same passion and energy that people feel in these clubs and theaters in a place that’s really big.

Q. How do you do that?
A. A lot of it is still keeping it about the music. I think sometimes people tackle that from a different angle [like] ‘How much stuff can I blow up’ or ‘How many different things can I do?’ Yes, there’s an element of that, because it’s entertainment, and you’re competing with a lot of different people, to give them value for their money. But I still think it comes down to [whether] the people in the front impart that passion all the way back. If people can feel it from the front row to the back row because of the music, and because of the way the fans are interacting with the music, then I think that’s what gives the show uniqueness.

I watched Bob Seger when we toured with him. He had sound. He had lights. He walked out there and stood in front of a microphone, and I watched people from the front row to the very top of that arena lose their minds over every song—fists in the air, they never sat down. I learned a lesson. He had no video screens and people who probably had binoculars to see went nuts. For us, it’s a matter of that balance of keeping it about the music and still providing an experience that’s maybe a little more in your face and rock and roll than what most shows will be [this] year.

Q. Why did you choose Brantley Gilbert to go on tour with you?
A. Brantley’s a guy that came up the same way. He built a very impressive fan base in bars and clubs before he had any radio success or any real exposure. I know how hard that is, so I have a lot of respect for that. What’s funny is a couple of years ago he got on my radar because a lot of bars and clubs where we held attendance records in the Southeast, he started breaking them. Some of those records I thought would stand forever. When the Blood, Sweat & Beers tour was born, I though it was fitting for him to be one of the guys who’d go out with us.

Q. Does that make you feel competitive when he’s out there breaking your records?
A. Sure, I love that. I think that’s great. When I was in that [opening] spot, I went out there to step on it and pushed that pedal all the way to the wall if I could. I think that’s healthy and good. The show’s better for the fans if it’s that way. I should feel that every night, because I’m going to bring it up another notch.