Chief has done it again.
Full disclosure, I’ve been a die-hard Eric Church fan since the first time I saw him live back in 2007 or 2008 (I was in college so all those years are a little blurry) playing a 500-seat amphitheater in West Virginia. He’s one of my favorite artists of all time, I’ve seen him live well over a dozen times, have all his records, and I’ve written before about how his music helped me during the darkest time of my life.
All that to say, fair warning, this isn’t exactly going to be an unbiased review, but if you’re like me and you’re a fan of Eric Church, you’re going to love his newest single “Hands of Time.”
The second single from his just-announced upcoming album Evangeline vs. The Machine, “Hands of Time” finds Church turning to music to help him return to a moment in time, a memory in his own life, with the songs serving as anchors that help him “handle the hands of time.”
“Detroit built brakes so that they could make a Chevy slow down
And a just-right midnight ‘sorry’ might turn goodbye around
Bloody Mary’s and aspirin will give a hangover one hell of a fight
But my remedy for handling the hands of time
Is Seger singing Hollywood Nights
Even the losers get lucky sometimes
A Paradise By the Dashboard Light
And I’m just fine, I’m doin’ alright
We ain’t as young as we used to be
But young at heart is so easy
When you let some loud guitars and words that rhyme
Handle the hands of time”
The song is filled with references to classic hits that mark moments in time in his own life, from Bob Seger’s “Hollywood Nights,” Tom Petty’s “Even the Losers,” AC/DC’s “Back in Black” and “You Shook Me All Night Long” and Waylon and Willie’s “Luckenbach, Texas” to “Amazing Grace” and “Sunday Morning Coming Down.”
And Church says it’s all about using music to help him deal with getting older, and for just a moment, go back to the person that he was when that snapshot was taken in his own life:
“As I get older, I’m looking for things that make me feel not as old. I can honestly say that when I hear music or see something from my past, I feel like I did then; I relate to what it was then. I really believe that a good way to handle that is with music.”
Written by Church along with Scooter Carusoe, who has another Church cut with “Higher Wire” from his 2018 Desperate Man album, the song features not only his longtime background vocalist Joanna Cotten but also a choir and horns that separate it sonically from anything we’ve heard from Church before.
And while it’s a new sound from Church, it’s not so different that it feels unfamiliar or like a complete 180 from what his fans are used to. It takes risks and pushes the boundaries without feeling like a departure from what his fans have grown to love about Church’s sound.
There are elements of Desperate Man and Heart & Soul, as well as times that I’m reminded of his earlier songs, like “Ain’t Killed Me Yet” or “Without You Here” from his Carolina album. And honestly, that’s one thing I love about Eric Church as an artist: Each album manages to feel different, yet familiar at the same time. It’s a fine line, and one that Church has managed to walk masterfully throughout his career.
But one thing that hasn’t changed throughout his two-decade career has been the focus on songwriting. I’m convinced there’s not a more underrated songwriter in Nashville than Eric Church, and lines like “a just-right midnight sorry might turn goodbye around” just prove that nobody in mainstream country music comes close to Church’s mastery of song lyrics.
Overall, the song serves as a worthy preview of the upcoming album, which will be Church’s first full-length project since his 2021 Heart & Soul triple album.
It’s actually the second song we’ve gotten from Evangeline vs. The Machine, after Church decided to release “Darkest Hour” in the wake of Hurricane Helene to benefit his home state of North Carolina. And speaking on the new album, Church says he goes into each project with an eye on creating something unique and unlike anything he’s done before:
“I’ve always let creativity be the muse. It’s been a compass for me. The people that I look up to in my career and the kind of musicians I gravitate to never did what I thought they were going to do next – and I love them for it.
I never want our fans to get an album and go, ‘Oh, that’s like Chief or that’s like this.’ Painstakingly, I lose sleep at night to try to make sure that whatever we do creatively, they go, ‘Wow, that’s not what I thought.’ I think that’s my job as an artist.”
If the rest of the album is like “Hands of Time,” I think we can go ahead and declare that mission an overwhelming success.
Evangeline vs. The Machine Track List
1. Hands Of Time (Eric Church, Scooter Carusoe)
2. Bleed On Paper (Tucker Beathard, Casey Beathard, Monty Criswell)
3. Johnny (Eric Church, Luke Laird, Brett Warren)
4. Storm In Their Blood (Eric Church)
5. Darkest Hour (Eric Church)
6. Evangeline (Eric Church, Luke Laird, Barry Dean)
7. Rocket’s White Lincoln (Eric Church)
8. Clap Hands (Tom Waits)