Eric Church's 61 Days In Church is one of the most ambitious live packages to come out of country music in a while. And to celebrate Record Store Day (April 21), Church is releasing an exclusive LP of songs from the package. But if you want one, you better be quick. He's only releasing 2,500 copies.
For the unfamiliar, Church went on a massive 61-date tour in 2017. The shows quickly added to Church's lore. Many of the evenings tickled three hours in length. He often played without an opener.
He appropriately named it the "Holdin' My Own Tour." And he recorded all of it.
Church and his band also tailored songs to certain locations. Like performing the obvious "Portland, Oregon" (Loretta Lynn's duet with Jack White) in Portland. Or, you know, Randy Newman's "I Love L.A." in Los Angeles.
But he also offered inspired takes on some rock n' roll classics, like Pearl Jam's "Better Man" and the rare "cover of a cover." That's right, he pulled off a cover of Johnny Cash's cover of Soundgarden's "Rusty Cage."
The exclusive Record Store Day LP features both of them, along with several others. It's a great snipped from the entire project, which he slowly released over the course of the last quarter of 2017.
And while Eric Church fans obviously love the collection, it's a feat that should impress any music fan. Church recorded hundreds of hours of music for the full project. It's ambitious, even for somebody who very vocally worked outside the confines of traditional Music Row etiquette.
READ MORE: 15 Reasons Why Eric Church is a Badass
Early in his career, Church famously got booted from his gig opening for Rascal Flatts. He apparently played too loud and too long. Which makes the entire "Holdin' My Own Tour" that much more poetic. He also surprised everybody when he released his Mr. Misunderstood album during the CMA Awards directly to fans. With no press.
So in other words, the 61 Days In Church project feels like another great tip of the hat to his devoted fan base. Good luck and congratulations to the few lucky enough to snag a copy of the vinyl during Record Store Day.
