Eric Church recently dropped his long-awaited new song, “Through My Ray-Bans,” and it’s dedicated to the fans he performed for at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas.
Church had those fans in mind when he co-wrote the song alongside Luke Laird and Barry Dean. The superstar played that stage just two nights before tragedy struck when a gunman opened fire on the crowd, killing 58 people and wounding hundreds.
Just two days after what became the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, Church took the stage at the Grand Ole Opry and reflected on the Route 91 crowd and the impact that they had on him.
“I looked out there, at that crowd, in that place … I was so moved by it,” he said before performing the poignant “Why Not Me.” “I saw them with their hands in the air. I saw them with boots in the air. And what I saw, that moment in time was frozen.”
Although “Through My Ray-Bans” was written with the festival crowd in mind, the lyrics have taken on a whole new meaning in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the absence of live shows.
The lyrics paint a picture of the camaraderie that is felt at Church’s concerts and offers a message of unity.
“Everybody’s got their arms around everybody else’s shoulders / Guarding against the world outside like an army of Friday night soldiers / The battle wages tomorrow but tonight you don’t give a damn / Wish you could stay the way I see you through my Ray-Bans,” he sings.
Church first teased “Through My Ray-Bans” in April with a goosebump-inducing spoken-word message about the current state of the nation.
“I don’t believe in fear. I don’t believe in panic. I don’t believe, in all of its complexity, this damn virus has any idea what it’s up against: the American resolve, steeled by the world, steadied by faith, calmed by song, healed by prayer. Oh I believe; damn right I believe. I believe these halls will roar again. These stadiums will be deafening in the answer to this enemy. The silence of now will cower at the noise of soon … And I believe, I believe our best is yet to come. We shall rage. We shall roar. I cannot wait to see you again, through my Ray-Bans,” he said.
“Through My Ray-Bans” follows Church’s latest releases, “Stick That In Your Country Song,” “Bad Mother Trucker,” “Crazyland” and “Hell Of A View.” The tracks are expected to appear on Church’s yet-to-be-announced new album, which will serve as the follow-up to 2018’s Desperate Man.
