Eric Church has never been one to hold back his opinion and his new single, “Stick That In Your Country Song,” holds true to that.
Released Thursday (June 25), “Stick That In Your Country Songs” finds Church challenging his fellow country artists to step up to write and sing about things that matter. From social turmoil to military homecomings to “underpaid” and “overworked” teachers, Church is sending a message to songwriters to sing about real-world issues.
“Drop me off in Baltimore/ Where every other window’s got a plywood board/ Where dreams become drugs and guns/ The only way out is to shoot or run,” he sings.
In the chorus, the superstar directly addresses his fellow artists: “Stick that in your country song/ Take that one to number one/ Get the whole world singing along/ Stick that in your country song.”
In a recent interview with his record label, Church revealed that he had originally selected a different single to lead off his next project, however, as the times began to change, it was clear that this was the message he wanted to deliver.
“I’ve never had a song in my career that was a harbinger of things to come. When we recorded ‘Stick That in Your Country Song,’ we had a booming economy and a pretty great world going on. And I remember thinking when I did it, ‘Wow, I’m not sure this, I’m not sure how relevant this is for right now. I love the song. I love the sentiment, but I’m just not sure,’ he explained. “And within about 30 days, the world changed, and it changed for a while, and this song just became more and more real and more and more relevant. And truth be told – 100% honesty – I had a different single picked out as the first single, and then the world kept changing and it kept bringing itself almost like a magnet back to this song and back to this moment. So, this song found itself. It wasn’t me finding it, it found itself.”
Church co-wrote “Stick That In Your Country Song” with Davis Naish and Jeffrey Steele. The unapologetic anthem is the lead release from his much-anticipated new album, which will serve as the follow-up to 2018’s Desperate Man.
