Eric Church is an American country music singer-songwriter from Granite Falls, North Carolina. After graduating from Appalachian State University with a business degree in 2000, Eric became engaged to a Spanish teacher from Lenior, NC whose father attempted to deter his musical aspirations by offering him a corporate career in Denver. After turning down her father’s offer, Church’s ex-fiance broke the engagement, giving Church motivation to move to Nashville and begin focusing solely on his music. Recollections of this turning point in Church’s life are heard throughout his lyrical portfolio (most prominently in “Those I’ve Loved”).

After a period of being overlooked by record labels and producers, Church was eventually signed to Capitol Records in 2006, making his debut with the album, Sinners Like Me. The album produced four singles on the Billboard Country Chart, “How ‘Bout You,” “Two Pink Lines,” “Guys Like Me,” and the album’s title track.

His second album, 2009’s Carolina, produced three more singles: “Smoke a Little Smoke,” “Love Your Love the Most,” and “Hell on the Heart.”

In July of 2011, Church released his first number one album, Chief, which produced the several hits, including “Homeboy,” “Drink in My Hand” (his first No. 1 single), and “Springsteen” (his second No. 1 single).

Church’s 4th studio album, The Outsiders, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 charts and stands as the best-selling country album of 2014. The album boasts five Top 10 Hot Country Songs Chart achievers with the album’s title track, “The Outsiders,” “Give Me Back My Hometown,” “Talladega,” “Cold One,” and “Like A Wrecking Ball.”

USA Today music critic Brian Mansfield gave the album a perfect rating (4/4 stars), proclaiming:

The Outsiders steps far outside country music’s safety zone: it’s adventurous and outrageous, full of metallic guitars and funky country skronk but also expresses vulnerability and pain.

On November 3rd, 2015, Eric Church and EMI Records Nashville released their fifth studio album, Mr. Misunderstood.

All Music’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave the album a 4.5/5 stars-rating, lauding Church’s ability to:

[Create] his own Americana, pulling from the classic rock wallpapering Middle America and the modern country that runs through the sports bars of the suburbs, making nods to swamp funk and soul along the way, but when he tips his cap to Elvis Costello, Ray Wylie Hubbard, and Jeff Tweedy, it’s as telling as the Jackson Pollock allusion a few lines later: where other country is provincial, Church embraces the world without repudiating his home.