Evangeline Vs. the Machine will be available on March 2nd
Eric Church once again offers a unique live experience with an exclusive pair of shows set for May 23 and 24 at Nashville’s newest live music venue, The Pinnacle, in celebration of the release of his highly anticipated May 2nd album, Evangeline vs. The Machine.
Tickets to Evangeline vs. The Machine Live go on sale to premium Church Choir members Monday, March 31st at 10 am CT.
The one-off shows will see Church perform the new album in sequence for the first time, while also treating fans to a number of compelling performances of his most iconic hits. A self-proclaimed “album artist,” Church has always championed the power of cohesive storytelling, and Evangeline vs. The Machine is no exception. “An album is a snapshot in time that lasts for all time,” Church shares of the creative approach behind the highly-anticipated new project. “I believe in that time-tested tradition of making records that live and breathe as one piece of art – I think it’s important.”
“I’ve always let creativity be the muse. It’s been a compass for me,” he adds. “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.”
Lead single “Hands Of Time” is already impressing, having set a new personal record en route to becoming most added at country radio this week with 135 first-week stations.
Among the other songs featured on the forthcoming Jay Joyce-produced album is “Darkest Hour,” released ahead of the project to support relief efforts following the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene in September 2024, with all of Church’s publishing royalties donated to provide ongoing funds in support of a more resilient future for his home state of North Carolina.
Also included is “Johnny,” a soul-stirring reinterpretation inspired by “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” and the Covenant School tragedy, which Church has previewed in limited settings at both his Chief’s To Beat The Devil residency and the recent Country Radio Seminar, leaving audiences in awe. “About a year ago, we had a shooting here in Nashville at the Covenant School,” he explained when introducing the song during CRS. “Where my kids go to school, my two boys, is about a mile from that school. I will tell you something, the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life – parent or otherwise – is dropping them off at that school the day after the shooting and watching them walk inside. I sat in the parking lot for a long time, and as fate would have it, as I was pulling out, Charlie Daniels was playing, ‘The Devil Went Down to Georgia.’ I remember thinking, man, we could use Johnny right now, because the Devil’s not in Georgia, he’s everywhere. I went home and wrote ‘Johnny’.”
On May 23rd and 24th, for the FIRST TIME EVER, Eric will perform his newest album Evangeline vs. The Machine, along with a number of his most iconic hits, for two special nights ONLY at Nashville’s newest venue, @ThePinnacleNash
Tickets are available to Premium Church… pic.twitter.com/k9TbMYyaTp
— Eric Church (@ericchurch) March 28, 2025
