Country Music Jesus

Album: Chief (2011)
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Songfacts®:

  • This song finds Church declaring there is room for new sounds in Country music. It was written by the singer with Jeremy Spillman, who also co-penned his "Hell On The Heart" single.
  • Church told The Boot he was stirred to pen the tune by Country traditionalists who don't want the format to evolve. He explained: "There were a couple reporters, critics who kept saying, 'We need a country music Jesus to save the format.' When I read that I thought that's the biggest crock I've ever heard. It's one of my pet peeves. I get tired of people who in this day and time keep looking for people like those outlaws, those iconic figures. If we're making the same music as Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash and Hank Williams, why not just listen to that? They didn't do the music before them, they completely changed. And down the line, Garth, Shania, they also changed the format. You have to be continually changing or evolving. That's what's healthy about music. You take your influences and you put another twist on them. I grew up listening to AC/DC, Metallica, Bob Seger, Tom Petty, and I took those influences and made them my own."

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