‘Catch of the Day’ – Eric Church – “Record Year” [AUDIO]

Today's spotlight falls on an artist, born and raised in Granite Falls, North Carolina, who picked up his first guitar at age 13, and almost immediately started writing songs.

Eric Church was playing local bars and restaurants by the time he entered high school, playing original songs and Jimmy Buffett covers. While in college at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC, Church formed his first band, The Mountain Boys, with his roommate, brother and a friend that also played guitar. Church graduated ASU with a business degree, but his mind was set on his music. So much, that he broke off his engagement when his fiance's father offered him a "corporate" job and Eric turned it down to concentrate on his music. With his father's financial backing and contacts, Church headed to Nashville to write songs.

Church's first success as a songwriter was Terri Clark's 2005 #1 single "The World Needs A Drink". The success of the single allowed him to experiment with different recording techniques with different producers. While Capitol Records was interested in signing Church, they didn't pull the trigger until 2006, when he started working with producer Jay Joyce. His debut album, Sinners Like Me, was released later in the year and featured 3 top-20 singles, "How 'Bout You", "Pink Lines" and "Guys Like Me", while the title track peaked at #51.

Church's second album, Carolina, was originally scheduled to be released in early 2008, but when "His Kind Of Money (My Kind of Love)", originally intended to be the album's lead single, was instead added as a bonus track to a deluxe release of Sinners Like Me, the album was pushed back. "Love Your Love The Most" was instead named as the lead single and was released in early 2009. It proved to be a good decision as the single became Church's first top-ten, leading the way for two more top-10 singles, "Hell On The Heart" and "Smoke A Little Smoke" all three singles peaked at #10.

Church's big break-through came with his third album, 2011's Chief. The album, his first platinum album, featured five singles "Homeboy", "Drink In My Hand", "Springsteen", "Creepin" and "Like Jesus Does" all received gold single certification, with "Drink In My Hand" and "Springsteen" becoming his first two #1 singles as an artist. In 2014, Church continues his success with The Outsiders, his second platinum album, which also feature five singles, including two more #1's "Give Me Back My Hometown" and "Talladega", as well as the top-10 hits "Like A Wrecking Ball" and the album's title track.

It always takes me time to look for inspiration to make a new album. This time inspiration came looking for me. Together we found "Mr. Misunderstood". Eric Church on his latest album

In interviews during his Outsiders tour, Church said numerous times he was going to take some time off after the tours end, and that his next album was somewhere off on the distant horizon. That's why the Country music world was shocked when he performed "Mr. Misunderstood" at the 2015 CMA Award show, and a commercial immediately following his performance announced the album, of which the song was the title track, would be released the next day. A vinyl copy of the album was made only to existing members of his fan club, The Church Choir.

The second single from Church's fifth studio album is in our spotlight today. Eric Church and "Record Year" is today's Catch of the Day, new music you haven't heard, but you'll want to hear it again.