Eric Church loves exploring new musical directions, which is part of the reason he's so smitten with Taylor Swift's 1989 album. During an interview with Rolling Stone, the singer-songwriter raved about the talented young superstar.

"If you look at her career, she’s in a space that, historically, I don’t know that anybody’s ever been in," he says. "Everybody always compares her to Madonna, but I don’t know, man. Madonna at 25, was she at this spot? No, I don’t think so, especially if you look at what she’s done in country prior to kind of moving into pop. She has such a unique career and she’s so young and it’s gonna be really cool to see where that goes. I’m looking forward to it.”

Although some country music fans had misgivings about Swift pursuing a pop career, Church thinks it was an excellent decision. “I thought that what she did with the pop album was the most brilliant thing. And I totally get why she did it — it completely and totally makes everybody out there go, ‘What the hell is next?’ It was such a departure, and it was so fresh that she’s opened up the whole field," he notes. "Speaking with a promoter last night, I said, 'I totally relate to that.'"

Church is no stranger to music that explores new horizons. His 2014 album The Outsiders was a strong departure from his earlier music. "You know, for the Chief album, I felt a little bottled in because of the success of that and it was the first commercial success we had that I feel like now we’ve been able to widen it back out and I can just go be a songwriter," he says. "Whatever happens happens."

For more information about Church's upcoming tour dates, visit his website. 

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