AIR DATE: FEB 2015

Outsiders radio with me, Eric Church. It’ll be a one-hour show once a month on Sirius/XM’s “The Highway.” I’m honored to be given the opportunity, actually I really can’t believe they’re giving me a microphone to do whatever the hell I want. Anyway, I hope we can share some cool music [and some] cool moments on the show, maybe a new perspective on people and places. We’ll figure it out together. Here we go.

This month marks the one-year anniversary of the release of The Outsiders album, and since they are calling this Outsiders Radio, I guess that’s right. So to set the tone, here is something I’m not supposed to play. I’ve said many times that it’s not just about how great the songs are, a record has to be a cohesive thing, it has to feel like it’s a part of the project. And one of my favorite songs that we’ve ever recorded was this song and Since I’m not supposed to play it, since this is my show and I get to do what I want I’m going to play something that didn’t make the record and is going to have the label freaking out, it’s called “Good for That.” Here it goes…

“Good for That” 3:13 – Eric Church

Well, shit that might be a hit. Moving on. I wrote tons of songs for this record, [um] easily over 100 songs. And I got to write with some really interesting cats. One of my favorites is this guy from New Orleans, Anders Osborne… here is a song from his album Living Room… it’s called “Had My Reasons.”

“Had My Reasons” 4:40 – Anders Osborne

Man, that dude. There’s very few people out there that you can listen to their music and you can really feel where they’re from, it’s just a part of the DNA. And Anders is just one of those guys, anybody that’s ever been to New Orleans, every time you hear him sing you feel like you’re walking down Bourbon Street. And I love that guy.

Another interesting cat is this ex-art teacher from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Yeah, lost his job, decided to sing… and thank God for that. His name is JD McPherson. He’s going to come out with us on a few dates this year. You are going to dig this. Take you back to 1957. Check this tune out.

“Let The Good Times Roll” 3:04 – JD McPherson

That reminds me, we’ve had some great bands on the Outsiders Tour this year… I should probably play some of their tunes right now. Here’s three in a row, Brother’s Osborne, Mr. Dwight Yoakam, and Ms. Brandy Clark—three of my favorites.

“Rum” 3:26 – Brother’s Osborne

“Fast as You” 4:48 – Dwight Yoakam

“Hungover” 3:56– Brandy Clark

Hey… we’re back. Which I don’t really know what it means I’ve always heard people say that and I’ve been sitting here the whole time so you’re back, I’ve been right here. So have you guys heard of The Drive By Truckers? You should go check out their music. I heard about them a long time ago, they had a song called “Modern” or album called Modern Rock Opera, and it just ripped me up outta my chair. Got a ton of balls, first album was a double album, put it out themselves. Sounds... sounds kinda like a Lynyrd Skynyrd narrative, and then it goes into this fictitious rock band called "Betamax Guillotine", whose story unfolds within the context of the South during the ‘70s. And as crazy as that sounds I swear to God it works. Check this out…

“Ronnie & Neil” 4:52 – Drive by Truckers

Good stuff, that’s good stuff right there. I should see if they want to come play on this tour… Ah, that’s right, we’re doing that. Oh, and one more thing, the front man of the Drive By Truckers is Patterson Hood. He’s David Hood’s kid, the famous Muscle Shoals bassist… played on so many of those great Muscle Shoals records—Boz Scaggs, Cat Stevens, Paul Simon, Bob Seger, Traffic, The Staple Singers, Etta James, Glen Fry, [good god] Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, Rod Stewert, Blackfoot, Percy Sledge, just stop, just stop. Why talk about it when I can just play it? Let’s do Wilson Pickett with Duane Allman on guitar, a young Duane Allman who snuck into the studio and slept on the couch. Listen for Duane… “Hey Jude.”

“Hey Jude” 4:07 –Wilson Pickett

“Night Moves” 5:26 – Bob Seger

Ah, a couple great songs by the legendary David Hood, Wilson Pickett’s version of “Hey Jude” from 1969 and Bob Seger, who I toured with early in my career, “Night Moves” from 1976. Spent some time, as I said, on the road with Seger, some of the best musicians I’ve been around. Here’s what I learned. Great music is great music. I remember coming across this band, Halestorm, and this girl, Lzzy Hale, who in my opinion has the most unique vocals of anybody in the world. It just, it absolutely slayed me. Her band is straight up hard rock, and I just loved it. She played some dates with us, as a matter of fact, one of my favorite moments every night in our show. Here’s the song that sucked me in. “Here’s to Us”… Halestorm.

“Here’s to Us” 2:57 - Halestorm

That is damn rock & roll. We’ve done a good bit of TV this year, and singing with Lzzy was a great time. Still, it’s not my favorite thing to do. I mean, if you’re gonna strap up, you might as well play a show right. But, a couple of cool things popped up. I think I did three kind of, I don’t know, I guess you would call them tribute shows. I showed up because the artists are cool and the bands are cool...And I got to play with some influences and heroes of mine that, for a kid from North Carolina that’s something that was beyond any dream I ever had. Let me play you a couple of tracks. Here’s one by Mavis Staples. The next one’s by the great Allman Brothers… Live from At the Fillmore East.

“Wrote a Song for Everyone” 3:47 – Mavis Staples

“Statesboro Blues” 4:18 – Allman Bros Live from At Fillmore East

There was Allman Brothers live from At the Fillmore East. A track from what may be one of, if not the best, live albums of all time… certainly on one hand...and as a guy whose career, you know, was built on the road, I got to play with them this year, the same year (2014) they played their last show at the legendary Beacon where they’ve had a residency in New York City for many years… just really something for me. And another living legend, Mavis Staples, from an album produced by Jeff Tweedy from Wilco… big Tweedy fan. That’s a Creedence Clearwater cover, and it was written by the great John Fogerty. So, again, back with our theme of really no genres and no rules here. We just, we do what we want.

That’s it. That’s all I got. I hope we can do it again. I’ve been fired before [laughs], you never know. I will leave you with this, in celebration of The Outsiders turning one, here’s the unedited title track. You can only get this on the vinyl, and of course, right here on Outsider’s Radio. ‘Til next time… I’ve had way more fun than I thought I’d have. See you guys later.

“The Outsiders” 5:09 – Eric Church (unedited version)

Eric Church hosts Outsiders Radio monthly on SiriusXM's The Highway. Eric explores his personal music influences and plays his current favorites. Church will also play exclusive, never before heard music from his own archives.

Outsiders Radio will air on the last Friday of every month at 10:00 pm ET via satellite on The Highway channel 56 and through the SiriusXM Internet Radio App on smartphones and other connected devices, as well as online at siriusxm.com. The show will also be rebroadcast on Mondays at 12:00 am ET and Wednesdays at 11:00 pm ET. Stream SiriusXM FREE for 30 Days. No credit card required. See Offer Details at www.siriusxm.com/freetrial. New SiriusXM Internet Radio subscribers only.