Eric Church Joined Willie Geist on ”Sunday TODAY" Ahead of 'Evangeline vs. The Machine' Release This Friday 5/2

April 28, 2025

As the release of his highly anticipated new album Evangeline vs. the Machine approaches this Friday, May 2, Eric Church sat down with Willie Geist on NBC’s “Sunday TODAY.” The two discussed Church’s nearly two-decade journey defined by consistent risk-taking and rule-breaking as he enters a bold new chapter with his most sonically ambitious project yet. Watch the in-depth and wide-ranging conversation HERE, and hear the full, extended interview via the “Sunday Sitdown” podcast HERE.

“In the day we live in now, with all the social media… you can release a song on Tuesday, another song on Friday, another song on Tuesday,” explained Church in the feature. “I’m an album artist, always have been, and I think we’ve gotten away from that now. The ‘machine’ is consumption; the ‘machine’ is the world we live in – and the interesting thing about ‘Evangeline’ is it’s kind of creativity versus the machine, and ‘Evangeline’ represents that creativity.”

Reflecting later in the interview on a short span that included performing at the Route 91 Harvest Festival that was tragically impacted by a mass shooting, then facing a life-threatening blood clot and the death of his brother, Church notes, “You can listen to the music, maybe, and you can see that I was brash, arrogant in a lot of ways. But it changes when you have those things happen to you, and I think it made the music more humble, and maybe more observant.”

Church further expanded on the album’s themes during a separate appearance on “The Steam Room” podcast with basketball icons Charles Barkley and Ernie Johnson, noting, “Everything I look at today involves kids on iPads and kids doing whatever they do on ‘machines,’ and it’s a little bit of a crux between creativity versus the ‘machine’ that tries to manipulate that creativity.” Hear the full conversation HERE.

Driven by that sense of artistic purpose, Evangeline vs. the Machine expands the legacy of one of country music’s most fearless storytellers. Anchored by lead single “Hands of Time” – which debuted as the most-added song at Country radio and earned Church a new personal record for first-week impact with 135 stations – the album is available to pre-order/pre-save HERE.

Following the release, Church will bring the new music and his esteemed catalog to life onstage with a run of high-profile shows, beginning with two To Beat The Devil residency shows at London’s revered Royal Albert Hall on May 16-17. He will then take over Nashville’s Pinnacle for a sold-out, two-night installment of Evangeline vs. The Machine Live on May 23–24. In July, he heads west for what has become a roughly once-a-decade experience at Colorado’s iconic Red Rocks Amphitheatre, where fans can expect a unique set each evening across three sold-out shows: Eric Church vs. The Machine; Eric Church vs. The ECB; and Eric Church vs. The Guitar.

For more information, visit EricChurch.com and follow on Facebook and Twitter/X @ericchurch and Instagram@ericchurchmusic.

About Eric Church
A seven-time ACM Award winner, four-time CMA Award winner (including 2020’s Entertainer of the Year) and 10-time GRAMMY nominee – including three nods for Best Country Album, Eric Church has built a passionate fan base through his critically acclaimed catalog of music. Church’s October 2024 release, “Darkest Hour,” saw the superstar signing over all of his publishing royalties to the people of North Carolina to provide immediate relief following the devastation of Hurricane Helene while also providing ongoing funds to support a more resilient future for his home state. The song is featured alongside current single “Hands Of Time” on his forthcoming album, Evangeline vs. The Machine arriving May 2, marking his first new music since 2021’s Heart & Soul triple album (“Stick That In Your Country Song,” “Hell Of A View”). That project followed prior releases including RIAA Gold-certified Desperate Man (“Some Of It,” “Desperate Man”), Platinum-certified Sinners Like Me (“How ’Bout You,” “Guys Like Me”), Carolina (“Smoke a Little Smoke,” “Love Your Love the Most”) and Mr. Misunderstood (“Record Year,” “Round Here Buzz”), Double-Platinum certified The Outsiders (“Like a Wrecking Ball,” “Talladega”) and 4x Platinum-certified Chief (“Springsteen,” “Drink In My Hand”), as well as 32 Gold, Platinum and multi-Platinum certified songs. Church is also a minority owner of the Charlotte Hornets, a co-owner of the iconic Field & Stream brand, has his own SiriusXM music channel, “Eric Church Outsiders Radio,” his own liquor offering, Whiskey JYPSI, and recently celebrated the first anniversary Chief’s, his six-story venue on Nashville’s famed lower Broadway.

Eric Church joined Willie Geist on NBC’s “Sunday TODAY” yesterday, April 27. | Photo Courtesy of NBC

TUNE IN 4/27: Eric Church Joins NBC's "Sunday TODAY" Ahead of 'Evangeline vs. The Machine' Out 5/2

April 25, 2025

Eric Church, hailed by Esquire as “one of the most singular working artists in any genre” and named NPR’s “gold standard for mainstream country,” joins Willie Geist for an exclusive conversation on NBC’s “Sunday TODAY” this Sunday, April 27. The in-depth and wide-ranging interview previews his highly anticipated new album, Evangeline vs. the Machine, arriving next Friday, May 2. “Sunday TODAY” airs at 6 a.m. PT / 8 a.m. ET (check local NBC listings).

Filmed at the Terminal 5 concert venue in New York City, where Church performed in 2010 on the cusp of releasing his breakthrough album, Chief, the sit-down interview offers an intimate look at his nearly two-decade journey marked by consistent risk-taking and rule-breaking as he enters a bold new chapter with his most sonically ambitious project yet.

Evangeline vs. The Machine expands the legacy of one of country music’s most fearless storytellers. Anchored by lead single “Hands of Time” – which debuted as the most-added song at Country radio and earned Church a new personal record for first-week impact with 135 stations – the album is available to pre-order/pre-save HERE.

Following the release, Church will bring the new music and his esteemed catalog to life onstage with a run of high-profile shows, beginning with two To Beat The Devil residency shows at London’s revered Royal Albert Hall on May 16-17. He will then take over Nashville’s Pinnacle for a sold-out, two-night installment of Evangeline vs. The Machine Live on May 23–24. In July, he heads west for what has become a roughly once-a-decade experience at Colorado’s iconic Red Rocks Amphitheatre, where fans can expect a unique set each evening across three sold-out shows: Eric Church vs. The Machine; Eric Church vs. The ECB; and Eric Church vs. The Guitar.

For more information, visit EricChurch.com and follow on Facebook and Twitter/X @ericchurch and Instagram@ericchurchmusic.

Eric Church joins Willie Geist on NBC’s “Sunday TODAY” this Sunday, April 27 (check local listings). | Photo Courtesy of NBC

Kenny Chesney's BORN Is Here; 15 Songs, "Sunday TODAY" & A Lotta No Shoes Nation

March 23, 2024

Four years... songs camps... good friends... crazy great musicians... new collaborators... writing songs to distill life, making music for all the reasons. Kenny Chesney didn’t see it coming, didn’t set out to make an album. Instead, he’s spent the time since the world shut down playing music with friends, scraping bits of life into lyrics and melodies, listening to songs he loved and recording when the moment struck with longtime collaborator Buddy Cannon. After all that, BORN is born.

“I can’t call it a process, because we never set out to make a record, just explore songs and moments for the sake of music,” Chesney offers. “All of sudden, time had passed and somehow we had all these songs that looked like different pieces of who I – and just about everyone in No Shoes Nation, too – am.

“It wasn’t a master plan. There was no theme we’re singing about that holds it together. But if you listen to all 15 songs, you’ll get the high energy fun, chasing adventures, don’t let people get you down piece and you’ll get the more reflective thinking about someone who’s died, the person you know you shouldn’t call emotions that have always been in the music, too.”

Whether the rush of “Just To Say We Did,” the chasing adventure “One More Sunset,” the sweeping drama of “One Lonely Island,” or the naughty no-strings delight of “Guilty Pleasure,” as well as the driving “Long Gone” and chilled philosophizing of “This Too Shall Pass,” BORN offers a bunch of feel good to make a crazy world feel better. On the other end of the spectrum, Chesney gets contemplative with “Come Here, Go Away,” the passage of time healer “The Way I Love You Now,” the pensive female freedom of “Top Down” and the album closing toast to those who’ve passed away “Wherever You Are Tonight.”

“Making music to make music, suddenly there’s room for a few road trip songs like ‘One More Sunset’ or ‘Just To Say We Did,’ songs that sound like me and my buddies growing up,” says the eight-time Entertainer of the Year. “And you don’t worry as much about having a few songs that are more introspective, or looking at the tough spots of letting go like ‘Thinkin’ Bout’ and ‘Come Here, Go Away,’ which everyone’s lived through.

“When you listen to ‘Born,’ there’s a whole lot of truth about living, life, the big questions and what we’re all trying to experience. That banjo out front really throws you into the song, which feels great. I love a lyric that throws out all the options, but it never actually tells you what to do. Here it comes down to one existential truth, no matter who you are or what you’re chasing: ‘one thing’s for certain, we’ve all been living since the day we were born.’”

After all these months, No Shoes Nation can finally unpack all the moods and moments that make BORN Chesney’s most far-reaching album to date. With “Take Her Home” cresting the Top 10, three layers of rehearsals under way for the Sun Goes Down 2024 Tour and Chesney on “Sunday TODAY with Willie Geist” this weekend, the time has arrived for new music to set the tone for another summer of tailgates and stadiums for No Shoes Nation.

Kenny Chesney Takes Willie Geist to MetLife Stadium THIS Sunday, 3/24, NBC's "Sunday TODAY"

March 20, 2024

With three sets of tour prep and rehearsals in full groove, Kenny Chesney took some time out to return to MetLife Stadium, where he’s sold over 400,000 tickets since the stadium opened, for a heart-to-heart conversation with NBC’s Willie Geist. Tracing both his evolution as a stadium-sized pioneer and looking at all the pieces of his musical foundation that led to the vast BORN, the only country artist in Billboard’s Top 10 Touring Acts of the Last 25 Years for the last 15 years took the opportunity to truly consider the road to being a billion-ticket-selling superstar and the songwriting roots that helped him speak to an audience who had long been ignored.

“It’s strange being in a place like MetLife we know so well when it’s cold, dark and raining,” Chesney mused before his interview. “It’s just here, waiting. Knowing all the faces we’ve seen light up, the staff, the memories; it’s a pretty great place to sit down and talk to someone like Willie Geist, who gets the music and recognizes so much of what we do is about building and trying to grow. Nothing exists in a vacuum; not a tour, certainly not an album – and we still make albums – so coming somewhere so special to us was a great place to sit down and look at the journey to No Shoes Nation.”

With “Take Her Home” cresting the Top 10, and the shoot-your-shot gusto of “Just To Say We Did,” the tangled letting go of “Thinkin’ Bout,” the naughty get-out-of-jail invitation of “Guilty Pleasure” or the toast to those who have passed on “Wherever You Are Tonight,” Chesney’s first album in four years is one of his most comprehensive. If not a culmination of a life lived in music, it certainly explores a plethora of styles, realities and Chesney’s unrelenting positivity.

“This close to a tour, I realized: we couldn’t do the traditional record release media stuff most people get to do,” Chesney explained. “So I wanted to do one thing that would really matter and make sense; to talk to someone who wasn’t looking to do lifestyle stuff, but really dig in and consider what this all means. When you do that, Willie Geist is the man to call.”

Beyond their conversation about music, especially BORN, the pair talked about sports, dreams, living a life that matters and how No Shoes Nation is an outgrowth of how Chesney and his people view the world. Philosophical and far-ranging, the extended sit down and conversation in the stands achieves a deeper look at what fires the songwriter/superstar from East Tennessee known for his high-intensity concerts and major tours that have sold over a million tickets every summer since 2002.

As street date approaches, a reminder that anyone who has already purchased tickets to the Sun Goes Down 2024 Tour received an email with a link to purchase the special BORN Tour Edition with three extra live tracks, as will anyone buying tickets going forward. Top tier fan club members may also purchase the Tour Edition to recognize their longstanding love of Chesney’s music.

“Rehearsals are going great,” Chesney says. “I can’t wait to see everybody in Tampa! We’re getting ready, and we’re all in all over town. To get inside BORN, just watch Willie on Sunday.”

“Sunday TODAY” airs at 8 a.m. ET on NBC and 6 a.m. PT in the Los Angeles area. Check your local NBC listings for airtimes in additional markets.