Eric Church Was Going To Release “Russian Roulette” As A Single Until Russia Invaded Ukraine The Day Before It Was Set To Go To Radio

Would have been a massive hit.

Back in 2021, Eric Church dropped his 3-part Heart & Soul album, and one of my favorite songs off the entire project was “Russian Roulette.”

The track from the Heart album, which was written by Church, Casey Beathard and Monty Criswell, is all about turning to the radio to heal a broken heart, but knowing that you’re risking a song coming on that breaks it all over again:

“Ain’t nothing gonna kill these horses tonight
But a song like a bullet from a dashboard light
Gettin’ shot through the speakers both left and right in stereo
Messin’ up my head, playin’ Russian Roulette with the radio”

The song was not only a fan favorite, but it was one of Church’s from the album too – so much so that he wanted to release it as a radio single. The song was even scheduled to impact radio back in February 2022. The only problem? Well, Russia.

The day before the song was scheduled to go to radio, Russia invaded Ukraine, and if you can remember at the time, stores were pulling Russian vodka and anything associated with Russia from their shelves, bars were renaming “White Russians,” and pretty much the entire world (for the most part) was condemning Russia and their attack. All of a sudden, anything that mentioned Russia was off limits – and Church had to pull the song.

Chief broke out the song last night at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan during his stop on the Free The Machine tour, where he recalled his disappointment at not being able to send the song to radio:

“This next song we’ve not done on this tour. It was my favorite song off the Heart project, Heart & Soul. It was going to be a radio single, I think it’s a hit. And the night before we were going to release it, THE night before, Russia invaded Ukraine, and all of a sudden anything that had Russia in it was not awesome.

So I always send this out to Vladimir. He can f–king spin on it.”

It’s a shame this song never got its shot at radio, because like Eric I think it would have been a massive hit. It was one of the more “radio-friendly” songs from the entire project, and the lyrics are incredibly well written.

Thanks for messing that one up, Putin.

Eric Church ‘Free The Machine Tour’ Setlist – Van Andel Arena

1. Hands Of Time
2. Bleed On Paper
3. Johnny
4. Storm In Their Blood
5. Darkest Hour
6. Evangeline
7. Rocket’s White Lincoln
8. Clap Hands
9. Desperate Man
10. Stick That In Your Country Song
11. Mistress Named Music
12. Smoke A Little Smoke/Proud Mary
13. Creepin’
14. Give Me Back My Hometown
15. Ophelia (w/Marcus King)
16. Russian Roulette
17. The Outsiders
18. Sinners Like Me
19. Hell Of A View
20. Springsteen
21. Drink In My Hand
22. Cold One
23. Round Here Buzz
24. Pledge Allegiance To The Hag
25. That’s Damn Rock & Roll
26. Some Of It
27. Like Jesus Does
28. These Boots
29. Record Year
30. Love Your Love The Most
31. Talladega
32. Those I’ve Loved
33. Through My Ray-Bans

‘Free The Machine’ Tour Dates

Oct. 11 || Cleveland, OH || Rocket Arena || Marcus King
Oct. 23 || Salt Lake City, UT || Delta Center || Charles Wesley Godwin
Oct. 24 || Boise, ID || ExtraMile Arena || Charles Wesley Godwin
Oct. 25 || Spokane, WA || Spokane Arena || Charles Wesley Godwin
Nov. 6 || Vancouver, BC || Rogers Arena || Charles Wesley Godwin
Nov. 7 || Portland, OR || Moda Center || Charles Wesley Godwin
Nov. 8 || Seattle, WA || Climate Pledge Arena || Charles Wesley Godwin
Nov. 13 || Sacramento, CA || Golden 1 Center || Charles Wesley Godwin
Nov. 14 || Fresno, CA || Save Mart Center at Fresno State || Charles Wesley Godwin
Nov. 15 || Inglewood, CA || Intuit Dome || Charles Wesley Godwin
Jan. 22 || Washington, D.C. || The Anthem || Caylee Hammack
Jan. 23 || Washington, D.C. || The Anthem || Caylee Hammack
Feb. 5 || Omaha, Neb. || CHI Health Center || Ella Langley
Feb. 6 || Sioux Falls, S.D. || Denny Sanford PREMIER Center || Ella Langley
Feb. 7 || St. Paul, Minn. || Grand Casino Arena || Ella Langley
Feb. 12 || Toronto, ON || Scotiabank Arena || Ella Langley
Feb. 13 || Buffalo, N.Y. || KeyBank Center || Ella Langley
Feb. 14 || Albany, N.Y. || MVP Arena || Ella Langley
Feb. 19 || North Little Rock, Ark. || Simmons Bank Arena || 49 Winchester
Feb. 20 || Kansas City, Mo. || T-Mobile Center || 49 Winchester
Feb. 21 || St. Louis, Mo. || Enterprise Center || 49 Winchester
Feb. 26 || Tulsa, Okla. || BOK Center || Stephen Wilson Jr.
Feb. 27 || Fort Worth, Texas || Dickies Arena || Stephen Wilson Jr.
Feb. 28 || Austin, Texas || Moody Center || Stephen Wilson Jr.
Mar. 5 || Knoxville, Tenn. || Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center || 49 Winchester
Mar. 6 || Greensboro, N.C. || First Horizon Coliseum || 49 Winchester
Mar. 7 || North Charleston, S.C. || North Charleston Coliseum || 49 Winchester
Mar. 19 || Birmingham, Ala. || Legacy Arena at the BJCC || 49 Winchester
Mar. 20 || Atlanta, Ga. || State Farm Arena || 49 Winchester
Mar. 27 || Hollywood, Fla. || Hard Rock Live || Kashus Culpepper
Apr. 3 || Greenville, S.C. || Bon Secours Wellness Arena || Ashley McBryde
Apr. 4 || Charlotte, N.C. || Spectrum Center || Ashley McBryde
Apr. 10 || Jacksonville, Fla. || VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena || Ashley McBryde
Apr. 11 || Tampa, Fla. || Benchmark International Arena || Ashley McBrydeThe post Eric Church Was Going To Release “Russian Roulette” As A Single Until Russia Invaded Ukraine The Day Before It Was Set To Go To Radio first appeared on Whiskey Riff.