‘Forbes’ Calls Eric Church’s ‘Evangeline vs. The Machine’ His “New Career Low”… & I’m Confident Chief Couldn’t Care Less

Evangeline vs. The Machine didn’t fair as well as Eric Church’s other albums on the Billboard charts.

One could describe the Chief’s latest entrant into the musical world as this: a ride. The project, which is designed to be listened to from front to back, is a look into the genius of Church when he simply asks the question, “How far can I push this thing?” Personally, I feel like he slightly hints at that approach in the song “Rocket’s White Lincoln,” which is included in the album.

The “man vs. the machine” messaging throughout the record held up a mirror to many different battles currently taking place in the music industry: creativity and commercialism, tradition and trendy, instant profit or lasting persistence. So it’s not necessarily a surprise that the album about butting heads with the machine didn’t do all that well inside the machine itself. Plus, it’s also only 8 songs, and in today’s world of 30+-track albums, an intentional effort to rack up mega streaming numbers, it’s tough to compete with the likes of Morgan Wallen. And he isn’t trying to…

But Forbes even put out a story that was titled “Eric Church Hits a New Career Low” which focused in on the performance of Evangeline vs. The Machine, and calling it a “career low” is a bit of a stretch if you ask me. They themselves point out that… well, I’ll just let you read what they said right below a subheading that shared the same name as the overarching “Church Hits A New Career Low” story:

“‘Evangeline vs. the Machine’ now stands out as Church’s lowest-peaking studio album on the Billboard 200. Previously, that distinction belonged to his debut full-length, ‘Sinners Like Me.’ Released in 2006, the set reached as high as No. 29 – a respectable showing for a new artist at the time.”

They also went on to point out that this is the first record from Eric Church in over 10 years that failed to reach the top 10 in the Billboard 200. Church’s first two entries into the country music realm – Sinners Like Me and Carolina – are the only other two out of his catalogue that didn’t reach that benchmark.

All in all, the story was just pointing out that statistically speaking – and for where Church is currently in his career – Evangeline vs. The Machine‘s performance on the Billboard charts is both surprising and underwhelming. Though calling it a new career low is dramatic, I suppose when you strictly look at the numbers, that statement has legs. And the best part about it all?

I feel very comfortable in saying that the Chief himself could not care less about where Evangeline vs. The Machine falls on the charts.

Eric Church’s entire career has been about pushing the limits, and his latest album did just that, and his fans loved it. The same can’t be said for the more casual country music listener, but was Church ever doing it for them? Nope. Whether it be his latest record, or his controversial Stagecoach performance, Eric Church insists that he do things he’s passionate about, and time and time again, he hasn’t been concerned with “how it does on the radio.”

That’s even the loud and clear message of his song “That’s Damn Rock & Roll” from The Outsiders:

“It ain’t a middle finger on a t-shirt
The establishments tryin’ to sell
It’s a guy with the balls who told the establishment
To go to hell
It ain’t about the money you make, when a record gets sold
It’s about doin’ it for nothin’, cause it lives in your soul
That’s damn rock and roll.”

Yeah… safe to say Eric Church isn’t losing any sleep about how his album performs on the Billboard charts. Eric has never been about the charts. In fact, you’d be shocked at how many #1 songs Eric Church has earned over the course of his career… just a handful, and that’s over the course of a 20-year career so far.

Long live the Chief. May he continue to triumph in the face of his “career suicide” performances and his “new career low” projects. When it’s all said and done, it’s Eric Church that we’ll remember, not whoever is at the top of Country Airplay chart this week.The post ‘Forbes’ Calls Eric Church’s ‘Evangeline vs. The Machine’ His “New Career Low”… & I’m Confident Chief Couldn’t Care Less first appeared on Whiskey Riff.