Tag Archives: Holdin’ My Own

Artist Insight Report: Eric Church “Mr. Misunderstood”

If you want your songs to get recorded by major artists, you need to understand those artists.

Understanding what an artist has recorded before can help you predict what he or she might record in the future. So, today, I decided to dive into Eric Church’s new album, “Mr. Misunderstood.” Here’s what I found, track-by-track.  (Note: “PUL’D” is a reference from my workbook “Cut/able: Lessons in Market-Smart Songwriting.” It means “Positive-Uptempo-Love/Depth.”  “Neighborhood” is also a reference from “Cut/able.”  Check out the workbook HERE.)  POV is “Point Of View.)

Artist: Eric Church

Album: Mr. Misunderstood

Producer: Jay Joyce

Label: EMI Records Nashville

“Mr. Misunderstood”

Writers: Eric Church, Casey Beathard

POV (Point of view): You/me

Timeframe: Present tense singing to “Mr. Misunderstood,” past tense about himself.

PUL’D: Positive, Ballad to Midtempo, Depth

Neighborhood: Rocker / indie. Fits his rocker image. Preaching to his choir: outsiders, musicians.

Subject: Music, life.

Notes: Sing-a-long “na-nas.” No repeating chorus, just the title. Lots of imagery. Speaks to the outsiders and musicians- clearly makes himself one of them.

 

“Mistress Named Music”

Writers: Eric Church, Casey Beathard

POV: I/me

Timeframe: Past

PUL’D: Positive, Mid-ballad, Depth/Life

Neighborhood: Bad boy. Alcohol & drug references. Rocker.

Subject: Music, Musician

Notes: Strong imagery, blues-sound, big guitar solo/classic rock long outro, big choir on intro

 

“Chattanooga Lucy”

Writers: Eric Church, Jeff Hyde, Ryan Tyndell

POV: You/me

Timeframe: Present

PUL’D: Positive, Uptempo blues rock, Love

Neighborhood: Rocker, rough side of the tracks, edgy

Subject: Music, girl

Notes: Blues, lots of imagery, soul falsetto, female gang BGVs

“Mixed Drinks About Feelings”

Writers: Eric Church

POV: Me/I

Timeframe: Present

PUL’D: Sad, Ballad, Lost love

Neighborhood: Drinkers

Subject: Lost love, drinking

Notes: Alcohol references, female lead (smoky voice) on 2nd verse, blues/soul

 

“Knives Of New Orleans”

Writers: Eric Church, Travis Meadows, Jeremy Spillman

POV: Me/I

Timeframe: Now

PUL’D: Negative, mid-uptempo, depth/life

Neighborhood: Tough guy, dark side of life

Subject: Murder about money

Notes: Good imagery, big driving feel, storytelling- takes on a character, big classic rock Bob Seger Springsteen epic

 

“‘Round Here Buzz”

Writers: Eric Church, Luke Dick, Jeff Hyde

POV: You/me

Timeframe: Now

PUL’D: Negative, midtempo, love

Neighborhood: Average Joe

Subject: You’re gone, so I’m hanging around our hometown drinking.

Notes: Good imagery, verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo-chorus

 

“Kill A Word”

Writers: Eric Church, Luck Dick, Jeff Hyde

POV: Me/I

Timeframe: Now

PUL’D: Positive, midtempo, depth

Neighborhood: Tough guy with a heart of gold

Subject: Singer’s fed up with the negative junk in the world.

Notes: Tough, but positive. Violent language, but wants to make the world a better place. Dark.

 

“Holdin’ My Own”

Writers: Eric Church

POV: Me/I

Timeframe: Now

PUL’D: Positive, Midtempo, Depth/Love

Neighborhood: Rebel, but laid back.

Subject: Fatherhood, family, music, settling down.

Notes: Biographical (“troubadours”), mid-acoustic kinda beach/bouncy.

 

“Record Year”

Writers: Eric Church, Jeff Hyde

POV: Me/You

Timeframe: Now

PUL’D: Bittersweet, midtempo, lost love

Neighborhood: Average Joe

Subject: Music, lost love

Notes: Name drops artists from several genres: country, rock, R&B, soul. Ends up thanking the girl for leaving because it helped him rediscover all this great music. Starts off sad, ends up feeling positive.

 

“Three Year Old”

Writers: Eric Church, Casey Beathard, Monty Criswell

POV: Me/I

Timeframe: Now

PUL’D: Positive, Mid-ballad, Depth

Neighborhood: Average Joe, good guy, but not perfect

Subject: Fatherhood

Notes: Great images, lessons to a dad from his kid. Lighthearted, but deep. Jesus reference.

TAKEAWAYS:

The big theme is music- how it has and continues to affect Eric’s life. It’s the constant drumbeat in the background of these songs and the thread that holds the record together. Classic blues and rock sounds. He’s dark, an outsider… but he has a good heart. He lives wild, but is maturing. Church wrote on every song and has a small circle of cowriters on this record, mainly Casey Beathard, Jeff Hyde, and Luke Dick. Hyde has the most cuts. Eric tends to write all of his own stuff, so there’s little chance of an outside cut.  Path to a cut: work your way into cowrites with his cowriters, prove yourself and earn your way into the room with Eric.

What do you think? What insights would you like to add?  Did you enjoy this post? Would you like to see more Artist Insight Reports from Man vs. Row in the future? Let me know in the comments!

Pro songwriters know they need to study artists and the market to have their best chance at writing songs that get cut.  And if YOU want to become a pro, you need to think like a pro, too. In my FREE e-book, “THINK LIKE A PRO SONGWRITER,” I not only reveal several of the mindsets which separate the pro songwriter from the amateur, but also…

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God Bless and Enjoy the Journey,

Brent

Brent Baxter is a hit songwriter with cuts by Alan Jackson, Randy Travis, Lady Antebellum, Joe Nichols, Gord Bamford, Ruthie Collins, Ray Stevens, and more. He’s written a top 5 hit in the US and a #1 in Canada… so far.