Album Review – Eric Lee Beddingfield’s “Resurrection”

Traditional Country (#510) and Country Rock (#560) on the Country DDS. AI = Clean

Don’t call it a comeback. Call it a resurrection. Though it’s fair to probably say more country fans have never heard of Eric Lee Beddingfield than have, he was one of country music’s most promising independent country stars when he emerged at the end of the 00s, and got a lot of people’s attention with his great song “The Gospel According to Jones” featuring none other than George Jones himself.

Originally from Augusta, Georgia, Eric Lee Beddingfield was a Georgia Southern football player who was forced to hang up his pads due to injury. So he pursued his second passion, which was country music. After opening a handful of shows for The Charlie Daniels Band, Mr. Daniels himself took Beddingfield aside and encouraged him to move to Nashville and start a career. And when Charlie Daniels speaks, you listen.

As an independent artist, Eric Lee Beddingfield found some success in Music City. He performed on the Grand Ole Opry, went on tour with George Jones, and was named Music Row’s Independent Artist of The Year in 2012. But nobody here probably needs to be told just how hard it was to make it in country music when your heroes were George Jones and Charlie Daniels, and it was during the rise of Bro-Country.

With two young sons and a wife at home, Beddingfield decided a change of pace was necessary, and he stopped touring. He didn’t completely stop writing music though. Taking sixteen years since his debut album, 2010’s This Life Ain’t For Everybody, it’s given Beddingfield the opportunity to assemble a strong stable of songs that he presents as his country music Resurrection.

Before you go into this expecting a full-fledged traditional country experience cover to cover, be forewarned that Resurrection also has numerous songs that lean into a more hard rock country sound. Beddingfield released a couple of singles in 2023 called “Geechee” and “Durty Girl” that made it on this album. Charlie Daniels might’ve approve of them. George Jones might’ve found them a little too rock for his tastes.

But when Eric Lee Beddingfield leans into the more traditional country sound, he really hits the sweet spot, and often with songs that are superbly written. The opening song to the album “Too Much Lonesome” will immediately sit right with you. “Hide and Go Cheat” is one of those country songs that feels like an instant classic. “When You Still Loved Me” is a devastating exploration into heartache.

Beddingfield might give off some ostentatious vibes via the country rock tracks and the Affliction T-shirt aspect of the album cover. But what he also proves on Resurrection is he’s not afraid to be honest and vulnerable. The piano ballad “Arms Of A Woman” is one of the album’s best. And songs like “The Old Me” and “Ordinary Everyday Life” speak to Beddingfield’s self-awareness and true life story.

We all have dreams, and then life happens. And it’s not always that our dreams didn’t go fulfilled, they just changed, along with our priorities. Eric Lee Beddingfield put family first like so many do. But his penchant to write, sing, and play country music didn’t go away, nor did his knack for it. On his new album he resurrects those old country music dreams, and fulfills that part of himself that never went away. And in the process, reminds us all it’s never too late to do a little resurrection of our own.

8/10

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Stream Eric Lee Beddingfield’s Resurrection