Eric Church Shocks Crowd in Dallas By Inviting Ray Wylie Hubbard on Stage
When Eric Church announced his appropriately-titled “Holdin’ My Own” tour, some were surprised there were no openers. Regardless of what you think about Church’s music, his opening slots over the last few years have been filled with some of the best country and roots artists around as opposed to the Nashville up-and-coming cannon fodder you’re used to seeing open arena tours, acts like The Drive-By Truckers, JD McPherson, The Lone Bellow, Dwight Yoakam, and Brandy Clark.
There may be no openers on Eric Church’s current tour, but that doesn’t mean you may not see some worthy artists take the stage. On Friday evening (2-3) in Dallas, TX at the American Airlines Center, Eric Church shocked the crowd by inviting Texas songwriting legend and general music guru Ray Wylie Hubbard on stage with him to sing Ray’s semi-hit “Screw You, We’re From Texas.”
The invite shouldn’t come as a complete shock to the world. Eric Church drops Ray Wylie Hubbard’s name, along with Jeff Tweety and Elvis Costello in the title track of his most recent album, Mr. Misunderstood. Church released the album as a surprise right before the 2015 CMA Awards, and he performed the song on the show. in 2016, the album was named CMA’s Album of the Year.
“Eric asked me to do that song & I done some cool stuff in my life but that was paramount to about anything I ever done,” Ray said on Twitter. “He do rock.”
The Chief brought out Mr. Ray Wylie Hubbard tonight to sing a little bit about Texas!! #ScrewYouWereFromTexas #HoldinMyOwnTour pic.twitter.com/Nl0zdTesrG
— ERIC’S OUTSIDERS (@ERICS_OUTSIDERS) February 4, 2017
February 4, 2017 @ 10:13 am
Entertainer of the Year
February 4, 2017 @ 10:57 am
Good for Church and RWH! Church may be pretty arrogant but he does put on a good live show! I saw him twice in Atlanta (Gwinnett) and enjoyed it thoroughly, especially the second time when Dwight opened for him!
February 4, 2017 @ 11:51 am
That’s awesome! Also on an unrelated note, and I know you’ve probably been asked this a lot, but Trigger are you gonna review the ZBB new single?
February 4, 2017 @ 2:13 pm
I might be reviewing it soon.
February 4, 2017 @ 12:11 pm
I have my tix for the Atlanta show. Looking forward to what ever surprises he brings Along.
February 4, 2017 @ 1:27 pm
Huh. I’ll freely admit I haven’t been too hot on Eric Church and have thrown my fair share of crap at him, but if he gets the RWH seal of approval he can’t be all bad, I guess.
February 4, 2017 @ 2:02 pm
It is very smart of Church to align himself with artists that aren’t of the same machine that he is. Great marketing,
February 4, 2017 @ 2:39 pm
That’s far too cynical. Where is the great marketing advantage? Even assuming that Church is just a tool of the Nashville corporate machine (he’s not), where is the advantage of appealing to and promoting a guy who is entirely unknown to the targeted audience of country radio? So, it’s “great marketing,” really? You need to just admit that you don’t like Eric Church and will use any opportunity to bash him.
February 4, 2017 @ 3:19 pm
It’s a great way to appeal to fans of outsiders and non mainstream artists and atempt build some cred.
February 4, 2017 @ 3:21 pm
Ray Wylie Hubbard has a fairly large following of people who don’t buy Eric Church music or tickets.
February 4, 2017 @ 3:34 pm
Perhaps there is a little bit of marketing behind bringing Ray Wylie Hubbard on stage for Eric Church, but I think you have to ask yourself what the sum results is. Ray getting the opportunity to play to a sold-out arena crowd in Texas, and sing one of his own songs that’s likely to resonate with many of the people in attendance can only be positive for him.
February 4, 2017 @ 5:17 pm
From a commercial standpoint it doesn’t help him a whole lot. But everything about that guy screams that he wants to be a cool kid and not just music row’s token outsider. He’s the nerd in every 80’s teen movie who blows all his lawn mowing money on something that he thinks will make the cool kids like him. One of his plans for cool ascension is obviously to be the second coolest guy to name drop RWH in a song and then ask him up on stage.
February 4, 2017 @ 6:20 pm
Hey, I’ve been saying similar stuff about Eric Church for years. Go back and read my review of “The Outsiders.” At the same time, I feel like any artist can turn a page. That’s the reason I criticize music, not because I like being mean to musicians, but in hopes that people take my perspective to heart. I thought “Mr. Misunderstood” was a major improvement, and that Church has been making an active effort to be more authentic, and less about marketing. Like CCRR said, there’s marketing involved in most every artist’s music. I’m not going to try and convince someone to love Eric Church if they don’t, because like I said, I’ve been highly critical of him in the past. But I’m not going to let that get in the way of being happy for Ray Wylie Hubbard via Eric Church extending this opportunity. He’s the one ultimately benefiting from this the most.
February 4, 2017 @ 6:35 pm
Hell, I’m a fan and I’M critical of “The Outsiders” haha while I love certain aspects of that album I also really took issue with some of it. I totally understand why some more traditional country fans, or those more invested in artists outside mainstream music, would take issue with Eric. I don’t agree, but I can see where they are coming from, so to speak, on certain points. Other times I think the criticism is just petty and unfounded….either way I’m not set on trying to convince anyone to become a fan….I just feel like the other side has to be presented too.
February 4, 2017 @ 3:38 pm
You really have know idea. Eric came here to music row and invented a character. Everyone around him from label, wife, band, business partners, co-writers, and producers are of the music row corporate machine and so is he. If he is an outlaw then Sam Hunt is country. Every move made is totally calculated. He continues to build on his outsider character. Aligning himself with these opening acts is a smart move to keep him in the niche he has carved out for himself. Also, he’s not aligning himself for the country radio target audience, he already has them. He’s reaching out to other fanbases and again making himself look cooler. If he holds the outlaw spot at country radio, who else is competing for that spot? Not Chesney, Jake O., Dierks, McGraw, FGL, etc. It’s good business. As for your last comment, I tend to have a problem with manufactured acts, that’s my only beef with EC. I have liked a few of his songs that he co-wrote by committee but overall I just don’t think he is very authentic or a real artist.
February 4, 2017 @ 3:41 pm
My reply saying “You really have no idea” was to Kevin Davis’ reply… and yes I see I misspelled no the first time! 🙂
February 4, 2017 @ 5:22 pm
*eyeroll*
Everyone markets themselves to some degree…you’d be foolish to think otherwise. How that automatically makes one “inauthentic” I’m not sure, but whatever. As a longtime fan, I feel like Church has always had a passion for what he does, loves performing and really appreciates his fan base. The fact that he is also smart about how he has marketed himself doesn’t automatically disqualify him as a legitimate artist. I also challenge you idea of him “writing by committee” because of what I think it implies…working with a small group of cowriters isn’t quite the same thing. And yes he “has a furniture line”….a project his father (a guy who worked in the furniture business) wanted to invest in with him…how awful and corporate…
Well I’ve said my piece…I won’t even argue the halftime performance comment below because it was pretty crappy…I have no clue what went wrong there lol…except that it was all just too forced and overproduced. Trust me when I say most his live performances are light years better.
February 4, 2017 @ 7:21 pm
If I remember correctly, Eric church has said many many times that he is not an outlaw artist. I think even on this very own website, trigger had an article about it. People like to label him as outlaw, because of getting fired from rascal flats, but he has tried to distance himself from it.
February 4, 2017 @ 5:48 pm
“jessie with the long hair”
How’s Luann these days?
February 4, 2017 @ 3:33 pm
He has a line of furniture at Rooms To Go…he’s as corporate as it gets…and he totally shit the bed at the Cowboys game on thanksgiving,smart move to bring out a legend when he went back to Dallas
February 4, 2017 @ 7:11 pm
You do know that his father was in the furniture business? Something that might have a bit of sentimental value to him makes him corporate somehow? Way to think that one through.
February 4, 2017 @ 5:59 pm
I was just listening to that song.
Cool.
February 4, 2017 @ 6:50 pm
“He’s the nerd in every 80’s teen movie who blows all his lawn mowing money on something that he thinks will make the cool kids like him”
And Jessie with the long hair got Eric nailed dead to rights. I see some of y’all always saying, “I’m not gonna let that stop me from being happy for So & So”, look I’m not saying I ain’t happy for Ray Wylie Hubbard, but that isn’t going to stop us from calling bullshit whenever it rears its ugly head.
Eric church is obviously passionate about what he does and it’s understandable that he must market himself. But mashing up Hank Williams Jr, Shooter Jennings and Blake Shelton produced the character Eric Church as played by Kenny Church.
But he does make better average mainstream music so IMHO he deserves a pass, but only for that which was mentioned above. That song he did with Luke & Jason was a crock of shit, since he had someone financially support em so he didn’t have to work.
But still, “screw you, we’re from Texas”
February 4, 2017 @ 7:32 pm
He didn’t work? Where do you people come up with this stuff? This is the petty criticism I’m talking about. He worked a call center at night, while trying to make it as a song writer. Did he have help, yes. Guess what, my parents have helped me a lot financially in my life too…does that automatically negate my accomplishments or imply I don’t work hard? Hell no.
February 5, 2017 @ 6:26 am
See man I didn’t mean he did no kind of work whatsoever, I meant the work mentioned in the song. I am not implying anything about cover, don’t take it that way. The thing Eric worked on was his songwriting, that’s not the same as digging ditches or roofing houses, call center is just a side note. Don’t take it so personal, I kinda like Eric’s music with a few exceptions.
February 5, 2017 @ 8:50 am
Ok, but really, a song is just a story to music…it’s not always required to be “non-fiction”…you can sing a song about something not necessarily true to you. It can be about things that happen daily to others or experiences you’ve seen someone else go through. BUT I see what you’re trying to say. Yeah, maybe I took it a bit personal, my bad. Personally, I hate that song anyways lol
February 4, 2017 @ 7:29 pm
Eric Church is bad ass. Period!
February 4, 2017 @ 8:06 pm
I lke Lyle’s song about Texas a whole lot more.
But I’m not from Texas.
February 5, 2017 @ 11:19 am
Texas wants you anyway.
February 5, 2017 @ 9:38 am
You know, some people talk about Eric Church like 4 of his 5 albums aren’t really, really good. I mean, come the fuck on. The Outsiders is an anomaly in an otherwise stellar career right now. You folks don’t need to like his personality, but I think the reality is that you don’t like his personality over the span of 2-3 years. I personally think he’s shaped up and acted much more respectfully over the past couple of years, and that may coincide with controlling his drinking a bit more, as he’s alluded to.
Good music is good music regardless of the source, and there is nothing but respect involved in what he did here for RWB. Some of y’all need to stop being so cynical.
February 5, 2017 @ 11:52 am
Hope it’s okay to post this here–RWH wrote this account and put it on his FB page:
so i driving thursday and judy calls and says eric church wants you to come up to dallas and sing ‘screw you, we’re from texas’ with him at his american airlines colosseum gig. i say ‘colosseum?; she says you know, whatever they call it.
just so you know i have never met eric or even talked to him.
i know who he is cause he mentioned me in a song of his called ‘mr misunderstood.
i heard about this one night when i was messing with a guitar lick on the couch and judy was watching ‘criminal minds.’
i get a text from caitlin everden the great young fiddle player who used to play with taylor swift when she was country that i met in california at a gig and she texted that she is at a big televised country award show in nashvile and eric church is singing about me.
i say judy, ‘eric church is singing about me on tv right now.’
she says, ‘don’t think about changing the channel, dog..spencer and jj are about to grab the serial killer.’
so i see it the next day on youtube.
well thats cool and i am impressed and honored as he mentions me with elvis costello and jeff tweedy.
so we drive up and get there and we got our own dressing room and i took lucas’ es335 with the whammy bar and i wish i could remember all his crews names but can’t. anyhow his stage guy takes me down and he tapes a wireless rig on my strap and his sound guy asks if i brought my own in ear monitors or if not they have some generic ones. i say well i don’t have any as i’ve never used them. he says we kinna figured you were old school so we rented some monitor wedges for you that we’ll set up before you go out.
so then eric shows up under the stage where the guitar tech is and he thanks me for doing this and i say how did i end in that song?
he says when he was writing it with casey beathard, the vinyl albums he had on his turntable were me and elvis costello and jeff tweedy.
we walk up on stage and i meet his band and they asked about the arrangement and i says its in E, no third, it thinks about going to an A chord but doesn’t and its verse, chorus, ride, verse, chorus, ride, verse, chorus, chorus, tag, fall apart ending.
they nod and say got it.
i start it, eric and his guys fall in and it doth rock.
after the echo of the last note dies off eric says i discovered the 13th floor elevators because you mentioned them in this song. i say yeah i saw them play at a sorority house in arlington in 66 and they were the coolest band i’d ever seen.
he meets judy and they hit it off and i got to say that his crew were so accommodating and professional and kept asking up if we needed anything. top notch pros.
so we went to eat with the crew and hang and then the show starts and the colosseum is sold out and this audience loves the eric church guy. they go nuts.
he plays hour and half and then a twenty min break and the second set starts.
he does this song ‘jack daniels’ and then i go strap on the 335 and the song ends and the crew set up the monitors and mic and i couldn’t hear eric’s intro for me but i guess he said something nice and i walk out and its an E ticket ride at disneyland. we do the song and it explodes like the volcano above pompeii.
it was indeed fun. after a cool ragged just right fall apart rude ending eric comes over and hugs me and says ”thank you so much for doing this.”
i say it was my pleasure and we can’t stay for the rest of the show as we gotta drive back to wimberley. he says cool, travel safe. he says thanks again.
i walk back down the stairs and the crew slaps me on the back and rave about it and they take off the wireless rig.
we go back to the room and his manager says take all the swag stuff from the dressing room with us. he walks us out to my van and we are loaded down with hats, t-shirts, candles, a couple of his merch bottle openers (eric church key..get it?) a flower arrangement, a full coffee thermos so we wouldn’t go to sleep on the way.
we got back home bout 3 something.
judy told me today that when eric introduce me, she teared up.
so there you go.
my undying thanks to eric church for asking me to do this.
i’ve been fortunate enough to have experienced some incredible moments during my old life and have shared the stage with some amazing musicians though out my so called career but this..this was a doing of paramount quality unmatched.
keep the faith.
yours truly,
ray wylie
February 5, 2017 @ 12:05 pm
This is great! Love it. Thanks for sharing.
February 5, 2017 @ 3:23 pm
Whichever guy said earlier that Eric and everyone around him from his wife, band, cowriters, etc…are from the music row corporate machine is either uninformed, a liar, or both.
My brother is in Eric’s band, and he is absolutely not from the corporate machine. He grew up in east Texas playing bluegrass and traditional country music. He moved to Nashville after college and worked his butt off to land a songwriting deal, a job he still works his tail off for and has the utmost respect and passion for.
He’s been with Eric for 10 years (as has every other member of the band minus 1, and he’s been there for 6 or 7 years). The men and women who work with Eric are professional and extremely competent at their respective jobs, but they’ve come together from all walks of life. To label “every single person around eric” as part of a big Nashville corporate machine is, intenionally or not, untrue and misinformed.
February 5, 2017 @ 4:52 pm
I don’t see Eric Church as being part of the Nashville Machine just because he has songs that appeal to the masses, as well as some that appeal to me. I am not afraid to say that I like a lot of his material. I could live perfectly well without Talladega, but pleasing those fans doesn’t stop him from put out some pretty great music too. I don’t want to be a purist and deny myself enjoyment just to be on the right side of what’s cool.
February 7, 2017 @ 10:06 am
I saw E Chuch a week ago .. 40 songs, 19K people on their feet the entire time singing every song, and still wanting more.
He did a killer cover of The Ballad of Curtis Loew
I actually find it comical how he is a target for the silly wraith shone by some of the visitors of this site.
The haters gonna hate I guess.
He has one of the strongest fan bases I’ve seen and he is not going away.,.
Fuck it, don’t call him an country, or whatever..
I find it funny how success seems to always equal sellout or something with people.