Eric Church Walks the CMA Awards Line Between Outlaw and Romantic
"Hell of a View"is a taste of his upcoming record.
Eric Church channeled us-against-the-world romance at the 54th Annual CMA Awards, showing off his bold new single “Hell of a View.”
Taking the stage in front of his fellow country stars, Church stood tall in an all-black outfit and his signature aviator sunglasses, sporting longer hair than usual but all the attitude his fans have come to love. He tapped into the song’s tough-love theme but delivered it with a tender vocal touch, striking the perfect balance between outlaw and hopeless country romantic — and then signed off with a subtle salute, paying tribute to the military in recognition of Veteran’s Day.
The mid-tempo tune was co-written during a trip to Church’s native North Carolina with Casey Beathard and Monty Criswell, and it was also recorded during that trip — along with another song each day for a whole month.
“This ain’t for everybody / Toes hanging off the ledge / Like we got nothin’ to lose / Ain’t always heaven, baby / This livin’ on the edge / You holdin’ me holdin’ you / It’s a hell of a view,” he sings in the track.
“We had a pretty good weather day and Casey Beathard, one of the writers on the song, had been with Monty Criswell earlier. They had kind of worked on some of the song and hadn’t played it for me yet,” recalls Eric. “I went out to jog and I came back in, and Casey was kind of standing up looking out the window and I can tell he’s playing. And when I opened the door, he looked up at me and he said, ‘Don’t say anything. You’ve got to hear this. This is really good.’ He immediately started playing the first part of the song. [One] verse or so, I was hooked. I was in. I loved the way he had the line, ‘caught your wings on fire/when I smoked my Bronco tires out of town,’ and I just thought that was such a great line, and I was smitten with it at that point of time. So, we finished it that night, later that day/night and then recorded it, and it came out great. I knew it was pretty special when it went down. It was always a song that I knew was a big hit, but at the same time it has that timeless quality to it and it’s gonna be one of our biggest ones.”
Co-hosted by Darius Rucker and Reba McEntire, the 54th Annual CMA Awards aired live on ABC from Nashville’s Music City Center on November 11.
