Eric Church will release his new album, the curiously titled Evangeline vs. The Machine, on May 2. It’s the follow-up to 2021’s three-disc opus Heart & Soul and includes the previously released “Darkest Hour,” a cover of Tom Waits’ “Clap Hands,” off 1985’s Rain Dogs, and the just released new song “Hands of Time.”
“As I get older, I’m looking for things that make me feel not as old,” Church said of “Hands of Time.” “I can honestly say that when I hear music or see something from my past, I feel like I did then; I relate to what it was then. I really believe that a good way to handle that is with music.”
Co-written by Church with Scooter Carusoe, “Hands of Time” is a nostalgic jukebox, full of allusions to songs and artists that were essential to Church’s career: Bob Seger and “Hollywood Nights,” Tom Petty and “Even the Losers,” AC/DC’s “Back in Black,” and Willie and Waylon’s “Luckenbach, Texas,” among them. It’s similar to what Church did with his 2016 hit “Record Year,” only this time with an admission that he’s getting long in the tooth. “We ain’t as young as we use to be/But young at heart is so easy/When you let some loud guitars/And words and rhymes handle the hands of time,” he sings.
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Evangeline vs. The Machine was produced by Church’s trusted collaborator Jay Joyce and features a choir, strings, and songs like “Johnny,” a rousing evocation for the fiddle-playing hero of Charlie Daniels’ “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” to return and vanquish a new round of earthy evil.
Hands of Time track list:
1. “Hands of Time” (Eric Church, Scooter Carusoe)
2. “Bleed on Paper” (Tucker Beathard, Casey Beathard, Monty Criswell)
3. “Johnny” (Eric Church, Luke Laird, Brett Warren)
4. “Storm in Their Blood” (Eric Church)
5. “Darkest Hour” (Eric Church)
6. “Evangeline” (Eric Church, Luke Laird, Barry Dean)
7. “Rocket’s White Lincoln” (Eric Church)
8. “Clap Hands” (Tom Waits)