CHIEF-Eric Church (EMI)

This is one of the strongest Country albums I’ve heard in years. It’s sold 200k albums in it’s first two weeks on the shelves and is #1 in SoundScan. I can imagine every cut on it being a single. The two leaders in a blue-chip field are the two Jesus songs. (Imagine having two cuts with His name in their titles on the same album!) Country Music Jesus is a title that could’ve lead right to sacrilege the way Kid Rock’s ‘Rock n Roll Jesus’ did. Could’ve been an ego trip the way Kid’s was. But it is something wholly different and refreshing and uplifting. It testifies that things are tough and getting’ worse and we could use the second coming now. And folks, I propose their ain’t a Christian listener in our cume who wouldn’t venture to say that Jesus would be a Country music fan, for sure. Like Jesus Does is the love song of a man of many failings, married to a Christian woman who doesn’t give up on him, who loves him like Jesus does.