Eric Church Calls ‘Stick That in Your Country Song’ the ‘Right Song for the Right Moment in Time’

Eric Church released his new single, “Stick That in Your Country Song,” last week, the defiant track demanding change when it comes to the topics country artists choose for their music. The song was recorded during a retreat in North Carolina, where Church spent a month with other writers and his band working on new material. He explained that while the message of “Stick That in Your Country Song” felt important to him then, the following months only made it more relevant, a phenomenon he has only experienced a few times.

“The greatest thing about ‘Stick That In Your Country Song’ is it really became almost a harbinger of things that were to come,” Church said in a statement, via iHeartRadio. “We were in the mountains of North Carolina, this is January, this is before COVID, this is before social, racial unrest, riots, protests, and as real as the song was to me then, it became a hundred times more real as time continued to evolve. That’s rare. I’ve only had that happen, maybe a time or two. And, it just felt like I was meant to cut the song and to sing the song, and that’s the reason it’s the first single. It felt like it was the right song for the right moment in time. And, I’m proud of the job we did on it.”

“Stick That in Your Country Song” was written by Davis Naish and Jeffrey Steele back in 2015, and while it was always meant for Church, the writers didn’t send it to him until Church invited Steele to write with him for his upcoming project. “[He got] up the courage to send the song to Eric and just see what he thought of it,” Naish told The Boot. “And I remember Jeffrey telling me that Eric basically spent an hour where he couldn’t get past the first verse: He just kept rewinding it and kept playing it.”

The song became the most-added at country radio this week, making its radio debut on June 25. It is one of several tastes of new music that Church has given fans in recent months — In May, he performed a new song, “Never Break Heart,” for ACM Presents: Our Country, he sang “Jenny” for the StageCouch live stream and he recently teased another new track, “Through My Ray-Bans.” Church’s new album does not yet have an announced title or release date, but according to him, it contains “unequivocally my favorite music we’ve done.”