On November 5^th, Eric Church had a surprise album release entitled Mr. Misunderstood. Whether you’re a die hard fan that’s been listening to Eric from the beginning or just getting into his music now, the verdict is in: Mr. Misunderstood is a hit.

Mr. Misunderstood combines all of Church’s styles in a 10 song album that is currently sitting at number three on Billboard’s Top 200. The classic country, mixed in with rock and vinyl gives country fans something different, and is why Eric Church is so successful. Mr. Misunderstood stays on the same path, but isn’t afraid to create its own something special to make it his most unique piece of work.

In Church’s last album The Outsiders, heavy-rock was the primary theme, and it was a huge hit on the country music scene having four top hits. On Mr. Misunderstood, Eric juggles a ton of different themes, giving fans an awesome experience that they’ve never heard from him before.

Church expresses his love for writing in this album, and his stories are as interesting as they are awesome. One of my favorites, “Knives of New Orleans”, tells the tale of man on the run from his own sins and looking for his key to escape. After hearing this tune, I saw an immediate resemblance to Eric’s and my own personal hero Bruce Springsteen. “The Boss” is known for telling amazing stories in his songs, and Eric does just that in this song.

Church goes into killing all the negativity in the world and in his own life with the song “Kill a Word”, but comes back with an upbeat- party song in “Chattanooga Lucy” that never fails to keep my foot tapping. Eric continues to show variety in his music, and that’s why he is so great.

The thing that makes Mr. Misunderstood different from previous Church albums is that I can’t pick a favorite song. Right out of the gate I knew my favorite from Eric Church’s The Outsiders was “Talladega”. On the album Chief it was “Springsteen”, on Carolina it was “Hell on the Heart”, and on Sinners Like Me a tie between “Pledge Allegiance To The Hag” and “What I Almost Was”. But with Misunderstood, I can’t choose between the 10. Maybe it’s because the album has only been out for a month, but I talked to some other fans to hear their input.

“Mr. Misunderstood is my favorite song on the album, it really has Eric Church’s style all over it,” Chris Fox said. Fox, who has always been a Church supporter, says that this album is the only one from Eric Church where he finds he can sit down and listen to each song, and not get bored from any of them. I can’t disagree, I have yet to pick out of a song that I like significantly less than another.

Whatever your favorite tune is, you can’t disagree that this is great work from Eric Church. This surprise album not only gave his fans more music, but showed how he is all about being a man for the people. The man who is misunderstood by country music has hit another home run with Mr. Misunderstood.