Eric Church has the potential to become country music’s next Dierks Bentley, whether or not he makes it big at radio. What I mean by this is that he is both a consistent songwriter and a talented singer who obviously enjoys what he’s doing and has the unique and rare ability to incorporate contemporary sounds with traditional qualities and values to create both a memorable and attractive song, a quality that spelt instant stardom for Bentley in his early years.

It is these kinds of songs that make up Church’s long awaited sophomore album Carolina. Not only did Church have a hand in penning every single track on this album, he manages continuously incorporate a feeling on honesty, personal relevance and universal significance in most, if not all of these tracks.

From heartbreak to living on the edge Church covers a wide variety of circumstances that eventually apply to every life. in addition, this proud blue collar Carolinian provides a wide variety of emotions throughout this project from upbeat and rebellious to tortured and demeaned, each with it’s own special story to go along with it. Carolina is a very risky and shifty album, exploring some major risk areas in both sound and writing that make it all the more interesting in the end.

Church has defiantly proven that he knows what he is doing and how he wants to do it. Whether country radio or even the country community accepts him is out of the question, this blue collar country star has the talent and the urge to get it done. This album was not made to please the masses, but to please Church and those who want to, and should, take the time to listen.