Eric Church, ‘The Outsiders’ – Album of the Month (February 2014)

Eric Church has been whipping fans into a frenzy in advance of his new album. Now readers of The Boot have voted 'The Outsiders' our Album of the Month for February 2014.

Church came out on top over a field of contenders that included country veterans Dierks Bentley and Suzy Bogguss, as well as hot newcomers Eric Paslay and Cole Swindell. 'The Outsiders' took 42 % of the total vote.

The project is the follow-up to Church’s 2011 breakthrough album ‘Chief,’ which took home Album of the Year honors from both the CMA and ACM. That album placed two No. 1 hits, ‘Springsteen’ and ‘Drink in My Hand,’ and three Top 10 hits. The singer-songwriter once again worked with producer Jay Joyce, both in production and as a songwriter.

Church kicked the album off with a bang at the 2013 CMA Awards, when he performed the genre-bending title track live to thunderous applause. The new project -- Church's fourth studio release -- sees him exploring even edgier musical territory than his previous efforts, incorporating elements of heavy rock.

“‘The Outsiders,’ the first single, is a great taste of what this album is going to be,” Church said in December. “We were pushing the envelope and doing things that we hadn’t done, creatively and artistically.”

The singer has been pumping up his fan base by sharing hints about the album online through a series of cryptic videos, and dropping the album's second single, 'Give Me Back My Hometown,' without warning. He says that song's video provides a strong sense of some of the other themes on the album.

“We’ve conceived and conceptualized what these videos are gonna be,” he states. “There’s a storyline, so basically everybody you see in the ‘Give Me Back My Hometown’ video, all the characters, they each have a story line and they all relate to each other.”

'The Outsiders' is set for release on Feb. 11.

Eric Church, 'The Outsiders' Track Listing:

1. 'The Outsiders'
2. 'A Man Who Was Gonna Die Young'
3. 'Cold One'
4. 'Roller Coaster Ride'
5. 'Talladega'
6. 'Broke Record'
7. 'Like a Wrecking Ball'
8. 'That's Damn Rock & Roll'
9. 'Dark Side'
10. 'Devil, Devil (Prelude: Princess of Darkness)'
11. 'Give Me Back My Hometown'
12. 'The Joint'