Sinners Like Me

1	Before She Does 3:19
2	Sinners Like Me 3:53
3	How 'Bout You 3:50
4	These Boots 3:48
5	What I Almost Was 3:21
6	The Hard Way 3:33
7	Guys Like Me 3:11
8	Lightning 5:16
9	Can't Take It with You 4:25
10	Pledge Allegiance to the Hag 4:25
11	Two Pink Lines 3:28
12	Livin' Part of Life 4:29

Barnes & Noble

On the sizzling, fuzzed-out "How 'Bout You," Eric Church asks, "I know where I come from / How 'bout you?" Well, where he comes from is a tough, uncompromising blue-collar life where the battle for respect is waged daily. He's got his share of regrets over leaving a good woman behind (the rustic, fiddle-rich "These Boots"); doesn't kid himself about getting a second chance ("I believe that Jesus is coming back / Before she does," he declares in a thumping, stomping southern rock workout, "Before She Does"); and learns the hard way that clichés aren't always true, as when his ex packs up the house and leaves -- "Can't Take It with You," indeed. Newcomer Church, who wrote or co-wrote the dozen songs on his debut, delights in wordplay, like the master he celebrates in the thundering "Pledge Allegiance to the Hag" (on which the ol' Merle himself makes a guest appearance); moreover, even with his lived-in baritone and gritty attitude, he'll go into self-deprecating mode when reflecting on a turbulent love life. Populist and traditionalist in sensibility, with a deep seam of fundamental rock 'n' roll in his hard-country stylings, Eric Church sounds like he's in it for the long haul. David McGee

All Music Guide

At a time when country music was sliding deeper and deeper into a soulless pop rut, Capitol Records Nashville took a chance on North Carolina native Eric Church and his hard-edged music. With one foot planted firmly in the Haggard tradition and the other in the outlaw style of Waylon and Hank Jr., Church stormed onto the charts with his debut album, Sinners Like Me. He grew up listening to the old-school sounds of the Hag and his outlaw brethren, but he also had one

ear tuned to the rock & roll sounds rumbling from the other side of the tracks. Sinners Like Me is a cool country-rock hybrid that is far removed from the lameness that is usually associated with the 21st century country music scene. The boot stomping grit of "Before She Does," an electric guitar steeped number that has Church wailing that Jesus will be back before the girl who left him high and dry will, sets the tone for the entire disc. Raw and real pretty much sums up the 11-track collection. One minute Church is reflecting on an old pair of boots that have seen him through many hard times on the mandolin smoked "These Boots," the next he's slipping into the skin of a death row inmate in his final moments on the lump-in-the-throat "Lightning." If you look up the word "authentic" in the dictionary, you just might see a picture of Eric Church. ~ Todd Sterling, All Music Guide