In his new music video for “Heart on Fire,” Eric Church travels back in time for a journey through his own impressive career.
Directed by Reid Long, the clip shows Church inserting a VHS tape labeled “2006-2019,” which then flashes a warning that reads: “DO NOT MANIPULATE COPYRIGHTED MUSIC VIDEOS.”
As the video progresses, fans can see that those words were a cheeky nod to the ‘deep fake’ technology used to edit Church’s previous music videos, including those for “Two Pink Lines,” “Mr. Misunderstood” and “Springsteen.”
The digitally-edited clips make it appear as though those clips of Church — captured years earlier — show him singing the lyrics to “Heart on Fire.” It all builds up to a present day performance of the track, featuring vocal powerhouse Joanna Cotten and the rest of his seasoned backing band.
“Heart on Fire” is Church’s third single from his seventh studio album Heart & Soul, which was released in April. The reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year is tied with Chris Stapleton for the most nominations at the 2021 CMA Awards, which will be held Nov. 10 in Nashville.
Church is currently out on the Gather Again Tour, a lengthy headlining tour which has dates scheduled across the U.S. through summer 2022. Although his entire band is vaccinated, Church performed solo for the tour’s Oct. 8 and 9 tour stops after multiple band members contracted COVID-19.
You can find a full list of live dates at Eric Church’s official website.
Best Country Albums of 2021 – Critic’s Pick
There have been many creative country albums in 2021, but not all have hit the mark. Artists are more than ever toying with distribution methods and packaging as much as they are new sounds, so you get double and triple albums, Part 1 and Part 2, and digital EPs in lieu of a traditional 10 or 11-song release.
More than ever, this relied on staff opinion and artistic merit to allow for some parity among major label artists and independents. The 10 albums listed below are not ranked, although the year-end list published in the fall will crown a true best album of 2021.