[Updated]: Eric Church Surprises Fans, Industry With ‘Mr. Misunderstood’

Eric Church’s Mr. Misunderstood album.

Updated [7:35 p.m, Nov. 4, 2015]:

Eric Church gave fans a treat backstage at the 2015 Country Music Association Awards, by announcing that his album Mr. Misunderstood has been released to iTunes.

He also released a letter to fans, stating that Mr. Misunderstood came from a series of writing sessions on a guitar affectionately named “butter bean” by Church’s son Boone. “I wrote my first song on ‘Butter Bean’ late this summer,” Church explained. “20 days later, I had 18 songs. 20 days following that, I had 10 recorded. That was 30 days ago. It always takes me time to look for inspiration to make a new album. This time inspiration came looking for me. Together we found Mr. Misunderstood. Today, it’s yours.”

[Original post, Nov. 4, 2015]:

Eric Church and his team surprised some members of his fan club, The Church Choir, on the morning of the CMA Awards (Nov. 4) with early, unannounced copies of an album titled Mr. Misunderstood arriving in their mailboxes. Vinyl and CD copies of the unannounced 10-track album were sent to select fans, as well as some radio and music industry members.

It seems that the project is the follow-up to Church’s 2014 successful album, The Outsiders, although at press time, Church’s label, publicist and management had not publicly confirmed nor denied the album, nor have representatives responded to queries from MusicRow.

Fans uploaded audio snippets of the tracks to YouTube, but the tracks were taken down.

The track listing for the album includes “Mr. Misunderstood,” “Mistress Named Music,” “Chattanooga Lucy,” “Mixed Drinks About Feelings,” “Knives of New Orleans,” “Round Here Buzz,” “Kill A Word,” “Holdin’ My Own,” “Record Year,” and “Three Year Old,” a track Church previewed earlier this year during his concert at Nashville’s Ascend Amphitheater.

EMI Records Nashville, Church’s label, has not confirmed or denied rumors that the project will officially release this week.

Church and Keith Urban are early CMA Award winners this year, picking up Musical Event of the Year for “Raise ‘Em Up.” He will kick off tonight’s CMA Awards with a performance alongside Hank Williams Jr.