Sinners Like Me

With song like "These Boots" and "Pledge Allegiance To The Hag," Eric Church clearly aligns himself with the honky-tonk Bakersfield Sound school of country music, and his rustic twang of a voice is similarly pure country. There are several commercial Nashville touches to this debut as well, like the hip-hop-inspired drum loop that powers the opening track "Before She Does" and the Big 'N' Rich country-rock of the first single "How 'Bout You." Overall, however, Church's heart is in the roadhouse, not the strip mall.