Eric Church Taps Dwight, Brandy Clark, Brothers Osborne for Tour
Eric Church has just announced the details and dates for his upcoming “The Outsiders” World arena tour, and he will be tapping some worthy talent to open for him during dates that will start on September 11th in North America, and run through December (see full dates below).
Actor, Bakersfield throwback, and West Coast country music legend Dwight Yoakam has been named as the primary support for The Outsiders Tour. Though one could make the argument that with Dwight’s standing in country, he should be the one headlining tours, the pairing has the potential to expose the work of Dwight—whose been flying under the radar and pursuing acting more in the last few years—to a new generation of fans.
Songwriter Brandy Clark, the woman behind many songs from Kacey Musgraves and the recent ACM-winning Miranda Lambert tune “Mama’s Broken Heart”, will also be offering support on selected dates. Known previously for her behind-the-scenes work, Brandy Clark broke out as a critic’s favorite with her debut release in 2013 12 Stories.
Another critical favorite that is looking to create more noise is the uprising duo Brothers Osborne, also offering support on certain dates. Brothers John Osborne and T. J. Osborne are signed to EMI; the same label as Eric Church.
Hard rock group Halestorm will also open selected dates.
Eric Church The Outsiders Tour Dates:
Sept. 11 | Bossier City, La. | CenturyLink Center*
Sept. 13 | St. Louis, Mo. | Scottrade Center*
Sept. 16 | Minneapolis, Minn. | Target Center*
Sept. 17 | Des Moines, Iowa | Wells Fargo Arena*
Sept. 18 | Omaha, Neb. | CenturyLink Center*
Sept. 25 | Louisville, Ky. | KFC Yum! Center*
Sept. 26 | Charleston, W.Va. | Charleston Civic Center*
Sept. 27 | Greensboro, N.C. | Greensboro Coliseum*
Oct. 9 | Grand Rapids, Mich. | Van Andel Arena*
Oct. 10 | Cleveland, Ohio | Quicken Loans Arena*
Oct. 11 | Pittsburgh, Pa. | Consol Energy Center*
Oct. 16 | Charlottesville, Va. | John Paul Jones Arena**
Oct. 17 | New York, N.Y. | Madison Square Garden**
Oct. 18 | Philadelphia, Pa. | Wells Fargo Center**
Oct. 23 | Manchester, N.H. | Verizon Wireless Arena**
Oct. 24 | Uncasville, Conn. | Mohegan Sun**
Oct. 25 | Uncasville, Conn. | Mohegan Sun**
Oct. 30 | Knoxville, Tenn. |Thompson-Boling Arena**
Oct. 31 | Memphis, Tenn.| FedExForum**
Nov. 1 | Tulsa, Okla. | BOK Center**
Nov. 13 | London, Ont. | Budweiser Gardens**
Nov. 14 | Hamilton, Ont. | FirstOntario Centre**
Nov. 15 | Ottawa, Ont. | Canadian Tire Centre**
Nov. 20 | Green Bay, Wis. | Resch Center
Nov. 21 | Peoria, Ill. | Peoria Civic Center***
Nov. 22 | Evansville, Ind. | The Ford Center***
Dec. 5 | Kansas City, Mo. | Sprint Center
Dec. 6 | Sioux Falls, S.D. | Denny Sanford Premier Center***
Dec. 11 | Atlanta, Ga. | The Arena at Gwinnett Center***
Dec. 12 | Lexington, Ky. | Rupp Arena***
Dec. 13 | Birmingham, Ala. | BJCC Arena***
All dates with special guest Dwight Yoakam
*denotes Brothers Osborne
**denotes Brandy Clark
***denotes Halestorm
Topher
April 9, 2014 @ 10:14 am
Eric, Dwight and Brandy… yeah, I think I’ll be catching this tour.
Kevin
April 9, 2014 @ 10:22 am
This is great news! Dwight can still perform as well as he ever did and will surely gain some new fans and Brandy Clark to opening up for him should also help her career. Love him or hate him, this is a great announcement by Eric church.
Matt
April 9, 2014 @ 10:23 am
Eric Church may be a unadultered prick, but this is a pretty bold move in my eyes. Allowing an artist like Dwight Yoakam that many of his fans will probably have never heard of will hopefully opens up some ears.
Trigger
April 9, 2014 @ 10:26 am
Nothing but credit to Eric Church. Though I’m sure plenty of backroom record label horse trading went into these decisions, he could have had Dan + Shay or some garbage open up, and instead decided to give the opportunity to a legend needing a career restart, and worthy up-and-coming talent.
And I know a lot of folks may not know about the Osborne Brothers, but they’ve been on my radar for a while and they are not bad at all.
Kevin
April 9, 2014 @ 10:30 am
You may recall he had Robert Earl Keen open up for him a couple years back, so he has a little history of having non-mainstream acts opening for him. There wasn’t a good response to Keen, though. Hopefully it’ll be different for Dwight.
Mark M
April 9, 2014 @ 10:43 am
They opened up acoustically for Eric at his album release shows. Went to the one at Joe’s and loved every song they played. They really won the place over with their musicianship and made a fan out of me.
Singles are good and definitely picking up their album when they put it out. Lets just hope they don’t go all Jerrod Niemaan or whatever on us..
Mark
April 9, 2014 @ 10:52 am
Pretty much agree here, in that Eric Church will always be an artist I respect even I’m not a fan of his material, and it’s great to see Brandy Clark getting more exposure.
That being said, I recently covered Dan + Shay’s newest album… and I actually didn’t hate it, as much as I desperately wanted to. It’s pop-country, to be sure, and there’s more electronic production than I’d like, but it’s sincere, occasionally pretty well-written, and does have a certain amount of respect for the music of the past. These are guys in one of their better songs ‘First Time Feeling’ write about listening to George Strait and it actually sounds believable (as in they probably grew up with him), and I’ll take that over a mixtape of Conway and T-Pain any day. The sound might not be your thing, but they’re definitely preferable to most of their field, that’s for damn sure.
Nick
April 9, 2014 @ 10:35 am
Pretty interesting lineup.
I saw a recent concert of Dwight’s on one of the concert channels on satellite TV, maybe from 2012 or so. The man’s voice was offensively bad. Could barely song, let alone hit some of the high twangy yelps he’s known for. Could have been a cold or something, but at the time I couldn’t help but think that was the reason for the career shift into acting. Shame, as Dwight’s still the reigning “coolest dude in country” to me.
Matt
April 9, 2014 @ 10:54 am
You may be thinking of the Stage Coach festival in 2013. Just watched it on youtube and it looked like it was televised, and yes he did sound horrible. After watching some videos from this year though I can say his voice is still in pretty good shape. He may want to drop the yelping/yodel thing in the same manner like Hank III dropped his yodel.
Nick
April 9, 2014 @ 1:01 pm
Good to hear. I honestly felt bad for the audience on that one. That’s probably the one I saw, too.
JC
April 9, 2014 @ 11:29 am
I saw Dwight live in the summer of 2013 at Jamboree in the Hills in Ohio, and he sounded great… Not sure if maybe he was under the weather or somethin the performance you saw, but myself and the rest of the crowd were really impressed by how good he was. He’s still got it, and his stage presence is second to none.
A.B.
April 9, 2014 @ 12:39 pm
I remember reading something on Dwight’s Facebook a while ago that he had a cold that didn’t want to go away. I think there were a couple of fans suggesting he rest for a bit so he could get better instead of touring non stop.
Andrew
April 10, 2014 @ 9:57 am
I saw him in Cheyenne last summer and he sounded as good as ever. Probably just had an off night on the one you saw.
Lance
April 10, 2014 @ 1:11 pm
I saw Dwight about 6 months ago and he was bang on, so you must have seen him on a less than stellar night.
Toby in AK
April 9, 2014 @ 10:40 am
Interesting. I’d definitely go to one of those shows, but I see nothing on the west coast.
When I first read the title of this article I thought of the Osborne Brothers and my heart picked up beat fast. I don’t imagine they perform anymore.
These new Osbornes sound pretty talented too.
Jason
April 9, 2014 @ 9:17 pm
Bobby Osborne is apparently still doing shows. He has an appearance coming up in May at a festival in Sevierville, TN. I was surprised to see his name on the roster.
MH
April 10, 2014 @ 6:47 am
If I’m not mistaken, Sonny Osborne suffered a career-ending stroke a long time ago that left him permanently paralyzed on one side of the body.
Tom
April 9, 2014 @ 10:41 am
I thought the Osborne Brothers’ names were Sonny and Bobby?
Josh
April 9, 2014 @ 10:42 am
I wasn’t a fan of Church’s latest album. I’m not really a fan of Church himself either. But I applaud him for choosing these talented and deserving artists to tour with him over any of the bro country artists polluting the radio. Church earned some respect from me for this move.
This is unrelated, but are you going to review Ronnie Dunn’s newest album, Trigger? I was shocked by how great it is.
Trigger
April 9, 2014 @ 11:13 am
I will have a Ronnie Dunn review up soon.
Josh
April 9, 2014 @ 11:33 am
Awesome! Can’t wait to read it.
Six String Richie
April 9, 2014 @ 11:03 am
I’m only familiar with the Brothers Osbourne’s two singles and wasn’t super impressed by them. Is their other stuff better?
Six String Richie
April 9, 2014 @ 11:04 am
Also, I kind of wish he would’ve picked a better rock band to open for him. I’ve never found Halestorm to be very interesting. Other than the fact that their singer is a girl, they seem completely forgettable to me. This could have been an opportunity to introduce poser country fans to the kind of rock music they could enjoy instead of rocked-up country.
Jack Williams
April 9, 2014 @ 11:30 am
Well. Score one for Eric Church. Good for him.
Not a EC fan
April 9, 2014 @ 11:31 am
This will be one of those tours where the opening acts will out shine the headliner. I’d hate to have to follow up after Dwight even if half the audience have never heard of him. At least, as you stated, he’ll be getting exposed to a new generation. Also, Yoakam is misspelled at the bottom of the tour schedule.
Trigger
April 9, 2014 @ 11:35 am
One time I can blame a typo on someone else because I cut and pasted the schedule from Church’s peeps.
Not a EC fan
April 9, 2014 @ 11:57 am
That’s what I figured and why I pointed it out.
BwareDWare94
April 9, 2014 @ 1:49 pm
Eric Church has been blowing his tour mates out of the water for years. I can’t count on two hands how many other concert workers in different cities I’ve heard rave about how good he was and how poor Miranda seemed in comparison when they toured together. That’s not going to change just because he’s finally touring with some worthwhile artists. He’ll hold his own, and probably be better than the others, most nights.
Like him or not the dude’s a first rate performer.
Robert Alexander
April 9, 2014 @ 11:36 am
This is actually a good move. Nice to see Eric not tour with crappy hip hop artists, and douchebag bro country guys. Plus, I’m a big Halestorm fan, wish he was coming to eastern Canada with them.
Matty merritt
April 9, 2014 @ 11:57 am
You know how pumped I am for this triggerman!!!!
Sarah Bea
April 9, 2014 @ 1:27 pm
The tour sounds exciting, but I’m disappointed there aren’t more Canadian dates. It’s odd that they aren’t playing in Northern Ontario, which has a huge country community, or at the very least Toronto. Hamilton is an odd choice.
Dana M
April 9, 2014 @ 3:16 pm
Not even a Calgary date.
Chris
April 9, 2014 @ 1:34 pm
Finally a top male artist picks a critically acclaimed female! Many act like they are afraid to because radio isn’t playing them or their music is better. Too many all bro shows.
BwareDWare94
April 9, 2014 @ 1:45 pm
I firmly believe that Eric Church has the right ideas, but they’re in another language and his only translation source is Google Translate which….well, it’s not good. At least when it comes to other musicians he seems to be able to pin down the quality artists that are out there.
hoptowntiger94
April 9, 2014 @ 3:14 pm
Reminiscent when Dwight co-headlined Brooks & Dunn’s Neon Circus and Wild West Show in 2002. I think Gary Allan and Trick Pony were on that bill, too. I didn’t make it in till Dwight hit the stage. I love Dwight. If I scored free tickets, I’d go to this show and more than likely leave before Eric Church.
Michael
April 9, 2014 @ 4:06 pm
This is very interesting to me. The pairing of Eric Church and Dwight Yoakam is odd enough, but the list of special guests is most intriguing.
I will give the Church camp props for thinking outside the box. Not familiar with the Brothers Osborne, but will be giving them a listen just because. Good for Brandy Clark. She’s gonna get some good pub out of this. She deserves it.
Now, on to the most curious choice: Halestorm. Full disclosure, I’m a huge fan of Halestorm. I think The Strange Case of…….is one of the best hard rock albums to come out lately. Before the rap influences became prevalent in country music, it was leaning more in a hard rock/southern rock direction. In fact I wrote about how Halestorm’s “I Miss the Misery” and Carrie Underwood’s “Good Girl” are practically interchangeable (lyrical content aside). A few production tweaks is all that is needed.
I just wish that leg of the tour had shows closer to me because I would just love to see what kind of reaction this gets.
Hank
April 9, 2014 @ 4:29 pm
This is fantastic news! Admittedly, I’ve seen Eric live before and really enjoyed the experience. This time I’ll be going with my interest mostly in Brandy Clark’s performance. That woman is a force!
Red Desert Strangler
April 9, 2014 @ 6:31 pm
Dwight should watch his step; on the road, Eric’s a different hang.
Trigger
April 9, 2014 @ 6:44 pm
Ha!
Matt
April 9, 2014 @ 9:45 pm
I traveled to Cincinnati to see Dwight last November to see Dwight Yoakam, and it was easily in my Top 3 Concerts I’ve been to (right up there with George Strait and Brooks & Dunn).
I’ll look forward to seeing him with Eric Church when they come to my hometown of Cleveland in October.
Noah Eaton
April 9, 2014 @ 11:47 pm
By far one of the more solid recruitment efforts of talent from varying aspects of the genre, along with mainstream rock, from a format superstar in recent memory.
Not only does Brandy Clark stand out as a rare up-and-coming female spotlight feature, but Halestorm is anchored by frontwoman Lzzy Hale. With regards to the latter, I have mixed feelings about the act. Lyrically, and musically to an extent, I can’t help but feel they’re like a female-fronted, more professional version of the worse-than-mediocre Oklahoma rock band Hinder. Yet, vocally, Lzzy Hale is among the finest and most charismatic vocalists to have captivated corporate rock listeners in quite some time. She may not light a candle to Joan Jett necessarily, but she’s got some impressive pipes nonetheless and I’ve overheard is also buoyant, good-humored and gracious among their fans. I can see why Halestorm stood out as a pick.
I’d say Brandy Clark would be the act I’m most excited to see, with the Brothers Osbourne the least. Even so, I am thrilled Church refrained from selecting an obligatory big-name labelmate (EMI Records Nashville is part of the broader Capitol Records Nashville umbrella) like Darius Rucker or Lady Antebellum to pad the line-up.
Ethan
April 10, 2014 @ 3:27 am
Trigger, you got a major mix-up with your Osborne’s. Sonny & Bobby are the Osborne Brothers. Never mind, you know exactly what you are doing. Please, everyone, after you google Dwight Yoakam please google Osborne Brothers so you can figure out who this hot new act is. You won’t be disappointed :).
I’m surprised and pleased to see Dwight Yoakam getting this level of exposure with a world arena your. To whoever mentioned the stagecoach concert, I believe he mentions in the video that he has laryngitis, or I might have read about it somewhere, but he definitely was sick. My first Dwight concert was at Billy Bob’s in Ft Worth last summer. Dwight is awesome in concert! He plays a wide range of styles, all just as good. He has always been as traditional as he is a boundary pusher. Just listen to Fast as You then look at what year it was made. A good song is a good song no matter what style. Dwight’s newest album, 3 pears, is one of my favorites. Whoever put this tour together, thank you.
FunKyChick
April 10, 2014 @ 7:55 am
I love Dwight and he is coming to my city on this tour, but I will not be going. I’ll just have to continue to enjoy hearing him on my ipod and local public radio music station. I’d like to know the last time a commercial country music station played a Dwight song.
Tom
April 10, 2014 @ 10:35 am
I don’t know if this is a bold creative move or just a marketing ploy to sell more tickets by packaging performers with largely different fan bases.
Phineas
April 10, 2014 @ 10:54 am
I concur…I wasn’t familiar with the Brothers Osborne (although I have heard of the O.G.O.B) or Halestorm and just checked both of them out…I couldn’t make it through one song of either…I think it’s great he has Brandy Clark on there btw
But in general, I can think of so many more deserving artist than ‘Halestorm’ or the Brothers Osborne…both sounded just like every fucking thing else (shitty rock music & a song about ‘let’s go there…let the sun shine…get in my truck…etc etc etc’).
I feel like Eric Church would have better taste….why not Turnpike Troubadours / Hayes Carll / Ryan Bingham or some of the other more ‘listener friendly’ bands that………actually have good music??? I would think that would play into his whole outsider persona as well (actually bringing in some ‘outsiders’).
But it might also play against him if bigger audiences were to see some of the artists that I just mentioned….and realize that there actually is good, new, country music out there…that’d be the end of the road for many of these bullshit artists /wishfulthinking
I can’t believe that the Halestorm video I watched had 3 Million + views….is anyone here a fan of them? what am I missing?
Eric
April 10, 2014 @ 2:10 pm
Nothing in California? Darn, there goes my chance to see Brandy Clark live.
Applejack
April 10, 2014 @ 2:50 pm
I understand you’re dissapointed, but do you have to use that kind of language?
CAH
April 10, 2014 @ 3:57 pm
Is there some reason the guy tries so hard to look like such a bad dude?
He may be a nice guy, but trying to project the bad boy image is a real turn-off.
If I want to see bad dudes, I’ll watch some boxing or cage-fighting, but not for country music.
Brandon
April 11, 2014 @ 1:38 pm
I saw Brothers Osborne open for David Nail and they put on a great show with a full band. John Osborne was really good on guitar. Their singles are definitely the more “radio friendly” songs based on what all they played live. They have better songs, but “Let’s Go There” and “Rum” probably gave them the best opportunity for air-time in the current state of “country” radio.
They are part of a group of artists/friends in Nashville that includes Kacey Musgraves, Misa Arriaga (Kacey’s boyfriend and guitar player) Lucie Silvas, and Kree Harrison (2nd place on American Idol). You’ll find John and Misa playing guitar on Kree’s Grand Ole Opry debut. John was previously in a band with Charlie Worsham as well.
Rakor1906
April 15, 2014 @ 9:25 am
I will definitely go to this show. I haven’t seen Dwight in concert since college when he played Rupp Arena…..his opening act was Tim Mcgraw.
I have seen Eric Church a couple times and he does put on a good show, however based on his new album I was gonna pass. But with Dwight Yoakam playing ?…that’s my ticket to go to this show.