‘RS Interview: Special Edition’ With Eric Church Joseph Hudak Eric Church wrote and recorded his new triple album Heart & Soul during a monthlong retreat to a North Carolina mountain town. For this installment of the Rolling Stone Interview: Special Edition, however, the country music protagonist is Zooming in from his writing cabin just west of Nashville. At the time of our conversation, Church was gearing up for the release of Heart & Soul — the Soul components are available far and wide April 16th and 23rd, respectively; the & album only to members of his Church Choir fan club, for now. It’s an ambitious project, even for Church, an artist who has made a career of, for the most part, going against the Nashville grain. Yes, he’s signed to a major label, but he and his manager John Peets maintain a level of artistic control that’s on par with what Willie and Waylon fought for in the Seventies. Few country-radio stars would release a track titled “Stick That in Your Country Song” as an album’s first single.