Eric Church Unveils ‘Hands of Time’ in Electric Live Premiere at 2025 ACM Awards

At the 2025 ACM Awards, Eric Church premiered his new single “Hands of Time” live for the first time, accompanied by two horn players, five backup singers, along with his regular band.

Church kept it cool in his signature sunglasses on the ACM stage. He performed in front of a giant projection of an old-school clock and gears. Some of the audience members enthusiastically got to their feet while he was performing.

“Hands of Time” is the first track on Church’s new album,
Evangeline vs. the Machine
, an album adorned with horns, strings, and a vibrant choir throughout most of its tracks. This work brings fans their nearest taste of familiarity from Church, offering them a catchy, polished, radio-friendly anthem complete with a sing-along chorus and nods to well-known classics such as “Hollywood Nights,” “Back in Black,” and “Even the Losers.” (This echoes elements found within the lyrics of his 2016 chart-topping single “Record Year.”)

Evangeline vs. the Machine
also includes the studio version of
“Johnny,”
a song he performed live in Nashville last year at all 23 of his
To Beat the Devil
residency shows at his bar Chief’s. The song, inspired by Charlie Daniels Band’s “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” was the climax of the show, involving a “flash” choir that materialized seemingly out of nowhere to help send “Johnny” to the rafters.

Rolling Stone
‘s four-and-a-half-star review of
Evangeline vs. the Machine
hailed the LP as a “masterwork…that cements Church’s legacy as a try-anything artist, one with more in common with, say, Dylan than his peers. It’s impossible to think of another mainstream country singer daring enough to emphasize French horn over electric guitar on a major-label album.”

Church is set to perform
Evangeline vs. the Machine
during specific performances in Nashville, London, and at Colorado’s Red Rocks, prior to starting his tour
Free the Machine Tour
in the fall.