Eric Church aims to “push the boundaries” with his soon-to-premiere IMAX concert film, and connect thousands of people through music at his headlining tour.

Church caught up with CBS Mornings co-hosts Gayle King, Nate Burleson and Vladimir Duthiers on Tuesday (February 10). The interview arrives one day before the Evangeline vs. The Machine Comes Alive IMAX theatrical release, and days before Church delivers his 19-track live concert album, recorded at the “newest cutting-edge venue” in Nashville, Tennessee. Duthiers said the country megastar’s latest endeavors are “mind-blowing for me.” He went on to point out Church’s “high-energy” concerts, and run of shows that kicks it unto the “next level.” After a decades-long career, Duthiers asked Church, “why do you feel the need to push yourself creatively at this point?”

“I think it’s an honor to be able to be in anything that you do a long time, right?” Church said. “So, to be able to do music, it was such a moonshot for me to ever be able to have one successful song or one successful album. I feel like the more successful you are, the more you should push that boundary. And that comes from the artists that I grew up with that had that creative compass. And to me, it’s like people sometimes when they get successful, they pull back and they do what made them successful because they’re making money and they’re successful, and they stay there. I think that’s actually the time that you do push the boundaries. That’s the artists I love.”

Church’s run of shows includes music from his latest studio album, Evangeline vs The Machine, plus his unforgettable career-spanning hits; however, this time, Church reimagined his iconic anthems with a 20-person orchestra. Reimagined renditions play on massive IMAX screens with a six-piece band, four-piece horns, four-piece strings, eight-piece choir and vocalist Joanna Cotten, per a previously-issued press release and King wanted to know “what was it like to see you up there on an IMAX screen?”

“It was unnerving,” Church replied. “We went to a screening in L.A., and from my perspective, every night I see my microphone and I see the people. I never see this behind me. And first of all, in IMAX, you’re 12-foot tall…which I didn’t mind,” he said with a laugh. “But it was unnerving in that setting just to kind of — and also kind of enlightening to see it all happen. The stuff that I never get to see, I got to watch it on the IMAX (screen). And the thing about the IMAX is it freezes a moment in time. And I’m gonna get older, those fans are gonna get older, but we froze that moment in time forever musically.

“Music is more than just what is in the genre, right? If you’re in rock or pop or rap or Latin, it’s all, these are the instruments we use,” he said of the reimagined versions. “But the instruments we used for this are instruments that have been used for hundreds of years in orchestral music. And we tried to bring that in to show that you can still take the same song that I wrote on the first album many years ago, (and) I write the song now, and (these are) the changes that can be made musically to give a different interpretation.”

Church echoed those sentiments at an early screening of the IMAX concert film in late January in Nashville. he said his performances at The Pinnacle in May 2025 were “really special nights,” and now, “we’ll be able to look back at that moment in time.” Evangeline vs. The Machine Comes ALive will premiere in IMAX on Wednesday (February 11) with additional showings on Saturday (February 14). Church’s live album will arrive on Friday (February 13). His 2026 “Free the Machine Tour” spans into April with Caylee Hammack, Ella Langley, 49 Winchester, Stephen Wilson Jr., Kashus Culpepper and Ashley McBryde on select dates. See the tour stops below.

“When I go to these cities and we play for 15,000, 20,000 people, I know that a majority of those people that are watching me do not agree with the person beside them. But for those three hours, they do,” Church said of music’s power to bring people together. “The interesting thing about the, at least with the IMAX film, you don’t — if I want to watch a sporting event tonight, I’m going to go and if I want to go to the (game), that’s great. If I don’t, I’m going to watch it on television. Can’t do that with concerts, right? I can’t just tune in to who’s playing in Cleveland. So, the concerts are a little bit different that way, and that’s why the IMAX film mattered.”

Travis