Eric Church, Ashley McBryde Team at ACMs for Ominous 'The Snake'

July 2024 · 1 minute read

The duo performed Church's ominous composition "The Snake," which uses a swampy acoustic guitar riff as a base for a grimly bleak portrait of America's partisan politics, and how the two major parties are parasitic forces in society.

The lyrics of "The Snake" portray America's two most influential parties as two snakes feeding on the electorate.

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"Rattlesnake, copperhead / Either one of them kill you dead / We stay hungry, they get fed. . . . And the whole world’s burning down," they sang over a doomful background.

Church is living this situation, having told Rolling Stone that he couldn't bring himself to vote in the 2016 election, as he was displeased with the choice between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. He "just didn't see much" in Clinton, and in regard to Trump, he says, “I don’t want to vote for somebody I’ll regret voting for.”

His gritty vocals, set off by McBryde's equally weary delivery, provided an eerie air to the otherwise lighthearted and celebratory vibe at Las Vegas' MGM Grand Garden Arena.

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