Eric Church opened his first of two shows at Colorado's Red Rocks Amphitheater ... well, quietly. Armed only with an acoustic guitar, the country star mixed his own "Mistress Named Music" with a slew of classic rock and country hits.

Church sang through most of "Mistress Named Music," but at the line "But 'til I'm gone, I'll be chasing this song," he segued into Bob Seger's "Like a Rock" ... then Kenny Loggins' "Danny's Song" ... then Little Feat's "Willin'," Billy Joel's "Piano Man" and George Strait's "Troubadour." Readers can press play above to watch the performance, which begins at the six-minute mark.

"Mistress Named Music" is the second track on Church's newest album, Mr. Misunderstood, which he dropped in early November, as a surprise. In the video above, he adds into the song a mention of Denver's Grizzly Rose, earning a loud cheer from the audience.

Just before taking the stage at Red Rocks, Church announced, live on Facebook, his plans for a tour in 2017. The Holdin' My Own Tour will begin in mid-January and run through the end of May, with 50-plus dates currently scheduled. Church will not bring an opening act on tour with him, instead playing two sets with an intermission in between, and has put new protocols in place to further his mission to combat scalping.

“The way this album came together mandated we release it as a surprise, straight to our fans, as it was important for me to deliver the music the same way the creativity hit me — directly and swiftly. What I didn’t anticipate is that it left me scratching my head a little, as this year was supposed to be spent writing.” Church says. “What this year’s open schedule did afford us was time to think through the way the fans experience our music live, and it was important to us that we find a way to stick to these same principles when it came to approaching our shows, down to the way they go on sale.”

Church's second Red Rocks concert will take place on Wednesday night (Aug. 10).

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