Kid on the Cover of Eric Church’s ‘Mr. Misunderstood’ Album Has a WNY Connection

Eric Church recently released a new album called "Mr. Misunderstood". The album itself was a secret to just about everyone except Eric and his band. He didn’t even tell his record label what it was; According to Record Archive co-owner Alayna Alderman, he told them it as a Christmas album. But there was a person from Western New York who had a bit of insight into the album.

That person was a 14-year-old freshman at Webster Schroeder High School in Rochester, NY. His name is Mickey Smay.

You see, Smay is the face that graces the cover of the album and also the character in the video for the title track. He is also the person who got to make the announcement to the world that the new album was being released at a press conference before the CMA Awards show on November 4th.

So how did the connection between Rochester and Nashville happen? According to this article in The Tennessean, he was seen by a record executive who thought that he had the right look for the part:

"The whole Mr. Misunderstood intrigue came about after the Smay family was staying in Nashville with John Peets, whose wife is a close friend of Record Archive co-owner Alayna Alderman. Jason has worked at Record Archive for a few years when not on the road. Peets, who manages The Black Keys, Sturgell Simpson, Marty Stuart and Church, spotted Mickey and thought he had the right look for the cover of the album that Church was secretly recording. After Peets ran the idea past a few layers of Church’s management, Mickey returned to Nashville this summer for a photo shoot."

While watching the video, you'll also see Mickey's father Jason as the parental figure.