Hozier takes Atlanta to ‘Church’

With George Ezra. 8:30 p.m. March 13. Sold out. The Tabernacle, 152 Luckie St., Atlanta. 1-800-745-3000, livenation.com.

8 p.m. May 8. $25.50-$52.50. Nontable setup show; no coolers or carry-ins allowed. Chastain Park Amphitheatre, 4469 Stella Drive N.W., Atlanta. 1-800-745-3000, ticketmaster.com.

Before Hozier stepped onto the Grammy stage alongside Annie Lennox last month, he experienced a foreign feeling: nervousness.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve felt that way before a performance,” the soft-spoken Irishman said by phone last week from a tour stop in Ohio. “Just playing the Grammy stage was such a huge honor, and to do it with Annie … that was just the surreal cherry on the cake.”

It’s been that kind of year for the soulful singer-songwriter-guitarist born Andrew Hozier-Byrne — he prefers Andrew or Andy in conversation — as he ascends from barely known troubadour in his home of County Wicklow, Ireland, to lauded musical poet worldwide.

The catalyst for this sudden attention is his meaningful breakout hit, “Take Me to Church,” which strikes the thoughtful Hozier (rhymes with “cozier”) as “flattering, but strange — and a little jarring.”

The measured slow burner infused with elements of gospel and blues — and a message of frustration about the church’s stance against homosexuality — exploded internationally, going multi-platinum from the U.S. to the U.K. to Australia.

The song earned a Grammy nomination for song of the year (Hozier lost to another tenderfoot with something to say — Sam Smith and his “Stay with Me”) and has even inspired a club-thumping remix that Hozier said he has yet to hear.

“I don’t know how I feel about it, to be honest,” Hozier said of the remix. “I definitely didn’t OK it, but just because someone does a remix, for me to say it’s automatically terrible would be wrong, too. I suppose if it encourages people to listen to the song in its true form, then that’s a good thing.”

He’s also eager to enlighten fans about the rest of the material on his visceral, self-titled debut album, released last fall.

They’ll have plenty of opportunities to hear what Hozier — who turns 25 later this month — and his seven-piece band are offering live during the singer’s three upcoming Atlanta dates.

On Tuesday, Hozier makes his Atlanta debut with a show at Variety Playhouse — a makeup from October, when he was felled by illness.

Brad Syna, general manager of the venue, said he remembers getting the call an hour before doors were to open at 7 p.m. that Hozier couldn’t perform, under doctors’ orders.

The show was sold out — and still is — and Syna acknowledged that he and Variety owner Steve Harris jumped on booking Hozier last year after Harris heard “Take Me to Church” on several SiriusXM channels.

“The song is just catchy,” Syna said. “(Hozier) seems like he’s the leader of the soulful male vocalists right now, like we had the females with Adele and Amy Winehouse. It seems like that’s the hot thing right now.”

Three days after his Variety show, Hozier and his bandmates head to the Tabernacle (lest he get any rest, the crew will pile onto the tour bus for a concert in Charlotte in between). That show, which is being co-promoted by Harris’ Windstorm Productions and Live Nation, was put on sale last fall and sold out in two hours.

Then, on May 8, Hozier will return for a performance at Chastain Park Amphitheatre (tickets are on sale now), which is a style of venue that is new to him.

“I’ve never played an amphitheater before, so I’m not sure how the acoustics will fly. I guess we’ll see,” he said with a soft laugh.

Along with his deftness with sensitive yet incisive lyrics, Hozier possesses a mane of luxurious locks (“This Hozier could give Howard Stern a good fight for ‘best hair,’” comedian Wanda Sykes tweeted the night of the Grammys) and the sort of mysterious, brooding features that make for the perfect heartthrob.

Mention this newfound status, though, and you can practically hear Hozier blush over the phone.

“I didn’t view that as something that would be part of my career,” he said. “I wasn’t that person in high school growing up, so (the attention) is very strange to me — but in a nice way.”

During those formative years, Hozier was busy listening to Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, gospel and Delta blues (his dad is a blues musician in Dublin). His old-soul tendencies are apparent in the puzzling and intriguing cover art for his debut, which his mother painted.

Hozier agreed that the additional layer of artistic insight that used to come in the form of an album cover is diminished in this largely Internet-listening world, but he is grateful for his own time spent studying lyrics and liner notes.

“Tom Waits’ covers were fascinating before you even listened to anything, and Frank Zappa’s artwork really connected,” he said. “There’s nothing like holding vinyl in your hand. It’s an event to put on an album. It’s not a compact form of media. There is a ritual to putting on an album and listening to it in its entirety.”

While writing on the road isn’t his ideal forum — especially while sharing a tour bus with the band and “living in other people’s pockets” — Hozier said he is already thinking about the “landscape” for his next album.

Touring will be his life for the next year and, after that, some well-earned vacation time to decompress.

But the itch to make more music is always there and Hozier is ready to embrace it.

“I’m really looking forward to the next album,” he said. “I can’t wait, to be honest.”