Spending nearly 20 years in country music, Eric Church showcased his talents with hit songs like “Like Jesus Does”, “Creepin’”, “Homeboy”, and “Hell on the Heart.” Having won numerous awards for his contributions to the music industry, the hitmaker recently recalled some of the darkest moments of his life and the one thing that helped him get through those rough times.
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Speaking with CBS Mornings, Church took fans on a trip into the past. But while most recall the happy moments, the singer pointed in a different direction. In 2017, Church received some startling news when doctors located a blood clot in his chest. Undergoing emergency surgery, the doctors were able to remove the clot. Church insisted, “It was the first time in my life I had evaluated my own mortality, one, but then a lot of other people’s mortality too.”
After taking some time off, Church returned to the stage when he performed at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival in Las Vegas in 2017. While playing the festival, it would soon become the crime scene for one of the deadliest mass shootings in the United States. A gunman killed 59 people and injured hundreds more. “I watched people that night hold up boots and sing at the top of their lungs, and then two days later, it was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. I had a lot of fans that had stayed over for the weekend to see all the shows that got killed.”
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Eric Church Lost One Of His Biggest Supporters
And just a year later, Church watched as his younger brother Brandon passed away. With his brother always supporting his music career, the singer found himself in a dark place. Wanting to find his way back to the light, Church explained the one thing that kept him going. “I went through a period there… lot of darkness in that period. 8 months of (being) pretty dark. I got through like everything else I’ve gotten through in my life.” He continued, “I turned to the one thing I know I can do. I wrote songs.”
While preparing to hold a 19-show residency at his Nashville bar, Church shared his inspiration behind the concerts. “What I’m trying to show with the residency here is that it was really the songwriting and the songs that nobody’s heard. That I’ve never put on a record because it was too personal, it was too close. I’m gonna play those, and I’m going to say, ‘This is what got me through.’”
(Photo by Terry Wyatt/WireImage,)
