Eric Church has been making bold moves since the start of his career. He demonstrated this right off the bat when he was a new artist opening for Rascal Flatts in 2006. But what started off as a great opportunity has become country music folklore, thanks to Church’s rebellious attitude.
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In 2006, Church introduced himself to the world with his debut album, Sinners Like Me. After three of the album’s four singles peaked inside the Top 20 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart – his debut single “How ‘Bout You,” “Two Pink Lines” and “Guys Like Me” – coupled with the album’s overall success of reaching No. 7 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and the Top 30 on the all-genre Billboard 200, Church was offered an opening slot on Brad Paisley and Rascal Flatts’ tours.
Church hopped on the Flatts’ Me and My Gang Tour in 2006 where he proved to be somewhat controversial. The hitmaker made a habit out of repeatedly performing too loud and past his allotted time slot each night. Rather than fire him outright, Rascal Flatts attempted to barter with the newcomer by asking him multiple times to not play overtime. When that didn’t work, they even offered to give him an earlier start time and add 12 minutes to his set.
“We sat him down in our dressing room and were like, ‘We’ll put you on early so you can play longer. But please, just be off the stage because we still have to do our show,’” Jay DeMarcus said in 2014 (quote via The Boot). But their attempts to negotiate fell by the wayside as Church continued to play his own way, which resulted in mounting fines for the trio.
The final straw came after their show at Madison Square Garden in New York City when the trio asserted that they’re charged thousands of dollars for every extra minute. Church still didn’t abide and deliberately played 20 minutes of overtime. He lasted only a handful of shows before he was fired from the tour.
“It was just a bit disrespectful because when you’re an opening act, we did our best to abide by the rules that the headliner laid out for us,” DeMarcus continued. “And you just do that and there was no goodwill being sent back to us, and it wasn’t worth the trouble, so we said, ‘See ya.'”
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Church was not upset by the firing. In fact, he added salt to the wound by embarking on the Me and Myself Tour wherein he purposefully booked shows in the same cities on the same nights that the Flatts were performing. “We ended up banished to the wilderness,” Church told Playboy about the firing. “Nobody would touch us. It’s like we were nuclear.”
However, the firing worked out for everyone. Church’s slot was filled by a young Taylor Swift following the release of her self-titled debut album. Before starting, Church assured her that she was a great fit for the tour and that the audience would love her. But he had a specific request, telling her she had to give him her first gold record as a reward.
True to her word, Swift sent him a signed plaque of her self-titled album after it went gold with a handwritten note that said, “Thanks for playing too long and too loud on the Flatts tour. I sincerely appreciate it. Taylor.” That plaque now hangs in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s exhibit on the singer, Eric Church: Country Heart, Restless Soul.
Photo Credit: Anthony D’Angi/Courtesy EB Media
