Teaming up with Morgan Wallen on 2023’s Man Made a Bar, Eric Church has forged a bond with the best-selling country star. And that bond seems virtually unshakeable, holding up through all of Wallen’s various career controversies. One scandal hit particularly close to home for the “Springsteen” crooner when his buddy allegedly chucked a chair from the rooftop of his Nashville bar, Chief’s, last April. Recently, Church opened up to Rolling Stone about showing grace to the “I’m the Problem” crooner.
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“I remember when things took off for [me], and it’s nowhere near the way it took off for him, but that’s a really weird time. It can be really hard to deal with,” the four-time CMA Award winner said. “We talked about a lot of that, and the shortest answer is, I would trust him with my kids.”
Comparing Wallen to another country music megastar, Jelly Roll, Church praised the reigning Entertainer of the Year’s “unabashed honesty,” particularly concerning his own shortcomings.
“When he screws up, sometimes just even privately, he owns it. There’s that vulnerability of ‘I’m flawed and I’m sorry and I screwed up,’” he said. “There’s something about that that is wholesome. I think we hide so much, especially being in the commercial music business — show business — you try to fabricate what you are.”
Recently, Church and Wallen reunited for “Number 3 and Number 7” on the latter’s latest project, I’m the Problem.
[RELATED: The Song Morgan Wallen Recorded “Strictly” for Eric Church on His New Album]
Eric Church Thinks Morgan Wallen’s Arrest Was a Good Thing
Last April, Eric Church was at home watching college basketball when he received a call from Morgan Wallen. The “Cowgirls” hitmaker was calling with bad news: Police had arrested him after witnesses said they saw him pick up a chair and throw it from the sixth-story roof of Chief’s, Church’s then newly-opened bar on Broadway Street.
“I said, ‘Uh-oh,’” the “Drink In My Hand” singer, 48, told the Los Angeles Times. “I knew it was gonna be noisy, and it was — it was damn noisy.”
Seven months later, Wallen pleaded guilty in Davidson Country court to two misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment. He received two years’ probation and a seven-day sentence at a DUI Education Center.
“It was actually a good thing for Mo,” Church said. “I think that was a line for him, and he’s done really well since then — it was a thing he’s reacted positively to as a person.”
Featured image by Tammie Arroyo/Shutterstock
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