Eric Church called back the first time he saw Taylor Swift: an artist with a future and a soul, even before the world knew it. He shared the memory during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and the story about getting the boot on the staple-ad-and Rascal Flatts tour has a twist of fate that even a master storyteller would applaud.
Church was tapped as the opener on the famed Me and My Gang tour back in 2006, his first shot at arenas. “I was invited to no longer be a part of,” he explained with that trademark Church grin. He kept it classy, “That’s all I’m gonna say about that one.” Nobody needs the in-between tea when the story already brews 24k gold. A few weeks later, an opening slot was still open, and Swift slipped in. She exploded that tour mile marker with a flair no one saw coming.
Fast forward a little: choir girl-turned-country-crossover-turned-cinematic-phenom Taylor “Karma” Swift hits multi-Platinum with her runaway debut. She remembers the guys who had stage weeks and stage blemishes. Church, being Church, was still living his underdog legend and wearing it as a badge.
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He didn’t even push the final ‘sometimes’ button; she showed up with her first gold plaque in tow—just a gift that still reads: “I’m so grateful, brother.” Swift, armed with a smiling 1x plaque, suits the master: it was a light swig of vinyl with waves of future bobsy to head.
Church smiled, explains the whole The Late Show nod and thoughtful glitter the plaque of breezy gestures makes. The legend lines: perfect plot for hungry dreamin’ joggers, a pinch of hun gets the nudge and an icon gets to plant his fate. Court: the quarterback of arena his dropout program. The whole world then began showcasing his “Springsteen” and her squad of I’m-My- and the fierce compass of fate kept on spinning.
“But when the invite stopped coming, it was at Madison Square Garden that it hit me. If you’re going to get the silent treatment, that’s the spot to get it, right, Jimmy?” he said to Fallon, still cracking up at the memory.
“The next day, right after I heard I was getting pulled from the tour, I talked to Taylor,” Church chuckled. “Honestly, I found out the same way everyone else did—online, watching a younger singer, I think she was sixteen, with blonde hair take my spot. She had this cute song called ‘Tim McGraw.’”
Church smiles wider remembering the call. “We laughed through it. She opened with, ‘Hope there’s no, uh…’ I’m pretty sure I heard it coming, but I playfully say, ‘Bad blood?’ He’s still smiling. “So she says, ‘Hope there’s no bad blood, because I love what you do and I’m taking over…’ the tour I was just kicked out of.”
Church, not missing a beat, responds, “I told her, ‘Trust me, I’ve seen this crowd. They’re going to love you. I love what you do.’ Then I joked, ‘You owe me the first gold record out of this.’ She laughed, and here’s the wild part: she sent me the plaque a week later. Almost to the day.”
A few weeks after that, Church and Swift bumped into each other at a country music festival, joking and swapping stories over backstage snacks.
“She walked right up and signed the plaque, saying, ‘To Eric, thanks for playing too long and too loud on the tour. Sincerely, Taylor,’” Church recounted. “At that moment, it was obvious—she was born to be an artist.”
Where that plaque ended up? “I don’t even own it. The Hall of Fame has it, and they won’t give it back,” he joked.
That plaque now hangs in the Country Music Hall of Fame as part of Church’s 2023 exhibit. The framed write-up reads: “Eric, Thanks for playing too long on the Flatts tour. I SINCERELY appreciate it. Hahaha. Love you! Taylor.”
