“I Was Brash, Arrogant”: Eric Church Discusses How the 2017 Vegas Shooting, a Health Scare and His Brother's Death Changed His Music

During a conversation with Willie Geist for TODAY, Eric Church has delved into the creation of his new album, Evangeline vs. The Machine, as well as touching on how a series of challenging events completely altered his approach to making music.

In October 2017, Church performed at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas. Two days later, a gunman opened fire on the crowd, leading to 58 deaths and over 500 people being injured, in what is deemed the deadliest mass shooting in US history.

Shortly after that, Eric Church had to undergo emergency surgery on a blood clot in his chest, with the ‘Darkest Hour’ singer-songwriter admitting that he feared for his life. Then, Church was forced to contend with the death of his brother, Brandon.

The North Carolina native reflects on how that difficult period impacted his subsequent releases, such as Desperate Man, Heart & Soul and now Evangeline vs. The Machine.

Eric Church outlines, “I mean, we've all had bad years, but 2018 was a really bad year for me and it started with Vegas. There’s certain indelible things that you just don’t get over, and I think that was one for me...and after that - right after that - I had a health scare. I had a blood clot and thought I was going to die, and then, my brother died, you know? So all this happened, within a matter of months”.

The artist affectionately known as ‘The Chief’ movingly expands, "I think, up until that point, you can listen to the music, maybe, and you can see that I was brash, arrogant, in a lot of ways. But it changes, when you have those things happen to you. And I think it made the music more humble and, maybe, more observant”.

Eric Church then opens up about the experience of performing at the Grand Ole Opry a matter of days of days after the Route 91 Harvest shooting, with some attendees having been at that event, “I had a lot of fans die. And I played the (Grand Ole) Opry right after that, and didn’t want to be there. But I remember, there were a number of fans that had went to the Vegas show that were then going to fly across the country to come to the Opry show, to see me play the Opry”.

Church debuted a visceral new song, ‘Why Not Me’, during that Opry performance, which finds the country trailblazer tussling with the loss of life at that Vegas show. He candidly muses, "That was a part of their travel and some of ‘em got shot. They died. And I remember being at the Opry, that night and... it’s still raw in a lot of ways, but just not something that affects you. And it broke me, in a way”.

On his new album, Evangeline vs. The Machine, Eric Church again showcases his willingness to dive into thorny, troubling topics, with Church paying tribute to the victims of Nashville's Covenant School shooting in 2023, which saw three children and three adults killed on ‘Johnny’. On ‘Darkest Hour’, Church stresses his intention to help those affected by 2024's Hurricane Helene in any way he can, something he continues to follow through on with his Concert For Carolina benefit show with Luke Combs, the rebuilding efforts of his Chief Cares charity and the fact that the royalties from ‘Darkest Hour (Helene Edit)’ belong to North Carolina.

Eric Church's Evangeline vs. The Machine arrives this Friday (May 2nd), with the highly anticipated project set to feature the recent single, ‘Hands Of Time’. The nostalgic offering hit No. 1 on the UK Country Radio Airplay Chart at the start of April.

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