“I Could Just Picture All His Lyrics”: Morgan Wallen Recalls How Eric Church First Got Him into Country Music

One of the many reasons why Morgan Wallen has blown up into the most popular country artist on the planet is his versatility. In a genre that has often felt restricted by the need for, among other things, a ‘fiddle in the band’, Wallen has broadened country's horizons, incorporating trap, indie-rock and pop-infused elements.

Rather than being a mere attempt to appeal to a wider pool of listeners, Wallen's penchant for blurring the lines between genres stems from the Sneedville megastar's own listening habits. He caused a stir when he revealed on Theo Von's This Past Weekend podcast earlier this year that he doesn't actually listen to much country music in his spare time. Naturally, outrage ensued. The No. 1 country star on the planet not listening to country music?! How can that be?!

But in reality, Wallen serves as an accurate archetype of the modern listener. Few fans stay loyally within one genre's boundaries, rather, they'll be enjoying playlists that flit from ‘Last Night’ to ‘Espresso’ to ‘Nokia’ to ‘DAISIES’ - and everything in-between.

Whether the traditionalists like it or not, Wallen is helping country to evolve and adapt to today's landscape - and his ability to do so originates from his eclectic array of influences.

As he outlines in the newly released I'm the Problem CD Zine, Wallen's first introduction to music was filtered strictly through the lens of spiritually-minded artists, “I grew up in a very rural Southern Baptist church, singing gospel and bluegrass. When I was 5 years old, I asked for a violin for Christmas, and I'd play piano growing up, but I wasn't allowed to listen to secular music when I was a kid”.

You can hear his faith-based upbringing bleed into soulful offerings such as ‘Don't Think Jesus’, ‘The Dealer’, ‘Outlook’ and ‘I Wrote The Book’, with Wallen regularly exploring the ongoing tussle between demons - often personified as whiskey - and angels.

As he got older, though, Wallen began experimenting with other genres, starting with 2000s rock outfit, Breaking Benjamin, “The first non-Christian album I bought was a Breaking Benjamin CD. My buddies were listening to that kind of stuff”.

He goes on to recall the moment he got the taste for rap and hip-hop, “Then around 2006, I was playing travel baseball, and we were in Atlanta. I remember being in the car with my friend and his parents, and TI came on the radio. I'd never heard anything like it before - the way that he enunciated and used his words. It was so cool. I started listening to a lot of Atlanta and Memphis hip-hop after that”.

Country came next, and it's heartwarming to learn that it was Eric Church - an artist Wallen has since become close friends and co-owners of Field & Stream with - that opened the floodgates for him, “Later, I got into Eric Church, and I didn't really ever get into country music until I listened to him. What struck me most was how I could just picture all his lyrics. I started digging deeper and listening to all of his catalog. I mean, I knew every bit of his first three records. I could sing them all”.

Now, of course, as well as running Field & Stream together, Wallen and Church have a burgeoning repertoire of infectious collaborations under their belt, including the inventive ‘Man Made A Bar’ and the masterful ‘Number 3 and Number 7’.

We can't say we disagree with Wallen's assessment of The Chief, with Church remaining unrivalled in the way in which he can paint visceral scenes through his music. From the rose-tinted nostalgia of ’Springsteen’ to the moving clarity of ‘Monsters’, Church thrives when tasked with transporting the listener to a world of his design.

It's no accident that both of Wallen's joint tracks with Church so far have been examples of storytelling masterclasses, with each one feeling like an homage to The Chief's impact.

We're hoping this isn't the last time we get to hear these two country trailblazers on a track together - and who knows, maybe one day we'll get a full collaborative album.

Given how frequently Wallen draws from the Atlanta hip-hop scene, which often sees artists teaming up for collaborative projects, we think a mixtape-style project with Church would make a lot of sense. It would satisfy Wallen's genre-bending inclinations, while appealing to Church's relentless quest for innovation - as was epitomised on his stellar 2025 studio album, Evangeline vs The Machine.

We're not sure this sense of musical adventure will stretch as far as going for a full-blown house or hip-hop record - an idea that Wallen has undoubtedly been toying with in recent years, even if it means releasing under a new alias - but never say never...

Either way, despite possessing differing sonic palettes, the Wallen-Church axis continues to prove one of the most prolific and formidable in the contemporary country music space. Here's to many more top-tier link-ups between these two country pioneers.

Featured photo by Matthew Paskert

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