‘Church’ by Thomas Rhett - Lyrics & Meaning

Religion has always been a prominent muse for Thomas Rhett, with the Georgia crooner collaborating with leading figures from the Contemporary Christian space, such as Chris Tomlin and Brandon Lake. When you read the title of this track, which appears on TR's 2024 album, About a Woman, you might assume ‘Church’ explores themes of spirituality and faith that pervade ‘Heaven Right Now’ and ‘Ya Heard’.

While this muse undoubtedly colours portions of the track, ‘Church’ is actually a play-on-words, with Thomas Rhett portraying the beginnings of his relationship with Lauren through the lens of the discography of one of their favourite artists - Eric Church.

Thomas Rhett sinuously interpolates a couple of key melodies from the Eric Church songs he name-checks in ’Church’, such as mimicking the ‘Springsteen’ hook when delivering the soaring, atmospheric ‘ooh, ooh’ that precedes the titular lyric.

The composition is sparse but sleek, with the opening finding TR crooning wistfully across nothing more than a gentle acoustic strum and some ambient accompaniment. The hook sees the introduction of an emphatic, staccato drum pattern that accentuates the emotion of Thomas Rhett's nostalgic, evocative reminiscing.

“Yeah, I met a girl pretty as her picture

At a bonfire party graduation week

Drink in my hand spent all night dancin’ with her

Started talking bands and burnt CDs”

‘Church’ pivots around all the memories Rhett and his wife, Lauren, made against the backdrop of Eric Church's music. The track is overflowing with subtle references to ’the Chief’, with the first line being a nod to Church's 2009 track, ‘Hell on the Heart’, in which he sings, “She's as pretty as a picture / Every bit as funny as she is smart”.

Then, we get a tip of the cap to Eric Church's iconic hit, ‘Drink in My Hand’, before giving the verse a retro feel by depicting how they'd all be listening to Church on burnt CDs.

“She played me her favorite song “Sinners Like Me”

And I ain’t been the same since the first time I heard the Chief”

Thomas Rhett fondly recalls how Lauren's favourite song was always ‘Sinners Like Me’, with the ‘T-Shirt’ hitmaker implying this was the first time he'd ever heard Eric Church.

Thomas Rhett mentioned this being an impactful song before, with TR including it in his heartbreaking ode to a friend that passed away, ‘Heaven Right Now’, describing how it reminds him of his and Lauren's buddy, Hunter, “I still punch the dashboard, hurts / Every time I hear Eric Church sing Sinners Like Me, I crank it up real loud”).

“She was my Carolina, red bandana, Ray-Ban® singin’ oh, “Springsteen”

“Young and Wild” that summers why “Love Your Love the Most” still sounds like, oh eighteen”

Eric Church has an entire album named Carolina, with the red bandana and signature Ray-Ban's becoming inextricably associated with ‘The Chief’s on-stage persona. Thomas Rhett remembers how he and Lauren would scream all the words to hit songs such as ’Springsteen’, ‘Young and Wild’ and ‘Love Your Love the Most’.

“Back then these boots were almost new

I was still learnin’ the words

That Friday night I was holding onto her

She took me to Church

She took me to Church”

Thomas Rhett again laces ‘Church’ with a warm feeling of nostalgia, which also pervades ‘Overdrive’, with the 2020 CMA Entertainer of the Year confessing he was still trying to nail down all the words to the songs they were listening to. He closes out the hook with a playful metaphor, describing how Lauren “took me to Church”, both a reference to Eric Church and a nod to how their love felt - and feels - spiritual.

“We’d park up on that hill behind the high school

Crank it up and “Smoke A Little Smoke”

Some memories you can’t leave behind you

Like a five-hour drive to Houston rodeo to catch a show”

As the song progresses, the young couple evolve from simply listening to Eric Church off burnt CDs to attending one of his shows. The music immortalised the memories they made during that special night, with TR name-checking another Church song, ‘Smoke a Little Smoke’, another stand-out from his 2009 project, Carolina. Thomas Rhett and Lauren started dating in 2010, so this song seems autobiographical.

“From “Jesus Does” to “Talladega”

We sang every word

She stole my heart, and I still got the shirt

She took me to Church

She took me to Church”

‘Jesus Does’ and ‘Talladega’, taken from Eric Church's 2011 and 2014 albums, Chief and The Outsiders respectively, serve as two further tracks that carry significant memories for TR and Lauren. He underlines how he bought the tour t-shirt as another way of commemorating the unforgettable evening they shared at the concert.

“That summer came and went but those songs stuck around

And I still catch a buzz when she smiles and cranks it loud”

Thomas Rhett emphasises how time moved on and their relationship evolved, but regardless of the changes they experienced, those songs will always make them think back to those carefree summer nights. He still loves to see Lauren singing along to Church classics, with each song sending them back to another place in their lives.

“When I hear “How ‘Bout You”, I feel that July flame burn

And every kiss still feels like the first

She took me to Church

She took me to Church

She took me to Church, oh

She took me to Church”

Thomas Rhett concludes with an homage to ‘How ‘Bout You’, off Eric Church's now-iconic 2006 record, Sinners Like Me, before doubling down on the message that Lauren ‘took him to church’ because of how exhilarating those moments were. Rhett stresses that they've kept that initial flame that was sparked alive for all these years with each kiss still feeling like the first. The titular phrase, ‘She took me to Church‘, could also be a reference to how those two young lovebirds ultimately ended up at the altar, when they got married in 2012 at the age of 22.

Thomas Rhett hasn't delved into the specific creative process behind ‘Church’ just yet, but in an interview with Holler in the lead-up to releasing his 2024 album, the much-loved ‘Vacation’ singer-songwriter revealed how his outlook when crafting About a Woman was notably different compared to that of his previous two albums.

TR explained, “When I think of this project, I keep thinking of the word ‘Freedom’. Not to dive super deep here, but...2019 was the last year that I felt that sort of freedom of just, ‘Man, whatever I'm feeling, I'm just gonna say, whatever feels good I'm just gonna write, whatever sounds good, that's what gonna go on the record’. I think COVID did a number on all of us, but for me, I think being so secluded and not being able to get that instant feedback from fans by constantly being on the road - I love playing new songs on the road to kind of feel, “Is this song vibing, is this song not vibing”. And so I made a couple of records that I'm for sure proud of, but I think those records were...‘Fear’ is not the right word either, but they were made from not a free place, if that makes any sense”.

Thomas Rhett touchingly highlighted how he made sure joy was at the heart of About a Woman, “So somewhere around the beginning of last year, I started having conversations with the guy who actually produced this whole next record, Julian Bunetta, who I've been friends with forever and he produced all the One Direction stuff, just recently produced the whole Sabrina Carpenter record, and produced the whole new Teddy Swims project, so he's had this big resurgence. He looked at me and was like, ’Man, it'd been six years I had a hit, and I just kept coming back and kept coming back and kept coming back, because I love it’. And he was like, ‘How much do you love this?’ That was a very pivotal question for me, because I was like, ‘Man, I love it more than most things in the world. Minus my family, music is what I live and breathe’. He was like, ‘Well, lets write from that part, rather than from the part of, ‘Well what if and what if and what if’”.

“Yeah, I met a girl pretty as her picture

At a bonfire party graduation week

Drink in my hand spent all night dancin’ with her

Started talking bands and burnt CDs

-

She played me her favorite song “Sinners Like Me”

And I ain’t been the same since the first time I heard the Chief

-

She was my Carolina, red bandana, Ray-Ban® singin’ oh, “Springsteen”

“Young and Wild” that summers why “Love Your Love the Most” still sounds like, oh eighteen

-

Back then these boots were almost new

I was still learnin’ the words

That Friday night I was holding onto her

She took me to Church

She took me to Church

-

We’d park up on that hill behind the high school

Crank it up and “Smoke A Little Smoke”

Some memories you can’t leave behind you

Like a five-hour drive to Houston rodeo to catch a show

-

She was my Carolina, red bandana, Ray-Ban® singing oh, “Springsteen”

“Young and Wild” that summers why “Love Your Love the Most” still sounds like, oh eighteen

-

From “Jesus Does” to “Talladega”

We sang every word

She stole my heart, and I still got the shirt

She took me to Church

She took me to Church

-

That summer came and went but those songs stuck around

And I still catch a buzz when she smiles and cranks it loud

-

She was my Carolina, red bandana, Ray-Ban® singin’ oh, “Springsteen”

“Young and Wild” that summers why “Livin’ Part of Life” still sounds like, oh eighteen

-

When I hear “How ‘Bout You”, I feel that July flame burn

And every kiss still feels like the first

She took me to Church

She took me to Church

She took me to Church, oh

She took me to Church

-

Yeah, I met a girl pretty as her picture”

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