Eric Church wraps exclusive two-night stint as the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum’s 2023 Artist-in-Residence

NASHVILLE, TENN (August 31, 2023) ⇒ Last night, 10-time Grammy nominee and multi-platinum superstar Eric Church wrapped a unique two-night stand as the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum’s 2023 artist-in-residence. Accompanied by his nine-piece band complete with a trio of backing vocalists, Church performed sold-out shows on Aug. 29 and 30 in the museum’s CMA Theater that offered a chronological and retrospective journey through his life and career.

The shows, which included many of Church’s biggest hits as well as unreleased, new music, featured a setlist representing his significant career milestones and life events, from the earliest days of carving his own path and achieving subsequent chart-topping success to personal trials, including his brother’s death and his own medical emergency in 2017. Song performances chronicling the two-decade journey were interspersed with video and audio commentary that included news headlines, album and concert reviews, personal voicemails and even Church’s own words.

Journalist and country music historian Robert K. Oermann welcomed Church to the stage each night to complete a “full circle” moment, harkening back to 2006 when Oermann introduced Church at his debut album showcase hosted at the museum. Church was also joined by a special guest for both performances, with Country Music Hall of Fame member and past museum artist-in-residence Vince Gill taking the stage to perform a stirring, solo rendition of his song “Go Rest High on that Mountain” in honor of Church’s late brother, Brandon.

The artist-in-residence shows were produced by Church’s longtime manager, John Peets, with proceeds benefiting the nonprofit museum’s educational mission. A more detailed written recap of Church’s artist-in-residence performances – including the full setlist from the shows – is available on the museum’s website. Photos from both evenings can be accessed here (Photos by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum):

• Aug. 29 performance (with trade shots)
• Aug. 30 performance

The show will air in its entirety during a special on Outsiders Radio channel on the SXM App. The special, “Eric Church LIVE! From the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum,” will premiere on Monday, Sept. 4, at 8 p.m. ET. Replays will air Wednesday, Sept. 13, at 5 p.m. ET; Friday, Sept. 22, at 8 p.m. ET; and Tuesday, Sept. 26 at 7 p.m. ET.

The museum’s annual artist-in-residence series spotlights an artist with an exemplary body of work. The museum offers its CMA Theater to the featured artist as a blank canvas for delivering their creative vision over multiple evenings. Church is the museum’s 18th artist-in-residence, joining a prestigious group of past artists that includes 10 members of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Cowboy Jack Clement opened the series in 2003, and other past honorees include (in chronological order) Earl Scruggs, Tom T. Hall, Guy Clark, Kris Kristofferson, Jerry Douglas, Vince Gill, Buddy Miller, Connie Smith, Kenny Rogers, Ricky Skaggs, Alan Jackson, Rosanne Cash, Jason Isbell, Miranda Lambert, Marty Stuart and John Prine. (Prine accepted his artist-in-residence appointment but died in 2020 before he could participate in the residency.)

Church is also the subject of a new exhibition at the museum, Eric Church: Country Heart, Restless Soul, presented by Gibson. The exhibit chronicles Church’s life and career, from his early years playing late-night gigs in bars and writing songs in Nashville to his current prominence as one of country music’s most authentic voices and revered rule-breakers. The exhibit is included with museum admission and will run until June 2024.

Church is currently on tour as part of his The Outsiders Revival Tour, featuring a rotating lineup of emerging artists. Remaining tour dates and more information on Church can be found at ericchurch.com.

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