During an appearance on The Tonight Show, Eric Church reflected on owning Taylor Swift‘s first gold record, which she gave him after replacing him on tour in 2006.
“My first major arena tour, I was invited to no longer be a part of,” Church told Jimmy Fallon of the Rascal Flatts trek, although he didn’t mention the artist by name. “That’s all I’m going to say about that one. But when I was no longer invited to be a part of it, it was at Madison Square Garden here. And if you’re going to not be invited to be a part of something, that’s the place, Jimmy.”
The following day Church got a call from Swift. “I actually found out about it online, that I had been replaced by this—I think she was 16—blonde-haired [singer]. She had a song called ‘Tim McGraw.’ And so she calls. And it actually was great.”
Swift told Church she hoped there was no bad blood between them and that she loved what he did. “I said, ‘Listen Taylor, I have seen this crowd. This crowd is going to love you. I love what you do,’” Church recounted. “I said, ‘This is going to really be great for you and you owe me your first gold record when this happen.’ Here’s what’s crazy: It took like seven days.”
He recalled being at a music festival “not even 30 days later” when Swift walked on to his tour bus with the gold record for her debut LP. “She walks up and she inscribed it, ‘To Eric, thanks for playing too long and too loud on the tour. Sincerely, Taylor,’” Church said. “You could just tell then. Just an artist. An artist.”
Today, the gold record is in the Country Music Hall of Fame. “They don’t let me have it,” Church quipped.
The country singer also performed on the late-night show, taking the opportunity to showcase his song “Johnny.” The track comes off his most recent LP, Evangeline vs. the Machine, which dropped in May.
Earlier this year, Church revealed he was once roped into a Taylor Swift copyright lawsuit after the superstar mentioned his song during a deposition. Back in 2017, Swift was sued by the songwriters behind 3LW’s “Playas Gon’ Play” for using the lyrics “players gonna play, haters gonna hate” in her hit “Shake It Off.” The lawsuit sparked a years-long legal battle that was ultimately voluntarily dismissed in late 2022. But during her deposition months earlier, Swift claimed she first knew of the lyric from Church’s song “The Outsiders.”
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“In her deposition, when [talking about the line] ‘players gonna play, haters gonna hate,’ she says, ‘The first time I heard that phrase was in Eric Church’s song ‘The Outsiders,’” Church told Rolling Stone. “She was saying she never heard it on the [original song], which is what they were suing her for. And two weeks later, I got served by the people that were suing her!”
He added, “It’s since been settled. But I was like, ‘How did this even happen?’”
