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“This Is Not Happening” – Eric Church Recalls Surreal Sunday Morning Drinking Beers With The Great Kris Kristofferson
BLT’s and beer with Kris Kristofferson… that’s how you do a lunch.
Eric Church recently released his album Evangeline vs. The Machine, which was quite a bit different in terms of how it compares to his other albums, and it brings in a lot more horns and gospel elements which gives it a very unique flavor and feel amongst his other great work.
I guess it’s not for everyone, but that’s kind what you get when you try something so different…
Of course, Eric’s sound and writing has been influenced by so many great artists, but possibly none more than the late, great Kris Kristofferson, who he credits with keeping him in Nashville even when he felt like there was no way to make a career there. And during a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Church said he follows Kris’ line of thinking in terms of never “trying” to write a hit, but following his heart and letting the music flow from there:
“There’s a lot, because we spent some time together. As an artist, I learned how important the poetry is to the musical element, the craft. I don’t think Kris Kristofferson ever in his life sat down and wrote a song going, ‘I think this is a hit song.’ It was so poetic and so eloquent and so thoughtful and so unique. And as far as the man goes, there was such a humbleness when I was around Kris that I think would be hard for me if I was Kris Kristofferson.”
He also explained that Kris’ compassion for humans wasn’t based on a political viewpoint, specifically referencing the 1992 concert where Kris stood up for Sinéad O’Connor at a concert where she was being booed for her political beliefs, and how that deeply affected his own life and actions:
“There’s that famous story about Sinéad O’Connor when he walked onstage and said, ‘Don’t let the bas***ds get you down.’ That compassion for another human being was something he always expressed.”
He was a true one of a kind…
But the best part of the interview was when Eric talked about having lunch with Kristofferson in 2015, when Eric’s wife, Katherine, and Kris’ wife Lisa, set it up. Eric was playing some “crappy place” in Illinois, and he didn’t get home until six in the morning. He was shocked to find out they were coming over to his house, and he was “nervous as hell,” saying he “couldn’t sleep” at all even after being up all night:
“The first time I met him, I was on the road, and I was in Illinois playing some crappy place, and we were driving home that night. It was 2015. My wife called and said, ‘What time you getting in? Because Kris and Lisa are going to be here.’ And she said it so casual. I went, ‘Who’s Kris and Lisa?’ She said, ‘The Kristoffersons.
I reached out to Lisa and I know what Kris means to you, and they want to come over for lunch.’ I said, ‘To our house?’ So I get home at 6 a.m., I’m watching the clock, nervous as hell. And they pull up and get out of the car.”
Eric said they had BLT’s, and he started offering Kris different drinks, and seeing as it was 11 on a Sunday, they were non-alcoholic choices. He eventually jumped at a beer when Eric offered that. When he started on his second, he sang that iconic opening line from “Sunday Morning Comin’ Down” to Eric:
“Well, I woke up Sunday morning
With no way to hold my head that didn’t hurt
And the beer I had for breakfast wasn’t bad
So I had one more for dessert”
Eric couldn’t believe it was all real… honestly, it sounds like an out of body experience. What a story:
“We sat there, my wife made us BLTs, and I said, ‘I know it’s 11 on a Sunday, you want tea? Diet Coke?’ And he didn’t jump on that. So, I said, ‘You want a beer?’ He goes, ‘I’ll take a beer’ and I got us each a Miller Lite. He gave me the line [from ‘Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down’] when I got him a second one: ‘The beer I had for breakfast wasn’t bad, so I had one more for dessert.’ I was sitting there like, ‘This is not happening.’
I was with him in Maui a lot after that; we would go there and hang out. I learned a lot from the way he treated me, the way he treated other artists. And back to your other question, there’s a lot of that when I think about Morgan. He showed a great deal of guidance for fellow artists who have to go through the same things. He reached out and tried to help you through this stuff, and that was a really important lesson for me.”
They always say don’t meet your heroes, and for good reason most of the time, but Kris was a mentor to Eric and I can only imagine what it was like for him to get to know someone on a personal level who influenced him so greatly throughout his life.
In terms of how Kristofferson’s song “To Beat The Devil” saved Church’s entire career in country music, back in 2016, Church appeared at a Kris Kristofferson tribute show in Nashville, where he told the story about the song that “saved his life.”
It came at a time when Church was a new songwriter in Nashville – and he wasn’t having much luck getting a publishing deal. In fact, it had gotten so bad that Church had decided if he didn’t get a deal at his next meeting, he was going to pack up and move back home to North Carolina:
“I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for this song, if it weren’t for Kris Kristofferson. I had a rough time in Nashville, like a lot of people that get told ‘no’ a lot. And I’d played that game where, if I get told ‘no’ one more time, I’m out of here. I’m packing up, I’m going back to North Carolina.
I went into this particular meeting knowing that this was going to be the meeting where it all happens. I remember I played probably half a song and the guy started waving and he goes, ‘I don’t know where you’re from. I don’t know much about you. But I’d go back there.’ And that’s one time I was going to.”
But as he left that meeting, planning to leave Nashville and country music behind after his latest rejection, one of Kristofferson’s songs came on his radio:
“I went to my car in the parking lot of this publishing house. And I’d just got The Austin Sessions on CD. And the next song was “To Beat the Devil.” And it talked about the very thing I was going through, so I decided to stay one more day – after I got drunk. I got drunk first. Then I stayed one more day, and the very next day I got a publishing deal. I’m here because of that man right there.”
Kristofferson first recorded “To Beat The Devil” for his 1970 self-titled debut album. Dedicated to his friend Johnny Cash, the song tells the story of a down-and-out songwriter in Nashville who wanders into a bar, only to meet a stranger who sings him a song about giving up because “no one wants to know.” The singer realizes that the old man is “the devil” telling him to give up, but instead he “drank his beer for free” and “stole his song” while continuing to chase his dream.
Pretty timely for a songwriter like Church, who at the time had thought that his dream had all but passed.
Kris is obviously greatly missed, but the impact he had in the country genre, and beyond, is lasting and his legacy in music will endure for many years because of how he followed his heart, stuck to his guns, and wrote music with talent that only comes once in a generation if you’re lucky.
“Sunday Morning Coming Down”
The post “This Is Not Happening” – Eric Church Recalls Surreal Sunday Morning Drinking Beers With The Great Kris Kristofferson first appeared on Whiskey Riff.
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