On Friday night, a capacity crowd packed into Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas to see Eric Church on his Free the Machine tour. As Church has consistently reminded crowds on this tour, he wants it to be all about the music. And on Friday night, that’s what it was: Just 14,000 Friday night soldiers guarded against the world outside – totally focused on the music, with no idea that outside the walls of the arena, the United States and Israel had just conducted airstrikes on Iran. While the rest of the world was reading about the military action in real time, I had no idea what had happened until I got back to my hotel a couple hours later – no doubt one of the last to learn about it. And as I was reading the news, I couldn’t help but think: This is exactly what Church means when he talks about music being an escape. One of the few things that can unite 15,000 people who have nothing else in common but a love for music. And for those few hours, as the song goes: “The battle wages tomorrowBut tonight we don’t give a damn” Ironically, around the same time that those bombs were dropping on Iran, Stephen Wilson Jr. was taking the stage with Church in Fort Worth to perform a once-in-a-lifetime duet of Guy Clark’s “Desperados Waiting For a Train” and “Seven Spanish Angels” by Willie Nelson and Ray Charles. It was the furthest thing from the realities of the world outside those walls: It was magic. And luckily, as it turns out, it may not have been once-in-a-lifetime after all – because on Saturday night, they decided to run it back…kind of. Church was at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas tonight, and once again those Friday night (well, Saturday) night soldiers packed the arena for a few hours of escape from the outside world. And once again, Church and SWJ delivered in a way that only they could. I said last night that the two artists are kindred spirits: They may be at different stages of their career, but Church and Wilson Jr. are two of the most gifted songwriters in country music, and both have an insatiable passion for music that comes through in their own art. And when they team up together…well, it’s something special. Tonight in Austin, Church decided to change up his entire show. If you’ve seen the Free the Machine tour, you know that he usually ends with “Through My Ray Bans,” his tribute to the Church Choir from his 2021 & album. But at the Moody Center, Chief called an audible and did something he hasn’t done so far on this tour. After performing a stripped back version of “Some Of It,” which featured just Church, Joanna Cotten, Driver Williams and Jeff Hyde on guitar and John Henry Trinko on keys, Church decided to strip it back even further – while welcoming his opening act back to the stage to close the show. Stephen Wilson Jr. wasn’t exactly subtle about his entrance: Church even called him out as he tried to sneak onto the stage. “Come on, they see you now. You’re hiding terrible.” And he had some of the highest praise that an up-and-comer can receive as he hinted to the crowd what was to come for the rest of the show: “We’ve had the pleasure of having Stephen Wilson Jr. out with us. I’ve never had more fun just playing. We spent an hour today just in the dressing room talking about all kinds of things. We’re going to do something a little different. If you’ve been following along at home, this show is going to end different than what you think it’s going to end, ok? For Austin, Texas and for here the rest of the night. We’ve never done this, and the great thing about music is we’re just going to f—ing do it.” “This” turned out to be an incredible, stripped back version of “Pancho and Lefty,” the song originally recorded by Townes Van Zandt and made a classic by Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson. And for those 5 minutes, for the crowd at the Moody Center, it was like getting a behind-the-scenes look at two absolute masters of their craft just doing what they do best. Church couldn’t hide his smile – and his admiration for Wilson Jr. – as the song ended with a guitar solo that left the crowd (myself included) wanting the show to go on all night. (If you can’t see the video, you may need to disable your adblocker). Of course it didn’t go on all night (or my ass would still be in the arena and not writing this from my hotel room), but they did decide to end the show by running back “Seven Spanish Angels,” complete with Church’s full touring ensemble of band, horns, strings and choir. The wall of sound coming through the speakers, and the passion coming from each and every one of the 27 or so artists on that stage, was truly something you had to be there to experience. I can guarantee you at that moment, nobody in that arena was thinking about what was happening outside those walls. It was just an army of Saturday night soldiers, too lost in the magic of what was happening to give a damn. That’s the power of music, after all.The post Watch Eric Church & Stephen Wilson Jr. Deliver Incredible Stripped-Back Duet Of “Pancho And Lefty” In Austin, Texas first appeared on Whiskey Riff.