Church On His ACM Performance

Eric Church & Keith Urban kicked off the 2015 ACM Awards with their current duet “Raise ‘Em Up.”  There were over 75,000 fans in AT&T Stadium, where the Dallas Cowboys play, so there was a lot of pressure.  But down on the stage, it was calm and relaxed.  Eric talked about it with Country Countdown USA’s Lon Helton:

What was it like? “You know what was funny for me?  We didn’t over-rehearse that song. and when Keith & I went out there, I enjoyed playing with him.  We were live, and to go out and do it, as  big as that it, on live TV, you forget it a little bit, you forget where you are when you’re just enjoying the person next to you.  I was eerily calm and relaxed, and so was Keith, we joked around backstage, and I think it came across, I watched it back, we were just very chill doin’ it. It was a lot of fun, lot of fun to do.  There was even a point, as I was about to sing my part, where Keith goes, ‘Give it to ’em Chief.’ It felt like soundcheck.  I don’t know why.  There are certain people you feel comfortable with, and Keith is one of those guys.  It was a fun thing to be a part of.”

Did you know Raise ‘Em Up was a hit? “Totally. 100%  I didn’t know why he was sending it to me.  He just asked me what I thought, and said ‘I wish it was mine.’  And he said, ‘It could be.’  Then he asked if I would sing on it, and of course I said yes.  It’s interesting, the first part of the song talks about the whiskey glass, and the song has an evolution, and the ‘raise em up’ evolves, and it matures, and the song matures as you listen to it.  I thought it was a great summation of where I was in my life. If it had come to me before Keith, I would have cut it, so for me, I knew immediately, I’m proud that I did it with Keith.”

Back to the ACMs, you played another song that night, and unless people bought the album, they might now know “Pledge Allegiance To the Hag.”  Who’s idea was that?  “That was my manager’s idea.  He was watching footage from 50 years ago, and Merle Haggard won the Most Promising Male. He got the idea it would be cool to pay homage for the 50th anniversary.  He thought it would never go, and it did!  I just loved that we’re able, ten years later, an album track gets to open the ACM Awards.  It’s never been done before.  We checked.”

Tags: eric church, keith urban

Category: Audio