Eric Church Says The “Hardest Thing” He’s Ever Done In His Life Was Dropping His Kids Off At School The Day After The Covenant School Shooting In Nashville

I can’t even imagine how hard it was.

Eric Church appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to talk about his recent album and new tour, and he also performed his gut-wrenching song “Johnny” for the live studio audience.

It was included on his recent album Evangeline vs. The Machine, and is an interpolation of Charlie Daniels’ classic “The Devil Went Down To Georgia,” and calls for Johnny to come back once again to banish the devil back to hell.

Eric has talked some about the meaning behind it before, and he wrote it after having to drop his children off at school the morning after the horrific Covenant School shooting in Nashville in 2023.

He told Fallon that the hardest thing he’d ever done in his life was dropping his kids off at their school the day after the shooting. He recalled feeling “helpless” watching them walk in, as any parent would, and he just couldn’t seem to leave the parking lot. Instead, he pulled around and parked, lost in his own thoughts, and when he looked around, he realized how many other parents had done the same exact thing:

“The hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life, we had a school shooting in Nashville, at the Covenant School, and dropping my two boys, 13 and 10, and the day after that school shooting, dropping them off at school was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.

And I watched them walk in, and you feel helpless. I’ve never, I’m 48 years old, I’ve never felt anything like that. And I didn’t know what to do. So as they walk in the school, I just pulled in the parking lot, because I felt like I needed to be there.

And as I’m sitting there, the interesting thing to me was, I was lost in my own world, but I happened to look to my right, and look to me left, and there were other parents sitting there, and we were lined up.”

As fate would have it, “Devil Went Down To Georgia” was playing in the background, and the lyrics hit home in a profoundly deeper way considering the circumstances of the day and time:

“As the wolves guarding the sheep, and in the background, and it didn’t register at the time, but Charlie Daniels’ “Devil Went Down To Georgia” was on the radio. And there’s that line, ‘Johnny, rosin up your bow and play your fiddle hard, ‘Cause Hell’s broke loose in Georgia and the Devil deals the cards, And if you win, you get this shiny fiddle made of gold, But if you lose the devil gets your soul.’

And I remember thinking, the devil’s not in Georgia, he’s here. And I went home and I wrote ‘Johnny.’ It was about, we need Johnny to come back and send the devil where he needs to be.”

It’s incredibly heartbreaking but all too real, and in light of recent, tragic events like the death of Charlie Kirk as well as the recent school shooting in Evergreen, Colorado, “Johnny” seems to remain timeless in this evil and broken world. Eric is right, the devil is real and he walks among us, but there is overwhelming hope in Jesus that we can all cling to when it feels like the walls are closing in.

It’s one of Eric’s most profound songs, and will remain an importance part of his catalog for years to come:

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Eric’s powerful live perfomance of “Johnny”:

“Johnny”

Eric just kicked off his Free The Machine tour a couple weeks ago:

Free the Machine Tour Dates

September 12      Pittsburgh, PA         PPG Paints Arena
September 13      Columbus, OH         Nationwide Arena
September 18      Philadelphia, PA*   Wells Fargo Center
September 19      Boston, MA              TD Garden
September 20     Brooklyn, NY           Barclays Center
September 25      Green Bay, WI        Resch Center
September 26     Milwaukee, WI        Fiserv Forum
September 27     Des Moines, IA        Wells Fargo Arena
October 2            Detroit, MI                Little Caesars Arena
October 3            Lexington, KY          Rupp Arena
October 9            Indianapolis, IN      Gainbridge Fieldhouse
October 10          Grand Rapids, MI   Van Andel Arena
October 11           Cleveland, OH         Rocket Arena
October 23          Salt Lake City, UT  Delta Center
October 24          Boise, ID                  ExtraMile Arena
October 25          Spokane, WA           Spokane Arena
November 6        Vancouver, BC        Rogers Arena
November 7        Portland, OR           Moda Center
November 8        Seattle, WA             Climate Pledge Arena
November 13      Sacramento, CA     Golden 1 Center
November 14      Fresno, CA              Save Mart Center at Fresno State
November 15      Inglewood, CA        Intuit DomeThe post Eric Church Says The “Hardest Thing” He’s Ever Done In His Life Was Dropping His Kids Off At School The Day After The Covenant School Shooting In Nashville first appeared on Whiskey Riff.