If You’ve Ever Had To Watch A Parent Battle With Alzheimer’s, This Unreleased Eric Church Song Will Break You

Such a cruel and heartbreaking disease.

Unfortunately most people know all too well what it’s like to have to watch a loved one slowly fade away as they battle with Alzheimer’s. It’s the most common cause of dementia, affecting 1 in 9 people over the age of 65, and it’s estimated that over 7 million people are living with it right now in the United States.

It’s also a subject that’s been touched on quite a few times in country music, with songs like “Numbers On The Cars” by Riley Green or “Ellsworth” by Rascal Flatts touching on the pain of watching someone you love slowly lose their mind to the cruel disease.

And back in 2015, Eric Church performed a song describing his own personal battle with watching his grandfather suffer from Alzheimer’s.

Church’s grandfather was the police chief of Granite Falls, North Carolina, and was the inspiration for the name of his Chief album (which has since become Church’s nickname too). But during an appearance at CRS, Church became emotional recalling the pain of seeing his grandfather battle with Alzheimer’s and slowly slip away:

“This is probably a bad decision but I’m gonna play something nobody’s heard and I’m still writing and I still write songs and I don’t know if it’ll ever be cut or anything, but I just wanna play something new, I feel like.

When I was 10… 9 or 10 years old my grandfather, who the Chief album was named after, got Alzheimer’s which is a horrible disease. And the hardest issue I had with it was continuing to have a relationship when you see that person don’t remember you. And I was scared of it, I feared it, and this song kind of addresses that. It’s not exactly a party number but, see what you think.”

The gut-wrenching song captures all the emotion of watching a loved one struggle with the heartbreaking disease, from realizing that he doesn’t even recognize you to being thankful that they’re still here at all. And as someone who watched my own grandfather suffer with the disease and being able to relate so much to the story, it’s gut-wrenching.

While Church never recorded the song, titled “I Know Who He Is,” it was eventually released by William Michael Morgan on his 2016 debut album Vinyl. Casey Beathard is listed as the sole songwriter on the track, so it’s not clear how much of a hand Church had in writing it, but Beathard is one of his frequent collaborators who’s written some of his biggest hits (as well as some of his best album cuts).

And William Michael Morgan is an incredible, traditional country artist who more than does the song justice. I always thought he was going to be a superstar and never feel like he really got a fair shake after making his debut at the height of “bro-country.” But it’s a shame that Church never recorded the song for one of his own albums, because it’s clearly a personal one to him.

Maybe someday we’ll get a version from the Chief, but until then at least we have his live performance and this studio version from William Michael Morgan.

The post If You’ve Ever Had To Watch A Parent Battle With Alzheimer’s, This Unreleased Eric Church Song Will Break You first appeared on Whiskey Riff.