Luke Combs Was Throwing Up In The Street After Hanging Out With Eric Church For The First Time

Don’t want your idol to think you can’t hang.

We all know how it is when you’re hanging out with somebody you want to impress and you end up having too much to drink, right? Whether it’s on a date or with a new boss or just somebody you look up to, the nerves kick in, you try to go drink for drink so you don’t look weak or like you can’t handle your alcohol, and the next thing you know you’re hanging your head out of an Uber trying not to puke on your way home.

It happens to the best of us – even to Luke Combs.

Awhile back, Luke told the hilarious story of the first time he got to hang out with one of his heroes, Eric Church. They’re both North Carolina boys, both Appalachian State alums, and Eric was an inspiration for Luke, so obviously when Church invited Luke and his now-wife Nicole over to grill out, Luke was excited to be able to spend some time with Church.

Luke says he and Nicole got to Chief’s house around 6:30 that evening, and Church grilled some steaks (which Luke says were fantastic).

And not surprisingly, the drinks were flowing.

According to Luke, Eric was quite the generous host, and kept everybody’s drink full.

“I was on the whiskey and the rest of them were on the wine. But whiskey has just a tad more alcohol than wine does so I was on another plane of existence that evening than I think everybody else was.

They made sure our glasses full the whole night, there’s no doubt…

You’re not gonna say ‘no,’ at that point you know? You’re there to have a good time, so I’m not scared of a refill.”

Well the party didn’t wrap up until around 4:30 AM (doing some quick math, that’s about 10 hours of drinking), and Luke had a driver waiting on him and his wife.

But they didn’t make it far:

“I had to stop in the middle of this really nice neighborhood. Eric Church got me so drunk that I threw up leaving his house.

I didn’t throw up in the house or anything, but in the middle of the road.”

Yeah, I’ve been there.

Luke says the whole scene was “semi-college-ish,” with a grown man throwing up in the middle of the street at 4:30 AM. But he also admits that he’s not sure Eric Church himself even knew that story – although Luke says Church is the one that paid for the driver, so word might have gotten back to him already.

Hate to break it to you Luke, but I think he knows now.

Of course Luke isn’t the only artist who’s gotten in trouble by going drink for drink with Church.

Church and Jelly Roll sat down together for a conversation last year at CRS, the annual Country Radio Seminar in downtown Nashville, and swapped stories and advice in a wide-ranging conversation between a seasoned veteran and a relative newcomer to country music. And during their conversation, Jelly recalled the first time he met Church while opening a show for him on his Outsiders Revival tour back in 2023.

The show was at the Gorge Amphitheater in Washington, and Jelly said when he was told that he would be opening the show, he only had one request: He wanted to meet Eric Church.

Jelly said his manager told him he didn’t know if that would be possible:

“You know how you’re so naive early in your career, you’re like, ‘If I could meet Eric Church, it’ll solve all my problems.’

So when I got the opportunity to open for you I was like, ‘I just want to go sit down and talk to this guy. If I get to do shows with him, even cooler.’ 

My only request back to my manager was, ‘Can I meet him?’ And they were like, ‘Maybe.’ And I was like, ‘Fuck.’ At least they were honest. They were like, ‘Look man, Eric likes you enough that he’s bringing you on tour. He never brings anybody on tour. He only does three hour sets himself. He quit doing openers a decade ago. So you’re already a foot in. But if Eric don’t fuck with it, Eric’s not going to fuck with you.’

And I was like, ‘That scares me too. What if I go do all these shows and I never see this fucking guy?'”

Well luckily Eric was impressed by Jelly. In fact, Church recalled standing side stage during Jelly’s opening set and having his stage manager gather his entire crew, because he knew they were witnessing something special. And after the show, Jelly did in fact get to meet Eric Church – and he came prepared.

As Eric recalls, Jelly came in with a list of written questions for him – something nobody had ever done:

“He reaches in and he pulls out this sheet of paper that looks like it was from Noah. It had been rolled and folded. And he pulls this thing out and he goes, and it was weird for me because I’ve met a lot of artists and I’ve done this and I’ve never, ever, hand to God, had somebody come in and pull out this thing. And he goes, ‘Well I’ve got some things I want to ask you.’

Oh, wow, ok. Sit down.”

Jelly confirms that he did indeed go in with a list of things that he wanted to ask Church, and that Church sat there with him after the show and answered every question he had – while feeding him tequila shots:

“I went in with questions y’all don’t even want to hear, like ‘Hey, at what point did you change your production? How many trucks were you taking on this tour in 2011?’ I was that into it. And he was rippin’ ’em back at me.

But this dude was also ripping shots with me. And I’m like, ‘Alright, I’m drinking with Eric Church.'”

But Jelly says that while he can usually hold his own, he quickly realized that drinking with Church is a whole different animal:

“Normally I bury people when I have to go dark with them. This is not how that night panned out for me.

I left there a little worried. I left there and ended up skinny dipping in the Columbia River. True story. Like Baloo the bear…

I wake up the next afternoon at 5pm, I’m getting an IV in my arm.”

Unfortunately for Jelly, by the time he finally woke up, Church had already been up for hours – and trying to get ahold of him:

“I got an IV in my arm, I can’t even open my eyes yet, I’m just in agonizing pain, I’m like, ‘Oh I think Eric Church hates me.’

And somebody comes in and goes, ‘Eric Church has been trying to get ahold of you for three hours. He wants you to come sing with him tonight.’ I was like, ‘Oh fuck.’ And right then I went somewhere between really excited, like ‘Eric Church likes me,’ to like, ‘Oh God, I am too hungover to sing on such a big stage.'”

Well luckily Jelly was able to recover and make it on stage with Church, where the two performed a duet of Church’s 2011 single “Homeboy.”

Jelly Roll no doubt learned a lot that night, getting to sit down and pick Eric Church’s brain and learn some of the many lessons he’s picked up on his two-decade career.

But he also learned another lesson: It’s tough to go toe to toe with Eric Church on the tequila shots.

@whiskeyriff

Unlikely duo but I’m here for it. @Jelly Roll @Eric Church #whiskeyriff #kidrock

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