Eric Church Opens Up in New Interview About How 2017 Las Vegas Shooting Affected Him: ‘It Broke Me’

Country music star Eric Church has publicly talked about the ramifications of the Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting in Las Vegas in 2017 that killed 58 people, injuring hundreds of others. The shooting took the lives of 58 innocent people and injured hundreds more. Church performed at the festival only two days before shooting and offered insight into his emotional journey related to that evening through a recent interview.

"I had a lot of fans die," Church said. "And I played the (Grand Ole) Opry right after that and didn't want to be there. But I remember there were a number of fans that had went to the Vegas show that were then going to fly across the country to come to the Opry show, to see me play the Opry."

He further elaborated, "That was a part of their travel, and some of 'em got shot. They died. And I remember being at the Opry, that night and... it's still raw in a lot of ways, but just not something that affects you. And it broke me, in a way."

In the end, Church wrote the song "Why Not Me" in tribute to the victims, which he performed at the Grand Ole Opry just three days after the shooting. He admitted that the entire experience not only affected his music but was also followed by his dealing with personal struggles down the line, including the emergency surgery he had for a blood clot, and the passing of his brother Brandon in 2018.

All of these circumstances resulted in the tone of his writing shifting from "brash and cocky," to more observant and reflective through death and recovery. Church's candid experience demonstrates the close, sometimes vulnerable relationships between artist and audience. It shows how individual or collective tragedy informs personal creative expression and evokes community and resilience.