Here's Why Taylor Swift Wrote A Thank You Note To Eric Church

Taylor Swift penned a handwritten thank you note to country hitmaker Eric Church for a major career opportunity in 2006.

That note is now on display in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Downtown Nashville, Tennessee.

That’s where the museum’s latest attraction, the Eric Church: Country Heart, Restless Soul exhibit, presented by Gibson, just opened. CEO Kyle Young spoke about the exhibit and Church’s unique rise to superstardom during an opening event on Wednesday evening (July 12), and reflected on the story behind the artifact during his opening remarks.

Young hailed Church as a genre-blending artist who “has gone his own way” in his career from the beginning. He reflected on Church’s brief run as Rascal Flatts’ opening act after releasing his debut album, Sinners Like Me, in 2006.

“Less than 10 days in, he got kicked off the tour after a show at Madison Square Garden,” Young said. “The story goes like this:(Church) ran way over time on his opening slot that night, as he had on several other shows. Played too loud, too long, and maybe tried a little too hard to be a hard act to follow. Eric later said he was aiming to get fired. He just didn’t fit into that tour. He didn’t feel he could be himself and the artist he needed to be.”

Luckily — “miraculously” — Church’s “rock n’ roll hero, Bob Seger,” invited him to open several shows about six months after Church was kicked off the Rascal Flatts tour, performing smaller venues in the same cities along the way. “Eric says Seger helped save his career,” Young said as he told the story, reiterating that Church has always gone “against the grain,” and chronicled his massive success.

As Church credits Seger with helping to save his career, another artist couldn’t help but thank Church for an opportunity in her own musical endeavors.

Swift, then 16, took Church’s spot as opener on the Rascal Flatts tour. She wrote in her note to him: “Eric, thanks for playing too long on the Flatts tour. I sincerely appreciate it.’”

“And that note is on display in the exhibit. I think he kept it because he knew it worked out great for both of them,” Young said.

“In 2006, Church was fired from Rascal Flatts’ ‘Me and My Gang Tour’ and was replaced by sixteen-year-old Taylor Swift,” reads the information placed by the item in the exhibit. “He joked with swift that she would owe him her first gold record. Later, she presented Church with this gold record for her debut album, with this inscription: ‘Eric, thanks for playing to [six] long on the Flatts tour. I SINCERELY appreciate it. hahaha love you! Taylor.”

Church’s Eric Church: Country Heart, Restless Soul exhibit includes tons of artifacts chronicling his life and his unique rise to superstardom, becoming “one of country music’s most authentic voices and revered rule-breakers,” per the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Some of the items, aside from Swift’s handwritten note, include Church’s stage wear, his guitars, manuscripts, set lists, photos and other iconic items. The exhibit is included with admission into the museum. It’s open now through June 2024.