“I Just Saw a Different Type of Edge”: Morgan Wallen Pays Touching Tribute to Eric Church

Morgan Wallen and Eric Church have been good buddies for the best part of a decade now, with the two country titans having released a couple of collaborations, ‘Man Made a Bar’ and ‘Number 3 and Number 7’, linking up on-stage on countless occasions and even becoming co-owners of Field & Stream during that time.

It's a heartwarmingly undeniable bond, with the duo producing magic every time they join forces on a track. In Wallen's I'm the Problem CD Zine, the Sneedville megastar pens a touching homage to his close friend and fellow country chart-topper.

Wallen reflects on how Church was one of the first artists to introduce him to country music when he was growing up, with the ‘Last Night’ hitmaker citing The Chief's now-iconic Carolina era as pivotal for him, “The first Eric Church song I heard was ‘Love Your Love The Most’. He painted such a vivid picture in that song with off-the-wall lyrics like “mustard on my fries”. All the hooks were cool, and it was so unique - just genuine songwriting. It wasn’t like any other country music that I’d heard at the time, and I just started digging into country as a whole, eventually exploring the older stuff, too, like Keith Whitley and Waylon Jennings”.

Wallen outlines that he resonated with the way Church balances his rebellious streak with a more tender spirit, “With Eric Church, I just saw a different type of edge. He’d give the middle finger to the industry, but at the same time, he had a soft, sensitive side”.

The ‘Love Somebody’ singer-songwriter explains how he feels like you can hear Church's influence on ‘Just in Case’, which topped the Billboard Country Airplay chart in July 2025, “There were different angles he took with his music that I thought were cool, too. I think I’ve definitely followed along in his footsteps. Take a song like ‘Just In Case’. It shows a sensitive side, but it still has an edge. It’s kind of all-encompassing and not just this one feeling about breaking up with a girl. With a song like that, I’m trying to get multiple feelings across about one subject”.

On ‘Just in Case’, he definitely succeeds in emulating the light and shade that Church infuses into classic tracks such as ‘Record Year’ and ‘Monsters’, with Wallen confessing on the song that he has a history of self-sabotaging in most of his relationships.

The song epitomises the boundary-pushing impetus behind Wallen's 2025 album, I'm the Problem, on which he gets more vulnerable than ever - particularly on highlights such as ‘Superman’ and ‘I'm a Little Crazy’ - as well as exploring a dazzling array of genres and sub-genres, from country to indie-rock to straight-up trap.

We hope it's not too long before we get to hear Wallen and Church on a track together again - or perhaps even starring in the long-rumoured music video for ‘Number 3 and Number 7’ - with the Field & Stream pair cementing themselves over the past few years as one of our favourite duos in the contemporary country landscape.

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