Jelly Roll Shared His First Meeting With Eric Chruch

Jelly Roll and Eric Church recently sat down for a chat at the 2025 Country Radio Seminar. During their live interview, Jelly Roll revealed the story of his first meeting with Church.

He recounted that he met Church while opening for him during the Outside Revival Tour in 2023. Jelly Roll expressed his excitement about getting to open for Church and requested a meeting with him. He recalled the moment, saying,

“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.’” He shared on stage. “My only request back to my manager was, ‘Can I meet him?’ And they were like, ‘Maybe.’ And I was like, ‘F***.’ 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 f*** with it, Eric’s not going to fuck with you.’”

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Jelly Roll Opened For Eric Church

During Jelly Roll’s opening set, Church was so impressed that he called his entire crew over, stating that he was witnessing something special.

After the show, Jelly Roll and Eric Church finally met.

Church recalled this encounter as well, sharing that Jelly Roll arrived with a list of questions for him, saying,

“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.’”

Jelly Roll even shared some of the questions he asked the veteran singer, quoting, “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.’”

Jelly Roll noted that he and Eric Church were also “ripping tequila shots” during their first night together.”According to Jelly Roll, Eric Church can really drink, and although Jelly Roll typically holds his own, he found it difficult to keep up with Church shot for shot. He humorously admitted,

“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.”

A hungover Jelly Roll then got a call to sing onstage with the Church.

“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 f***.’ 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.’”

Watch a short clip from the interview below.