On stage at the Grand Ole Opry, Eric Church broke down while talking about the victims of the Las Vegas mass shooting.
The Nashville talent was back at home base on Wednesday after performing at the Route 91 Harvest Festival, the site of the Las Vegas shooting.
His October 4th set included a brand-new song called Why Not Me. It was dedicated to Tennessean Sonny Melton who died because he had shielded his wife from the spraying bullets.
While introducing the fresh tune on Wednesday, the country singer, wearing aviator shades and a leather jacket, share two empty Opry seats meant for Sonny and his wife with the somber audience, explaining that the Meltons had planned to be at that Eric Church performance, too.
The Holdin’ My Own singer choked up as he talked about the place where he had played two days before when the biggest mass shooting in contemporary American history happened. “Forty-eight hours later, those places where I stood was carnage…I saw boots in the air [as victims fell]… that night, something broke me.”
Like the rest of us, this sensitive musician was beyond devastated at what happened in Las Vegas during what had, up until then, been a really wonderful country festival.
Actually, the performer was so bereft about the hideous incident and its aftermath that Chruch was having trouble playing his guitar. He was even reticent to return to sing at the beloved Opry.
Then, the singer heard Melton’s wife, Heather, talk to Anderson Cooper on CNN. The widow said her husband had been in Las Vegas at the festival with her because he was a Church fan. With that, the star was compelled to write the haunting “Why Not Me”, proving music heals hurt, a few measures at a time.
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