Eric Church Was Mistaken For Luke Bryan Before His Show In Atlanta: “Do I Tell ‘Em?”

Eric Church and Luke Bryan
Anthony D’Angio/Jim Wright

You’d think they would know who Luke Bryan is in his home state. But apparently, Eric Church was recently mistaken for the “Country Girl Shake It For Me” singer ahead of a show in Georgia.

Church was in Atlanta this weekend for a stop at State Farm Arena on his Free the Machine Tour. And obviously Church has spent plenty of time in the area over the course of his career. But maybe he needs to make a few more stops in the Peach State, because as he revealed during his show on Friday, he was still mistaken for Luke Bryan:

“I was reminiscing with some people at soundcheck tonight. They were down at Wild Bill’s, if you remember that one. They were down at Wild Bill’s, they begin to tell me this progression of songs that I had played that night.

I started realizing that all those songs belonged to another artist. And I thought, ‘Do I tell ’em?’ Or do I tell ’em that they have me confused with someone else?

So I didn’t tell ’em that I wasn’t Luke Bryan. I love Luke. But if you’re here tonight, we’re not gonna do “Country Girl Shake It For Me.” Well, we could.”

Brutal.

Of course Church and Luke are good friends: Last year, Eric even stepped up at the last minute when Luke was forced to pull out of three festivals due to vocal issues. Despite not having his full band, Church filled in for Luke and delivered three incredible acoustic performances.

 

Luke and Eric even teamed up back in 2012 when they joined Jason Aldean on his single “The Only Way I Know.” But as far as similarities in their music go…well, that song’s pretty much where it ends. I can’t imagine Church singing about country girls shaking it for him, and I definitely couldn’t imagine Luke singing about “smoking a little smoke.” Not sure how anybody got those two mixed up…

If you haven’t caught Church on his Free the Machine Tour though, one of the best parts is when he shares stories like this of the cities he’s playing in. Of course he came up in the music industry playing rock clubs and much smaller venues than he’s playing now, so returning to these cities and hearing the memories of those days when he was still an up-and-coming artist is something special.

But Atlanta wasn’t the only time that Church wasn’t recognized on this tour: Last year during a show in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the Chief decided to go undercover at his own show to see if he could walk around the arena without being recognized – and it worked:

 

Maybe that’s why he was mistaken for Luke Bryan in Georgia: They didn’t recognize him without the sunglasses.