Eric Church Calls His Mom the 'Toughest Person' He Knows

Eric Church wants to give credit where credit is due, and for him, that starts with his mom, Rita Church. The 41-year-old learned plenty from his mother over the years, and is still learning from her today.

"Even though my dad won't like this, my mom is by far the toughest person that I've met," says Church. "She's tough. One of those people that's been through a lot in her life, adversity-wise and never complains, always really resilient with anything that's happened to her. And it's just that attitude, the positive attitude, regardless of what has happened that I think is the one thing that I got from her.

"With my career, she's always been a person that's been really positive through times that I couldn't find a positive streak," Church adds with a laugh, "and she was always really positive, and very much believes in tough it out, keep working hard. That's her motto with stuff like that. I've always been impressed with that stuff. Then musically, she's where I get my talent from. She sings great, always has, her mom sang great. I owe my musical chops to her. And she still sings some."

The married father of two says he is not only a better musician, but a better person because of his mother's influence.

"Career-wise, I owe her everything," Church boasts. "And life-wise she's given me a lot of the qualities that it has taken for me to get me where I am. Not only as a musician, but as a man."

Church is also grateful for his own wife, Katherine, who juggles the parenting responsibilities by herself when her husband is on the road. Most importantly, she loves Church fiercely, in spite of his faults.

"True love to me is when you love a person in spite of all their fallibilities, and for me, I have a lot of 'em," admits the singer. "I'm definitely at times hard to love, and that's what's great about Katherine and the way she loves me. She loves me in spite of those things and really for those things."

Church released his latest project, 61 Days in Church, a 15-LP box set last December. The collection can only be purchased at 61daysinchurch.com.

He will perform at several fairs and festivals over the summer, including a few shows in Canada. Dates can be found on his website.

Photo Credit: Instagram/ericchurchmusic