Eric Church is speaking out against Garth Brooks, and Brooks’ performance at last year’s CMA Awards. Brooks, in the middle of his three-year World Tour at the time of the show, famously admitted to lip-syncing his own hit, “Ask Me How I Know,” shortly before taking home the night’s highest honor, Entertainer of the Year. According to Church, Brooks refusal to give a live version of him singing was inexcusable.
“So the winner of the biggest category of the night lip-synced in the biggest moment on the show?” Church says to Rolling Stone Country. “F–––that! And I didn’t like his excuse at all.”
Videos by PopCulture.com
Brooks defended his decision to lip sync, saying he was in the middle of a busy run of shows, performing a dozen shows in ten days.
“Right in the middle of those 12 shows was CMAs,” Brooks said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. “So we went in and did a track for it, just in case the voice was gone. Made a game-bound decision and played it because we still had seven shows, starting the next night in Spokane.”
The excuse might pass for some, but not Church.
“I felt like he was speaking for the other nominees. I can speak for myself – I’m not lip-syncing,” Church says. “If I can’t sing, I won’t sing, or I’ll sing badly. But at least you’ll get what you get.”
The North Carolina native knows a bit about singing with a tired voice. In 2017 Church headlined his own Holdin’ My Own Tour, giving fans three hours of music without any supporting acts.
“I was emotionally drained, physically drained, voice shredded and didn’t really know what to do when you didn’t have go somewhere the next week and play, because it had been such a — it was almost like a battle,” Church recounts. “Week to week was like, ‘OK, we’ve got to get through these three. We’re here, here and here.’ Ten to 12 hours of music in three or four nights, it becomes one of those things that I have to mentally prepare for, especially on the Thursday night show, the first of three.
“I know I’ve got to do a night and then I’ve got to do it again and again,” he continues. “So, it was just such a focal point of my entire life and career that that’s all I focused on week to week — I never looked past the next three or four, ever. Really, I got to where I never looked past the next show.”
Church just announced his latest album, Desperate Man, will be released on Oct. 5. Pre-order is available at EricChurch.com.
Photo Credit: Getty images/Tim Mosenfelder
