Eric Church Says He Wishes He Showed More Compassion Before His Brother Died at 36
Country music star Eric Church shared deeply personal reflections on the 2018 death of his younger brother Brandon Church, revealing lasting regrets and the unexpected advice that helped him grasp the permanence of his loss.
The interview, released Feb. 19 on All There Is with Anderson Cooper, offered a rare window into how Church has navigated grief that fame and success cannot ease.
Brandon Church died in 2018 of “consequences of chronic alcoholism,” according to People. He was 36 years old.
How Grief Reshaped Eric Church’s Family
Eric Church told Cooper he was unprepared for the way his brother’s death would permanently alter his family.
“When my brother died, I didn’t comprehend that it’s never going to be the same again — with my parents, with their relationship, with our relationship, the whole family dynamic,” he said. “I wasn’t prepared for that part.”
Shortly after Brandon’s death, country music legend Vince Gill — someone Eric had met but didn’t know personally — called him with advice.
Gill told him he might not see it now, but “you’re never going to be the same.”
“Your mom and dad are never going to be the same. Your sister’s never going to be the same. Y’all are never going to be the same as a unit,” Church recalled of the advice Gill shared.
“Nothing is ever gonna be the same,” Gill told him. “And the quicker you understand that, the better you’ll deal with it.”
Church said he didn’t believe Gill at the time. But looking back years later, he can see Gill was right.
“It never is the same,” Church said. “When something like that happens, it changes everything. And it becomes a new normal.”
Eric Church Made a Mistake at His Brother’s Funeral
Among the regrets Church shared, one stood out: the decision he and his wife made not to bring their two young children to Brandon’s funeral.
The singer shares two sons — Boone McCoy, now 14, and Tennessee Hawkins, now 11 — with his wife Katherine Church (née Blasingame), according to People. At the time, the boys were around seven and five years old.
“We left them back with a relative,” Church said. “At the time, it sounded like the exact right thing to do. ‘Cause I was a wreck. I was a mess. My family was a mess.”
He now describes that decision as a “mistake.”
“I look back on it now and sometimes it’s good for a child, if they’re in that age, to see everybody hurting, to see the life changing, to see what that death is,” he added. “So that’s one thing I regret. If I could go back, I would do that different.”
Church also opened up about how he responded to his brother during Brandon’s struggles in the years before his death.
Rather than approaching his brother with compassion, Church said he leaned into a “tough love” approach.
“I did a little bit of the, ‘You’re not doing the things you’re supposed to be doing,’ and it was a little bit of the ‘tough love,’ big brother thing. I wish I’d had more grace and been more compassionate, now,” he said.
“But at the time, you think, ‘Oh, come on, get your s–t together.’ I regret that now,” Church added.
Brandon Wouldn’t Let Him Quit Music
Church credited his brother as the catalyst behind his success in country music.
Church had moved to Nashville to pursue a music career but said he was “treading water” for a few years. He was ready to give up and leave Nashville entirely. But Brandon wouldn’t let him.
Brandon showed up at his doorstep one day and lived on his couch for a year so Eric wouldn’t leave.
“A year later, things started to kind of happen, but I don’t tell a lot of people that, but I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him doing that, because that was an ultimate commitment. He dropped everything,” Church said.
Eric went on to co-write the song “How ‘Bout You” off his 2006 debut album with his brother. The two also co-wrote 2009’s “Without You Here” together.
Grief That Hasn’t Faded After Eight Years
Perhaps the most striking part of the conversation was Church’s description of how grief continues to visit him years later.
“It’s been eight years, and those [emotions] will come out of nowhere,” he said.
“You would think, after five, six, seven years, that wouldn’t happen, or they would be less frequent,” he added. “But I’ve found that they’ve been more frequent over the last few years.”
For Church, the waves of emotion have grown more frequent, not less, as the distance from his brother’s death has increased.
BOTTOM LINE: Church’s candid interview challenges the assumption that grief fades neatly over time and offers a rare, unguarded look at a major country star still reckoning with a loss that reshaped everything.
Production of this article included the use of AI. It was reviewed and edited by a team of content specialists.
