Eric Church was on hand at the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday (Dec. 10) to help welcome Ashley McBryde as the newest member of the time-honored institution. He and McBryde performed her song "Bible and a .44," which was inspired by her grandfather, and later, he returned to the stage to sing a brand new, unreleased song.
"In keeping with the theme of the night, a song I sang with Ashley about her grandfather, I want to play you a new song nobody's heard," Church told the crowd.
With his acoustic guitar in hand, he then launched into the unreleased song (tentatively) called "'Cause My Daddy Did." Church sings the song from a place of sincerity, and it's about all the ways he takes after his father.
"I wear jeans and boots / I drink not lite beer / Sometimes I tell the truth / Or what you want to hear / when I'm dealing cards / always keep one hidden / I like to buy used cars cause my daddy did," he sings in the first verse.
He continues sharing the characteristics he has thanks to his dad and sends a shoutout to the late Merle Haggard, singing "I love to sing along to all the Haggard hits / I get the words all wrong 'cause my daddy did."
Towards the end of the tune, these traits extend to the way he loves a woman. He admits that he's not always perfect, but those imperfections are something he got from his dad as well. He ends the song with a powerful statement of his dad's memory: "I can see him now when I look in my mirror."
Church didn't share many details about the tune, such as when he will release it to fans, but songwriter Jessi Alexander has confirmed to Wide Open Country that she co-wrote the song alongside fellow hit songwriters Jon Randall and Jack Ingram.
Although Church didn't write the song, he surely sings it from a place of love for his father, Ken Church. After performing the song, he shared memories of his father.
"My dad, when I was four or five years old, he used to have this beige Pontiac, which was a really desirable color — in 1981," Church shared. "He had the bench backseat, no seatbelts, none of that safety — sh*t. And I remember as he would play songs, I can remember being in the backseat listening to him sing and I would honestly bounce across that bench seat, window to window, playing air guitar and drums."
He added that he has continued this tradition with his children, and he then launched into his song, "Hippie Radio," which was inspired by those memories with his dad and his own children.
McBryde's Grand Ole Opry induction was a night full of emotional moments and star-studded collaborations. She was officially inducted by Opry member Terri Clark, and Wynonna Judd was also in attendance to show support.
