Overview

• Church told Jimmy Fallon he was removed from Rascal Flatts’ Me and My Gang tour in 2006 and that Swift, then 16 with “Tim McGraw,” took his slot.
• He said Swift called the next day to ensure there were no hard feelings and he encouraged her that the crowd would love her.
• He joked she owed him her first gold record, which she delivered within about a week and later brought to his tour bus with the inscription, “thanks for playing too long and too loud.”
• The plaque is now held by the Country Music Hall of Fame after featuring in his 2023 museum exhibition.
• Church also performed “Johnny” from his LP Evangeline vs. the Machine and noted his brief tangency to a Swift copyright suit that was dismissed in 2022.