Eric Church was just one artist of many who came together to perform at Toby Keith: American Icon tribute show.

On July 29th, a charity benefit concert was held at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, to remember the late country legend. Many well-known names in country music performed at the show as a tribute to Toby Keith, including Eric Church.

Church actually first met Toby Keith at a local bar in Nashville. During an interview with Backstage Country, Church shared more about that night.

“I have a thousand Toby Keith stories – some I can share and some not – but the first time I met Toby, we both frequented a bar in Printer’s Alley in Nashville called The Fiddle and Steel Guitar Bar. I remember walking in my first time, and apparently, some of the patrons had been harassing a bartender behind the bar, and as I walked in, Toby had taken the guy harassing the patrons and had drug him by his shirt collar all the way down the bar. And as I walked in the door, the guy dropped in front of me, and I look up, and there’s Toby Keith, and I kinda stuck out my hand and said, ‘Hi,’ and we met.”

Church then shared how he and Keith became friends. In 2011, Eric Church even toured with Toby Keith on his famous Locked & Loaded Tour.

“Toby was always a guy that did things his own way, and I think of that fondly now when I think of him. We got to be friends later and toured with him, but that’s how I met him. He laid a guy out at my feet at the Fiddle and Steel,” Church concluded.

We are sure that Eric Church will forever remember that night with the Big Dog Daddy.

Eric Church Sings “As Good as I Once Was” In Honor Of Toby Keith

During the American Icon tribute concert, Church took center stage to deliver a moving performance of Keith’s 2005 hit song, “As Good as I Once Was.”

Church took the stage at Bridgestone with his guitar in hand. Before starting his performance, he teased the song he would be singing to the crowd by saying, “I can promise you this… I am NOT as good as I once was…tonight I’m gonna be.”