Eric’s brother Brandon died in June 2018

Eric Church is opening up about the time he found a friend in Vince Gill.

During an appearance on the CNN podcast All There Is with Anderson Cooper on Thursday, Feb. 19, the country singer-songwriter opened up about the death of his brother Brandon in 2018 — and how Gill called him up with some life-changing advice.

“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 the whole family, the family dynamic. When my brother died, I wasn’t prepared for that part,” Eric, 48, told the host.

“Of all people, like two or three days after my brother died, Vince called me. And I didn’t really know Vince very well,” he continued, “And he actually was the first one that said to me, ‘You don’t understand this 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.”

Vince Gill and Eric Church in Nashville in August 2023.Jason Kempin/Getty

Gill, 68, told him that nothing was “ever going to be the same” — and the “quicker you understand that, the better you’ll deal with it.”

“At the time, I didn’t get it. I was sitting there thinking, ‘Well, it was grief. We’ve always been the family.’ But looking back on it, he’s exactly right,” he said. “It never is the same. When something like that happens, it changes everything. And it becomes a new normal.”

Brandon died in June 2018 at age 36. According to an autopsy report obtained by multiple outlets, he died of “consequences of chronic alcoholism.”

At the time, a rep for Eric confirmed his death in a statement: “It is with great sadness that the Church family confirms that Eric’s brother, Brandon, passed away Friday evening.”

Elsewhere in his conversation with Cooper, the “Tears in Heaven” singer opened up about the role his brother played in his career taking off.

“When I came to Nashville, like any experience for a young artist and Nashville songwriter, it’s tough,” he said. “I went through a couple of years of trying to make it and it wasn’t working and I was about to come home one night… I called [my brother] and he was back home, he dropped out of school, and he said, ‘What’s going on?’ I said, ‘Man, it’s not gonna work.’”

Eric Church in Frisco, Texas in May 2025.Rich Polk/Penske Media via Getty

He continued, “I said, ‘I feel like life’s passing me by. I feel like all my friends and everybody back there is moving on with their life. They’re getting married, they’re doing this stuff. I’m out here treading water,’ right? And the next day he showed up in Nashville.”

After that phone call, his brother moved in to his apartment in Nashville to keep him motivated.

“He wouldn’t let me go. He said, ‘No, you’re not. You don’t come here. I’ll come to you.’ And he moved out and it kept me in town,” he said. “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.”

Eric co-wrote 2006’s “How ‘Bout You” and 2009’s “Without You Here” with Brandon.