The Defiant One

Modern countrys sharpest songwriter sounds off on gun control, what country should (andshouldnt) be, hating lip-syncing, loving Bernie Sanders, and that time he almost died.

- Josh Eells

A FEW MILES OUTSIDE NASHVILLE, as the Walmarts and Waffle Houses give way to country roads and hickory trees, there’s a wild expanse of land, about 2,000 acres, nestled near the banks of the Cumberland River and guarded by security cameras. That’s where Eric Church is building his lakes. » The first lake is still just a pit – an excavation site full of bulldozers and sump pumps and limestone boulders that Church and his wife, Kath-erine, have spent the past few years digging up. (“One of my buddies came by and said, ‘Dude! Did you buy a quarry?’ ” says Church.) The second is closer to finished: It’s at the back of the property, on a little creek that drains from a holler. The dam has been built and the wells have been dug – now all it needs is water. Church is hoping to start filling it soon; the plan is to have the waterline come right up to his cabin. “My dream is to sit on the couch and bounce a lure offthe patio right into the water,” he says. » Church, 41, is standing outside overlooking his not-quite-a-lake, a little red-faced in the Tennessee heat. His black jeans and T-shirt are damp with sweat, and his hair is mussed and matted under a visor. The gold accents on his Rolex glint in the sun. He looks like a golf pro in Baja who just got back from a day on the boat. » Church and his wife bought the first chunk of this land back in 2011, then two more parcels in the years that followed. “It’s been expensive,” he says. “Especially the lakes. When we started digging, we hit rock, so we needed more clay to hold the water. . . .”

I ask how much he’s spent so far. “A lot,” he says. “I honestly don’t know what number I would give you. I’m afraid I could go wrong both ways.”