Eric Church Wrote Johnny Cash’s Kids to Save His Legendary ACM Performance and Country Music Has Never Been the Same

Eric Church sat alone in the dark at the Grand Ole Opry while Johnny Cash's voice filled the room.

That was September 2020 – America on fire, the flag under siege, and country music mostly too scared to say a word.

What Church did next almost never happened at all.

The Corporate Wall Nobody Could Break

The vision was simple and perfect: Church would open his ACM Awards performance with Cash's 1974 spoken-word recording of "Ragged Old Flag," strumming quietly in the dark as the Man in Black's voice recited his poem about a battered, battle-worn American flag that had survived everything thrown at it.

Then Church would launch into "Stick That in Your Country Song" – his gut-punch challenge to Nashville to stop writing party anthems and start writing about veterans who came home broken, families with empty seats at the table.

The Cash estate said no.

ACM Awards Executive Producer RAC Clark hit a wall. He worked the phones. He made his case. "No matter how much talking I did trying to get it cleared, it was a corporate wall," Clark later told Country Aircheck Weekly. BMG controlled the publishing rights. The estate controlled the images. Every path forward required sign-off from people who weren't moving.

Clark told Church's team there was one option left: appeal directly to Johnny Cash's children.

The Letter Nobody Will Ever Read

Eric Church wrote a letter to John Carter Cash and Rosanne Cash.

Nobody knows what it said. RAC Clark has refused to share the contents, and that's unlikely to change. What Clark has said is this: "I'm never going to share that letter, but it's the reason that performance aired."

Whatever Church wrote, it worked. The Cash family said yes. BMG came on board. The estate approved the images of their father that played during the intro. The recording they ultimately used was a clean version of Cash reciting "Ragged Old Flag" without instrumentation – originally performed for a Ralph Emery special – which allowed Church to play his own acoustic guitar underneath it live.

When the night came, Church sat on a dark stage, spotlight above, strumming as Cash's voice filled a Grand Ole Opry empty of crowds due to COVID. A ragged American flag appeared on screen. Then Church stood up and delivered one of the most talked-about ACM performances in the show's history.

Clark summed it up: "There was a lot of sweat equity by a lot of people. Part of my job is to bring these things to life, but this was Eric's vision. He pushed it over the top, and boy, did he deliver."

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What It Meant – and Still Means

This wasn't entertainment. It was a statement.

In September 2020, country music was navigating the same cultural minefield as every other industry. Artists were weighing words, hedging statements, avoiding anything that could generate controversy. The summer had been long and ugly. The flag itself had become a flashpoint.

Church walked onto that stage and said: the flag stands for everything that was fought for, bled for, and buried for. It doesn't belong to a political party. It belongs to every veteran who came home missing pieces of himself, every gold star family, every man and woman who ran toward the sound of gunfire when everyone else ran away.

Stick that in your country song.

The audience – what little of one there was that night – understood immediately. So did the millions watching at home. Fans called it the performance of the night. Many called it the performance of the year.

The fact that it almost didn't happen only sharpens the story. A corporate legal process nearly silenced the most powerful patriotic moment country music produced that decade. One letter from one artist who understood what was at stake changed that.

That's the standard Eric Church set five years ago on a dark stage with a ragged old flag on the screen behind him.

2026 ACM Awards: Country's New Names Step Up

The 61st ACM Awards aired May 17 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, hosted by Shania Twain on Amazon Prime – and the show proved the tradition Church honored is alive and well.

Ella Langley swept every category she entered, taking home seven awards including Song of the Year and Single of the Year for "Choosin' Texas," plus Female Artist of the Year and Artist-Songwriter of the Year. Cody Johnson claimed Entertainer of the Year and Male Artist of the Year. Parker McCollum won Album of the Year. Brooks & Dunn took Duo of the Year, the Red Clay Strays won Group of the Year, Tucker Wetmore won New Male Artist of the Year, and Avery Anna claimed New Female Artist of the Year.

Country music's biggest night. Cash would have approved.

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Sources:

• Aaron Ryan, "ACM Awards 2020: Eric Church's Bone-Chilling 'Ragged Old Flag' Performance Almost Wasn't Approved," Whiskey Riff, May 14, 2026.
• "Eric Church Wrote Johnny Cash's Kids a Letter Before His ACM Awards Performance," Taste of Country, September 29, 2020.
• "Eric Church On Why The Country Music Genre Is The Most Patriotic," Whiskey Riff, November 8, 2024.
• "2026 ACM Awards: The Complete Winners List," Rolling Stone, May 18, 2026.
• "Winners Announced for 61st Academy of Country Music Awards," ACM Country, May 18, 2026.
• "Eric Church grabs attention at 2020 ACMs with 'Stick That in Your Country Song,'" Fox News, September 17, 2020.