A few days after the death of Kris Kristofferson, Eric Church shared the unreleased song “Kickin’ It With Kristofferson,” an acoustic demo he once wrote about one of his songwriting heroes. The previously unreleased track, which Church describes as a “worktape,” pays tribute to the late singer, songwriter, actor, and activist, and sheds light on a few of the interactions, both onstage and off, that Church and Kristofferson got to share over the years. 

“His blue eyes twinkle/Talking about Big John, Shotgun Willie, Bobby Dylan, birds of Vietnam,” sings Church in the first verse, before going on to reference Kristofferson’s one of the songwriter’s defining works, “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” and his military rank as a captain (“Oh Captain, my Captain,” Church sings). 

Kristofferson was a north star for Church — he named his one-man show after Kristofferson’s song “To Beat the Devil” — and the two singers duetted in the past on songs like “Me and Bobby McGee” and “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’g’ Down.”

Church likes to tell the story about how one version of “To Beat the Devil” was responsible for saving his career, convincing him to stay in Nashville one more day. “I had been rejected all over town, and I was sitting in my truck listening to Kris Kristofferson’s The Austin Sessions,” Church told Garden & Gun in 2021. “I called my brother to come downtown and get drunk with me.” The next day, as Church relates, he got his first-ever publishing deal.

All of that reverence comes through clear on “Kickin It With Kristofferson,” a song whose very title betrays Church’s amazement that he got to know his hero: “Out of all I do/Nothing tops kicking it with Kristofferson,” Church gently sings in the chorus, a tender tribute to the troubadour’s troubadour.