Tools of the Trade

Fans rarely notice some of the most important parts of Eric Church’s “To Beat the Devil” residency show at Chief’s.

When Church takes the Neon Steeple stage, he is surrounded by six guitars. Like everything else at Chief’s, they aren’t just random accessories. Instead, they are carefully selected, curated and cared for as though they are the essential tools of the show that they are.

The job of keeping watch over them belongs to MJ Sagraves. As with most members of Church’s crew, Sagraves has a fascinating backstory—he was part of Billy Ray Cyrus’ band for 18 years and is the credited bass guitarist on the iconic “Achy Breaky Heart.”

But in 2010, Church had a band and was putting together a crew. Bassist Lee Hendricks reached out to Sagraves. “Would you like to be a guitar tech?” Hendricks asked.

That’s the question that changed Sagraves’ life. He was already known to Church and his band. In fact, since 2006 he’d occasionally filled in for the versatile Jeff Hyde. But now he would move to the side of the stage, where he monitors every aspect of Church’s guitars.

That wasn’t overwhelming when Church just had one guitar for the entire set. In 2024, after nine studio albums and millions of ticket-buying fans, it’s a little more complicated.

And that’s even true at the intimate residency show. Each of the six guitars on stage with Church has a story (as you’ll see, because of Church’s vast collection, it’s also possible that he and Sagraves could swap out a guitar at any time). Looking at them in the order assigned by Sagraves and sound engineer Ben Rigby:

#1: A casual fan would never realize it, but one of the guitars on stage is a priceless 1940s artifact that belonged to Waylon Jennings. “This really belongs in the Hall of Fame,” Sagraves says as he carefully holds it. “It sounds so good and plays so easy.” Church estimates that Jennings wrote around 90 percent of his hits on this particular guitar. Needless to say, the instrument doesn’t go on the road during tours, although Church did take it to the iconic Stagecoach show earlier this year.

#2: Butterbean, an Eric Church classic. The Martin D-28 earned its nickname from Church’s kids, who named it Butterbean because of the instrument’s color. It’s been productive—the entire Mr. Misunderstood album was written on this guitar. And like most items in Church’s catalog, the guitar comes with a story. Although it’s Church’s guitar, Hyde has occasionally used it on the road. “If you have a killer guitar that sounds good and feels good, it matters,” Sagraves says. “Things like this inspire musicians.”

#3: A slot guitar, which refers to the slot that is designed to hold the strings at a certain height and angle. If you watch carefully during the show, he actually doesn’t play this one very much.

#4: Also a slot guitar, Church brought this particular instrument out just before the Stagecoach show. “Until the 1800s, all guitars were made like this,” Sagraves says. “Now, it’s more of a look thing.” The slot gives the guitar a different feel and sound, and also gives it a hint of nostalgia.

#5: The only guitar on the stage that isn’t a Martin. This one is a Gallagher, a company that’s been making custom guitars since 1965. The company is world-renowned for their quality; this is an item that would be at home anywhere from Broadway to the finest stages in the world.

#6: Largely a backup, this Martin was also played at Stagecoach. It’s informally known as Carolina, and it’s easy to identify because of the University of North Carolina interlocking NC logo on the headstock.

In the guitar world, which instruments Church selects to be part of his show are big news. He used an older model Gretsch guitar as part of his Super Bowl national anthem performance in 2021. The company spotted the familiar guitar and noticed it had aged. They immediately sent representatives to make detailed measurements and specifications, and produced an identical replica so he could take the older model out of the rotation.

As for Sagraves, his role at the residency shows is less stressful than—for example—last summer’s Outsiders Revival tour, when daily heat and humidity often made tuning each guitar extremely challenging.

Luckily, he’s working with someone who enjoys unpredictability. Early in his guitar tech tenure, Church gave Sagraves some very important wisdom.
“This is live music,” he said. “Shit happens, and that’s what makes it cool. We are always going to walk that edge.”