Eric Church was going to take most of 2013 to rest from the biggest and busiest year of his career and also to take the time to start focusing on his next project. That is, until Kenny Chesney called to invite him to play most of the stadium dates on his No Shoes Nation Tour. “We were gonna take the year off, so all I was gonna do is try to focus on what’s next, you know, ‘cause I do feel like I need a separation point from the kind of record Chief was, as big as it was, to how do we go to what’s next?,” says Eric. “And we got the call from Chesney, and because we were off, it kinda made sense, because I was still going to be able have my time. It was 14 or 15 shows, that’s it.”

The Like Jesus Does singer will kick off his run of dates with Chesney March 16th at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. But first, he’s going to go north of the border for a string of tours in Canada beginning January 31st in Abbotsford, British Columbia.

AUDIO: Eric Church explains why he decided to hit the road with Kenny Chesney on the No Shoes Nation Stadium Tour.

Eric Church (Kenny Chesney tour) OC: …go do that. :29
“We were gonna take the year off, so all I was gonna do is try to focus on what’s next, you know, ‘cause I do feel like I need a separation point from the kind of record Chief was, as big as it was, to how do we go to what’s next? And we got the call from Chesney, and because we were off, it kinda made sense, because I was still going to be able have my time. It was 14 or 15 shows, that’s it. That’s all we’re playing, and after doing 110 arena shows, that’s nothing, you know, to go do that.”