Eric Church Pens Heartbreaking New Song In Honor Of Las Vegas Victims

NASHVILLE, TN — Eric Church didn't want to perform at his Grand Ole Opry concert in Nashville Wednesday night. The country singer was the headliner of Las Vegas' Route 91 Harvest Festival, and he was still trying to process the tragedy of Sunday night's mass shooting.

However, he chose to take the stage after learning that Sonny Melton, one of the Las Vegas victims, was originally supposed to be at the Nashville show with his wife Heather Melton. The 29-year-old died while shielding his wife from bullets during the mass shooting. It was their wedding anniversary, and the couple had chosen to celebrate it at the music festival specifically so they could see Church perform.

“The reason I’m here tonight is because of Heather Melton; her husband, Sonny, who died; and every person that was there,” the star shared, motioning to the couple's empty seats in the audience.

Sonny Melton, a nurse from Tennessee, was among the 59 concertgoers murdered by 64-year-old Stephen Paddock after he opened gunfire on the festival from a room in the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. More than 400 people were injured in what is now the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.

Related: Country Music Reacts To Las Vegas Mass Shooting

Church teared up as he described his fans during his Friday night performance, recalling their "smiling faces, hands in the air, pictures being taken," as he surfed the crowd and shook their hands. "Forty-eight hours later, those places that I stood, was carnage. And those are my people." he said.

"I saw that crowd... And what I saw, that moment in time, was frozen. There’s no amount of bullets that can take it away," he continued, before debuting a song he penned in response to Sunday night's attack. The singer explained that it was his way of mourning those who had died.

"That night, something broke in me," he said. "And the only way I've ever fixed something that's been broken in me is with music. So I wrote a song."

"Why Not Me?" is a tribute to the Las Vegas victims and is filled with heart-wrenching lyrics:

"The lord is my refuge, my fortress, my God with whom I trust. But I'll never know why the wicked get to prey on the best of us. Why you full of life and promise, at the top of your lungs so loud my songs that you sing so remain in my ears forever now."

"When the morning sun hits the mountains and a glorious still calms the breeze, I'll ask the God in infinite wisdom, why you and why not me?"

See Church's full performance of the song, below:

Photo: Charles Sykes/Invision/AP