By Adam Lucas

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Ninety minutes before she sang on stage with Eric Church, Caylee Hammack was proving she was exactly the same kind of fan who had packed The Anthem for a sold-out Friday night show.

Hammack had opened the evening  with a 40-minute set, mixing her songs with easy sing-alongs like “Last Dance with Mary Jane.” But now, while Church was on stage opening his set with the eight songs from Evangeline vs. The Machine, Hammack was in her green room talking about her life as a Church fan.

“Homeboy was the first song I heard,” she said. “I remember pulling my car over so I could listen to the entire song without being distracted. I had never heard a story like that.”

By the time The Outsiders album came out, Hammack had moved to Nashville. She was in line at the now-demolished Taco Bell on West End Avenue when she remembered a friend had mentioned The Outsiders. She placed her order, received her three crunchy tacos and a Baja Blast, and then sat in the parking lot and listened to every song.

Here’s how you know the level of her devotion. There are plenty of songs from that album that everyone knows and that are concert staples. It’s packed with monster hits like “Cold One,” “Talladega” and “Give Me Back My Hometown.”

But as Hammack starts singing, it’s none of those. “The only joint my mama burned,” she sings, “was on a rural route.”

It’s the opening line from “The Joint,” the last track on the album and a song Church hasn’t performed live in over a decade. It’s a song only a diehard fan would know—which is exactly the kind of fan that jammed the venue on Friday night.

With apologies to Thursday night’s crowd, there were a few people in that crowd who only came to hear “Springsteen” and were satisfied as soon as they heard it. That wasn’t the Friday crowd. The Friday crowd came to hear every single one of the 30 songs Church played, including relative rarities like “Never Break Heart” (just four times on this tour) and “Atlantic City” as a duet with Joanna Cotten (only the third time on this tour).

Those are the crowds Church seems to love the most. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if he powers the crowd or the crowd powers him, but with the singer under the weather, this time it was the latter.

There were plenty of reasons for this not to be a great show. The entire city of Washington is captivated by the weather, with an impending storm bearing down and threatening a foot of snow. Everyone on the crew is headed back to Nashville, where the weather predictions are even more dire. There were plenty of distractions. This could have easily been a phone-it-in-and-move-on evening.

By the time Church got to “Hometown” near the midpoint of the set, it was obvious he and the crowd weren’t going to let it be one of those nights. Instead, everyone seemed to raise their level just a little bit more. Roy Agee’s trombone solo was the perfect scene-setter with a little Bourbon Street vibe for “Knives of New Orleans.” Driver Williams’ guitar solo during “Creepin’” shredded just a little bit harder. The show was on such a roll that there are reports Jeff Hyde might have even cracked a smile during “Cold One.”

The progression of “Sinners Like Me” over his career has included Church recently altering the lyrics to nod to his two sons. He did it again Friday, singing, “Maybe one day my sons will settle down and give me a grandson of my own.” But then, for the first time, he wagged a finger at the back of the venue, where his youngest son was sitting. “But it better not be anytime soon,” he added.

A telling indicator of how much Church is enjoying himself is the degree to which he deviates from the set list. On Friday, he tossed in “Born to Run” during “Springsteen,” something he only does rarely in recent years. He summoned Hammack, who nailed a verse of “Mixed Drinks About Feelings.” (“When I was a kid, I would have been excited if you had told me I could even meet Eric Church,” she said. “Forget about singing with him.”)

Then the detours became sharper. On the spur of the moment, Church and Cotten decided to cover “Jackson,” which was made famous by Johnny Cash and June Carter. “What do you think?” Church asked Cotten as he tried to find the notes on his guitar. “Let’s try it.”

They hadn’t performed it since Red Rocks, but it didn’t matter. And it set the stage for even more improvisation. On every night but one of this tour, the set closer has been “Through My Ray-Bans.” Friday night, Church called such an unexpected audible that it took a minute to get the correct personnel on the stage.

He used the pause to promise, “On January 30, something is going to happen and you’re going to fucking love it.” Then, as he chatted with the crowd, he eventually told them what was happening. “I’m just killing time,” he said. “I’m stalling to let them figure out what the fuck I’m doing.”

That sense of what a particular venue needs on any given night is what makes his connection with his crowds so unique. Somehow, he knew Friday night was the type of group that featured fans—like Hammack—who wanted something special. So he closed with “Holdin’ My Own” despite the fact that Hyde didn’t make it on stage for the start of the song.

“Always been a fighter, scrapper and a clawer,” he began. Around that time, Hyde ambled on stage. Church didn’t miss a beat. “Hey Jeff,” he threw in.

It was exactly what Hammack had marveled at earlier in the night. “He’s so spectacular because he takes you into the moment,” she said. “When he sings, I hear the same feeling as if he just wrote that song. There’s something about that storytelling that he delivers in a way no one else can. He’s so truly himself in every capacity.”