Eric Church took another step away from being a Nashville outsider to being the new mainstream of Music City by winning Album of the Year at the 2013 ACM Awards on Sunday night (April 7), beating such huge acts as Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, Luke Bryan and Little Big Town.

Legendary rocker John Fogerty and Miranda Lambert presented the award. "I can't believe I just met John Fogerty," Church said when he took the stage, adding, "We should hang out later."

He thanked his wife and young son, whom he said was "in the room probably raising a lot of hell."

Church was wearing his usual sunglasses, but he dropped his rambunctious public persona for a sincere thanks to his business team. "They all believe in the passion of the music, and that's what this is all about," he said.

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