There’s no one more proud of Eric Church’s recent success than Eric Church’s dad.

The patriarch of the Church brood told the Hickory Daily Record newspaper that he never expected Eric to have such superstar status.

“I was so proud of him when he won it because it validates his position in the country music world and I’ve heard that from his peers in the industry,” Ken Church says. “I expected him to do pretty well, but I didn’t expect anything like this.”

Eric’s pops isn’t the first country music parent to throw some support the way of their superstar kid.

Taylor Swift’s dad has been known to pass out to random strangers guitar picks with Taylor’s face on them.

Blake Shelton sings on a duet with his mom on his new Christmas album, and Carrie Underwood even sings a song about her mom called “Mama’s Song.”