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Eric's Bio

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Eric Playing at his High School (May 2007)
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Photgraph By: Lee Haywood (ericchurchmusic.com)

From GAC:

There are rare times when it's all in the grooves, and Eric Church's debut is one of those times. His new project is a sonically breathtaking, lyrically compelling collection that hearkens to the line of thoughtful, rugged individualists who have always given country music its most challenging and nuanced work. It is a line that passes through Merle Haggard to Waylon Jennings to John Prine and is finding a handful of torchbearers in this new century.

There is wistful reflection on fate in "What I Almost Was" and "The Hard Way," where insight and maturity are always hard-won, and offhand looks at male/female relationships in "Can't Take It With You" and "Two Pink Lines." "These Boots" spins a scuffed but comfortable metaphor for the drifter, the man more comfortable in motion, searching for another song, another love, another audience, as satisfaction and regret race neck and neck down life's backstretch. "Lightning" is a piece of modern folk poetry dealing with a condemned man's last moments, and "The Hag" is a paean to the King of the thoughtful country troubadors. "Before She Does" is a howlingly funny missive on lost love that pulls in elements from all over the cultural board, and "Sinners" deals with coming of age in the face of generations of self-knowledge concerning sin and salvation.

"Honesty is my number one responsibility," Church says. "If you listen to this, you'll find out who I am."

"I knew I wanted to be a recording artist," continues the Granite Falls, North Carolina-born artist, "but I knew I wanted to be a songwriter more, and if the record deal had never happened I would have been OK because I really wanted to be a successful songwriter. When I got that first check from Sony/ATV Tree and they were paying me money to do it, I thought I had arrived because I was getting paid to do something I'd be doing anyway."

He began getting cuts, including Terri Clark's "The World Needs A Drink." Then, Arthur Buenahora at Sony Tree introduced him to producer Jay Joyce; the two clicked instantly and began cutting demos. The first guitar/vocal demo they cut became the basic track for "Lightning" and set the tone for all that would follow.

Once signed to Capitol Records Nashville, Church and Joyce set about capturing Church's essence in Joyce's basement studio. The result is a CD that launches Church with a firm identity both musically and lyrically, and gives him his own niche in a diverse country landscape. It is music with real personality. His is music that looks its listener in the eye and speaks plainly about the human condition. It travels the land where heartache produces both sorrow and strength, where wisdom is tinged with sadness and love is always aware of its own mortality.

"I feel like we're saying something," he says. "These are songs about what's going on in the world – this is what I think. You can agree or disagree. I just don't want them to hear it and go, 'That's nice' and move on. We just jump out from the start and say, 'Here it is.' I personally like music that goes way out and picks a side. And I think we've made an honest record. I don't think there's a song on there that's not me."

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Wikipedia.com:
 
Eric Church grew up in Granite Falls, N.C., in an area known as one of the world's furniture capitals. He recalls being 4 years old, standing on a table at a local restaurant, singing "Elvira" to a waitress and a handful of patrons who would reward him with change. He was 13 when he started writing songs, and he bought a cheap, hard-to-tune guitar and taught himself to play, influenced by his parents' eclectic tastes, which stretched from Motown to bluegrass.
 
At a little bar in the mountains of North Carolina, he watched a band called the Harris Brothers getting big tips for playing songs that he knew, and by the summer of his junior year, he had a gig of his own. His first gig was with M. Snow at Woodland's Barbeque in Blowing Rock. The wait staff eventually drove them off because of their ablility to keep fans around for longer than desired hours. He quickly formed a band with Snow, his brother and another guitarist and was bestowed the name The Mountain Boys by several fans at one of their first gigs at a restaurant called Arizonas. The first night they knew just 14 songs, but they faked their way through a four-hour set and held onto enough of the crowd to help launch them as a regional act. In a year or so, Church was throwing original songs into the set mix and not long afterward was selling CDs of his own material. For two years, they played often in bars and restaurants in the Hickory, Lenoir, and Boone area.
 
Church played basketball, baseball and golf in high school, but in college, he turned to music. Before moving to Nashville, he graduated from college with a degree in marketing. In return, his father paid for his first six months in Music City.
 
 The financial cushion his father had given him gave him time to make contacts. Six months in, he had to take a day job, but six months after that, he was signed to a publishing deal at Sony/ATV Tree Music Publishing. He began getting cuts, including Terri Clark's "The World Needs a Drink." Then, Arthur Buenahora at the publishing company introduced Church to producer Jay Joyce. The two clicked instantly and began cutting demos. Following a showcase, Church signed to Capitol Nashville, with Joyce producing his debut album, "Sinners Like Me."

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From GAC:

There are rare times when it's all in the grooves, and Eric Church's debut is one of those times. His new project is a sonically breathtaking, lyrically compelling collection that hearkens to the line of thoughtful, rugged individualists who have always given country music its most challenging and nuanced work. It is a line that passes through Merle Haggard to Waylon Jennings to John Prine and is finding a handful of torchbearers in this new century.

There is wistful reflection on fate in "What I Almost Was" and "The Hard Way," where insight and maturity are always hard-won, and offhand looks at male/female relationships in "Can't Take It With You" and "Two Pink Lines." "These Boots" spins a scuffed but comfortable metaphor for the drifter, the man more comfortable in motion, searching for another song, another love, another audience, as satisfaction and regret race neck and neck down life's backstretch. "Lightning" is a piece of modern folk poetry dealing with a condemned man's last moments, and "The Hag" is a paean to the King of the thoughtful country troubadors. "Before She Does" is a howlingly funny missive on lost love that pulls in elements from all over the cultural board, and "Sinners" deals with coming of age in the face of generations of self-knowledge concerning sin and salvation.

"Honesty is my number one responsibility," Church says. "If you listen to this, you'll find out who I am."

"I knew I wanted to be a recording artist," continues the Granite Falls, North Carolina-born artist, "but I knew I wanted to be a songwriter more, and if the record deal had never happened I would have been OK because I really wanted to be a successful songwriter. When I got that first check from Sony/ATV Tree and they were paying me money to do it, I thought I had arrived because I was getting paid to do something I'd be doing anyway."

He began getting cuts, including Terri Clark's "The World Needs A Drink." Then, Arthur Buenahora at Sony Tree introduced him to producer Jay Joyce; the two clicked instantly and began cutting demos. The first guitar/vocal demo they cut became the basic track for "Lightning" and set the tone for all that would follow.

Once signed to Capitol Records Nashville, Church and Joyce set about capturing Church's essence in Joyce's basement studio. The result is a CD that launches Church with a firm identity both musically and lyrically, and gives him his own niche in a diverse country landscape. It is music with real personality. His is music that looks its listener in the eye and speaks plainly about the human condition. It travels the land where heartache produces both sorrow and strength, where wisdom is tinged with sadness and love is always aware of its own mortality.

"I feel like we're saying something," he says. "These are songs about what's going on in the world – this is what I think. You can agree or disagree. I just don't want them to hear it and go, 'That's nice' and move on. We just jump out from the start and say, 'Here it is.' I personally like music that goes way out and picks a side. And I think we've made an honest record. I don't think there's a song on there that's not me."

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Eric and his Wife, Katherine
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The Married Man...

Country music newcomer Eric Church married music publisher Katherine Blasingame on Tuesday, Jan. 8 in a private ceremony attended by immediate family in the Blue Ridge Mountains of the artist’s home state of North Carolina.

The wedding took place at the internationally acclaimed Westglow Spa & Resort in Blowing Rock, NC.

“Katherine and I stayed there last year, and we just fell in love with the place,” says Eric. “We decided that it would be the ideal spot to get married, up in the North Carolina Mountains, with just family around us. I can’t imagine a more perfect spot.”

The bride’s gown was designed by Melissa Sweet, and the groom wore a black Dolce & Gabbana suit. The newly married couple now sport one-of-a-kind rings designed by famed jewelry designer Margaret Ellis (Sex and the City, The Devil Wears Prada).

Eric surprised Katherine with a new song, written especially for her, that he performed during the ceremony for the bride and assembled guests. “My brother snuck my guitar in for me, so I think I surprised her!” says the Capitol Records artist.

The entire wedding party stayed at Westglow for most of the week, taking full advantage of the relaxing spa treatments and activities available at the resort. 

Eric is now back in the studio recording music for the follow-up to his critically acclaimed debut album Sinners Like Me. Fans should expect the first single from the album to hit radio in March, with the album to follow this summer.

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MTV Artist: "Eric Church"

AOL Artist "Eric Church"

Yahoo Artist "Eric Church"

 
 
 
 
 
 
"I come from a long line of Sinners like me"-EC