Today, we know Eric Church as the Grammy-nominated, chart-dominating phenom that he is. But once upon a time, Church had to start from scratch to properly build a legend — and it wasn't easy. Church sat down with CBS Mornings, dishing out wonderful details about his journey to stardom.
"I did what a lot of dreamers do. You pack your car ... you put a guitar in it, and you go to the center of what Nashville is, which is Broadway. And I couldn't get a gig on Broadway. Nothing. I couldn't even bartend on Broadway," Church confessed.
Isn't the dream of every theater kid or singer to be able to say they made it on Broadway? But, as Church went on to say, there was one irreconcilable factor hindering him.
"They didn't want original music. They wanted you to play whatever the songs were at the time. I didn't really do that. I was a songwriter."
Ah, the pesky wrinkle that is "I'd like to be an artist rather than a parrot, thank you very much!" Church would soon come upon the perfect community, however.
"I found a place not far from here over in Printers Alley, which is a seedy kind of area. But I found my tribe there because that's where all the people that also got kicked off Broadway ended up," Church added.
Eric Church Found Himself Rejected By Broadway Only To Discover His Found Family
"I ended up with those guys. And what I found with those guys was: these were all old-dog songwriters that had written for George Jones and Waylon Jennings and Conway Twitty. And that's where I learned. I learned the craft of songwriting from the same guys that came to town and had the same thing happen to them that happened to me."
Eric Church's biggest supporter in those early days? Why, no one other than Eric Church himself! He could've called it quits after Broadway. Heck, he could've chosen to conform and do the cover songs Broadway wanted him to do. But Eric Church chose Eric Church first, and it was his belief in his craft, passion, and ambition that pushed him toward success!
Inspiring, no? Maybe you're a barrier or two away from your own big break! It never hurts to try, right?
