Eric Church‘s new downtown Nashville bar, Chief’s, is a full-circle moment for the country music star. After relocating from his native North Carolina to Music City, with dreams of a career in country music, Church found that was a lot harder to achieve than he initially planned.

“I didn’t know anybody,” Church tells CBS News. “I didn’t even know where Nashville started and ended. I just knew that I came to the center of it.”

With stars in his eyes, Church tried to get a job on Broadway, the same street where Chief’s now resides. Unfortunately, the aspiring singer was turned down, again and again and again.

“Broadway didn’t want me at all,” he said. “I couldn’t get a gig on Broadway … I couldn’t even bartend on Broadway.”

Now one of the biggest success stories of all time in country music, no one is more aware of the irony of owning his own bar in downtown Nashville than Church.

“I was just drawn here. And then I got here, and it wasn’t exactly what I thought,” Church reflects. “So it’s fun to be back here now. It feels redemptive. It’s one of those things where — I think about it a lot — it’s just a redemptive thing, to look at what this is, and the care that we put into this place, to make it feel that way.”

Church hand-designed the six-story bar, restaurant and music venue, with his ideal concert experience in mind. He helped launch the music programming at Chief’s with his own 19-show To Beat the Devil residency.

“I wanted a place that I could show up at, no cell phones, no recorders that I could be in a living room setting, and I could play songs that didn’t make albums,” he explains.

Included in the songs Church is playing as part of his residency are songs he wrote after almost dying from a blood clot, which was followed by the tragic Route 61 Harvest Festival shooting in 2017, where he performed, and the sudden death of Church’s brother Brandon, less than a year later.

“What I’m trying to show with the residency here is it was really the songwriting and the songs that nobody’s heard that I’ve never put on a record,” Church explains. “Cause it was too personal, was too close. I’m gonna play those. I’m gonna say, this is what got me through.”

Already popular among locals and tourists alike, the reason Church wanted to open Chief’s is far more personal than any business success he might achieve.

“I started here and they didn’t want me here,” Church says. “I’m here. They can’t kick me out now.”

When announcing the opening of Chief’s, the 46-year-old recalled his humble beginnings in the city that ultimately made so many of his dreams come true.

“I remember driving through downtown Nashville over 20 years ago with a pawn shop guitar, riding shotgun in a beat-to-hell truck just trying to chase a dream,” Church said. “Chief’s is the culmination of catching that dream. Like everything else we do in our career, I wouldn’t even attempt a project like this if I didn’t think it would be the best, so that’s what Chief’s will be: the best.”

Find more information at about Chief’s at ChiefsonBroadway.com. All of Church’s music and upcoming shows can be found at EricChurch.com.