Eric Church has never done anything conventionally, and he isn’t about to start now. The North Carolina native mailed members of his fan club, dubbed the Church Choir, deeds to a brick in his new Chief’s bar and music venue, scheduled to open later this year.
“My songs are mine, until I release them, and then they’re never mine again. And this building’s a lot that way,” Church explained. “It’s been mine in the building of it, in the cultivating with the stories, the challenges, and the successes. But once Chief’s opens, it’s not mine anymore. It belongs to the Choir. It belongs to the fans. It belongs to the patrons. It belongs to the stories they create there. It belongs to the music they listen to there and share from there.
“So, my story ends where theirs begins and that’s the essence of what you do musically and what we’re trying to do at Chief’s,” he adds.
In a message to his fans, Church explained why he made the unconventional decision to share Chief’s with the Church Choir.
“You’ve helped me build my career brick by brick, and I want the whole world to know that the building is yours,” Church said. “This is not just another club downtown. This is our house. I’ve been involved in every step of restoring this historic building into a place we can call our own and, because you’ve been with me every step of my career, I’m proud to dedicate a physical brick of the Chief’s building to each and every one of you.”
Along with receiving a deed to part of Chief’s, fans also received the first of an ongoing series of digital collectibles, including a digital version of their brick, which allows them access to exclusive content, along with other new fan club perks, including never-before-heard demos, unreleased video footage, plus priority entry at Chief’s. They also received Vinyl for Life, giving them first-edition vinyl of his entire catalog, plus a copy of every new piece of vinyl released in the future.
Other perks include a signed guitar, which comes with a guitar lesson from Church’s guitarist, Driver Williams, and video performances of Church playing the guitar, a year-long subscription to SiriusXM, and a chance to be a guest DJ as part of his Outsiders Radio “insiders Hour.”
Church announced the opening of Chief’s in early 2022, located at 200 Broadway, where the once-popular Cotton Eyed Joe was held.
“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 when announcing the new space. “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.”
