Eric Church
As a teen, Eric Church bought a guitar and taught himself how to play all his favorite inspirations (Hank Williams Jr., Merle Haggard, The Band). By his junior year, he had lined up a regular gig in a local bar. But professional music would have to wait as Church promised his dad that he would graduate from college in exchange for a bankrolled six-month trial period in Nashville. He majored in marketing at Appalachian State University and then headed to Music City. He eventually landed a publishing deal with Sony/ATV Tree and wrote songs for other artists like Terri Clark
