EC

Around 5ish years ago I sat in a class at ASU filled with potential teachers all burned out from the idea of two last grueling semesters. Somehow our professor still led us all in a game of "Two Truths and a Lie." Everyone told 2 truths and a lie about themselves and the class had to decide which was the lie. One beautiful brunette had three very outstanding statements, one of which was "My brother just signed a recording contract in Nashville." Well, it was the truth. Kendra Church was a bubbling country girl from South Caldwell High. She was of course talking about her brother, Eric. I went through two semesters with Kendra. The entire class grew so close, and we followed every step of Eric's start. I remember driving into the driveway and hearing his song and turning it up for Jamie to hear, "How Bout You." Anyway.....

 Jamie and I went with some friends to hear Eric and his band play on campus that year. We were right on top on the stage, and it was AWESOME. Eric was obviously overwhelmed as he talked about going to App and dreaming of playing there. We met him after the show and he signed a copied black and white flyer that I had stolen from campus. He was very humbled.

As the years went on Jamie and I became even larger fans, and we watch all those around us become fans too. We saw him play in Boone at Legends and the Convocation Center, Coyote Joes in Charlotte, some BBQ Fest in Morganton, and twice at Bobcats Arena. The most recent concert he headlined. He played with Brantley Gilbert. I stood there singing all the words to every song, and as the lights went dark and cell phones and lighters filled the arena, I was the one who was overwhelmed. Eric had gone from 150 people in a small Boone building to 20,000 screaming fans. His concert rocked as always, and last night Jamie and I watched the CMA's and saw his 5 nominations lead to an Album of the Year award. It was truly great to be able to say we watched him as he worked his way to fame.

He is an artist in every sense of the word. He writes all of his songs and, a country fan or not, he has talent. So I guess I am just looking back and loving the fact that I can say we are a few of the very foundation of his fan club. GO EC!