Eric Church Gives Fans Ownership of His Nashville Bar

Eric Church is so devoted to his fans, dubbed The Church Choir, that he is giving each one of them a deed and a physical brick from his revitalized six-story downtown Nashville establishment, Chief's.

Eric said in a video message to fans, "You've helped me build my career brick by brick, and I want the whole world to know that the building is yours. 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."

He added, "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."

In addition to being given a deed to individual bricks that form the building, fans also received the first of an ongoing series of digital collectibles, including a digital version of their brick, which gives access to exclusive content. It includes fan club perks like never-before-heard demos, unreleased video footage, and priority entry at Chief's.

Other digital collectibles given to fans upon launch included 'Vinyl for Life' – which grants a fan a first edition vinyl of Church's entire catalog and a copy of every new piece of vinyl released going forward, including all color variants.

Eric explained, "My songs are mine until I release them, and then they're never mine again. And this building's a lot that way. 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."

He concluded, "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."

Church initially announced Chief's in early 2022. Chief's features a ticketed music venue, additional live entertainment throughout the building, and unique décor elements such as more than 4,000 concert posters throughout his career.

Situated at the intersection of 2nd Avenue North and Broadway at 200 Broadway in historic downtown Nashville, Chief's is designed to pay homage to chapters in his life with the singer's direct input.

Many country music superstars choose their middle names over their given first names. It is hard to imagine country music superstar Sam Smith (Tim McGraw's given name) and his superstar wife, Audrey Faith Perry (Faith Hill). Or how about sold-out stadium shows from a guy named Troyal (Garth Brooks)? And instead of two Lukes (Bryan and Combs), there would be two Thomas' (Rhett and Bryan).

Many celebrities change their name to fit who they have become, but in country music, the go-to name change for a superstar is to simply go with your middle name.

We take a look at five country superstars that go by their given middle names.

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Can you image Kenny Church? Eric, born in n Granite Falls, North Carolina, was named after his father, Ken. Church worked with his dad at Clayton Marcus, a furniture upholstery company where his father was president.

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Luke was named after his father, Tommy, who was a peanut farmer in Leesburg, Georgia.

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Garth was named for his father, Troyal Raymond Brooks Jr. He is the elder Troyal's youngest child. His mother, Colleen McElroy Carroll (who passed away in 1999), was a 1950s-era country singer who recorded on Capitol Records, the same label that Garth recorded on.

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Dierks has used his middle name publically since his music career began. The name Dierks is his maternal great-grandmother's surname. His parents' names are Leon Fife Bentley (who passed away in 2012) and Catherine Childs.

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Tim McGraw was not born as a McGraw, and Timothy was his middle name. He changed his last name at age 11 when he learned the identity of his real father, major league baseball pitcher "Tug" McGraw, who passed away in 2004.