Eric Church Overcomes Double Tragedy Through Songwriting and New Venture on Broadway Street

Country singer Eric Church opened up about enduring two major tragedies in his life during a recent interview with “CBS Mornings”. The first was a near-fatal blood clot that required emergency surgery and months of recovery. Following this, he fell into depression as he grappled with the mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival in Las Vegas which left sixty people dead. Church recalled watching fans holding up boots singing along loudly two days before the tragic incident occurred. He also struggled to come to terms with his grief after learning that some of his fans who had stayed over for the weekend’s shows were among those killed during the shooting. The second tragedy was less than a year later when Church’s younger brother Brandon died at 36 from complications due to chronic alcoholism which resulted in heart and liver damage. His brother, an avid music lover like him, had encouraged Church to continue pursuing his musical career even during its early stages of difficulty. Through the experiences he encountered throughout this tumultuous time frame, including performing for fans at Chief’s – a bar, restaurant, event space, live music venue, and recording studio owned by both Church himself along with business partners, all aimed at showcasing unrecorded songs which provided comfort to him while dealing with his grief. He expressed that it was the songwriting process that helped him overcome these dark times as he wanted to share those personal yet untouched tracks during his residency held in Chief’s where no cellphones or recordings were allowed, and patrons could feel an intimate vibe from its living room-style setup for performers. He found it a form of therapy to sing songs that never made it onto albums at the venue he now owns on Broadway Street – once rejected by him as he couldn’t even get gigs or bartending jobs there during his musical infancy, where nostalgic emotions encompassed throughout their transformation came across redemption for Church.