Eric Church Gives Fan Club Members Deeds to Bricks in His Chief’s Nashville Restaurant

Jessica Nicholson
·3 min read
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As Eric Church gears up for the opening of Chief’s, his downtown Nashville restaurant, bar and music venue located at 200 Broadway, the CMA entertainer of the year-winning artist gave premium members of his Church Choir fan club a surprise. Tens of thousands of Church fans were sent deeds of ownership to individual bricks that make up the physical framework of the six-story Nashville venue.

Additionally, fans received access to a virtual fan community and the first in a series of digital collectibles, including a digital version of their brick, which offers access to exclusive content such as previously unheard demos, unreleased video footage, and priority entrance to Chief’s. Other digital collectibles some fans can receive include Vinyl For Life, which gives fans first-edition vinyl of Church’s catalog and a copy of every new piece of vinyl released going forward, including all color variants. Other prizes include a signed guitar (which also grants access to content including a video guitar lesson from Church’s guitarist Driver Williams, and videos of performances from Church playing the guitar). Other prizes include year-long subscriptions to SiriusXM and an opportunity to record a guest DJ set at Chief’s studio as part of Outsiders Radio “Insiders Hour.”

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According to Rolling Stone, the virtual component also serves as a database for concerts on Church’s tours, giving fans the ability to “check in” to shows they have attended, view setlists and view tour posters for each concert.

“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 in a message to fans. “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.”

In 2022, Church announced the upcoming venue, for which he has partnered with real estate developer and hospitality entrepreneur Ben Weprin of AJ Capital. Chief’s will include not only a ticketed music venue, but also additional live entertainment throughout the building, as well as a studio to be used for broadcasting (including for Eric Church Outsiders Radio on SiriusXM), with the capability to host broadcasts from various media partners. Street-level windows will also offer fans a behind-the-scenes look into seeing the broadcast in action. Chief’s will also honor Church’s Carolina roots via a partnership with Rodney Scott. Scott’s Whole Hog BBQ will overlook Nashville’s downtown from its “Hell of a Q” rooftop position. An opening date has yet to be set for the venue.

Giving his fans a stake in ownership — not simply fan-fueled allegiance — has been a cornerstone of Church’s career, most notably back in 2015, when Church surprise-released his album Mr. Misunderstood, by sending copies of the album directly to his Church Choir fanclub members before anyone else heard the project.

“My songs are mine, until I release them, and then they’re never mine again. And this building’s a lot that way,” Church further added in a statement. “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.”

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