Eric Church (Kenneth Eric Church) was born on May 3, 1977 in Granite Falls, North Carolina, is a country music singer and songwriter. To date, has charted three singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs charts.

His first gig was with M. Snow at Woodland's Barbecue in Blowing Rock. The wait staff eventually drove them off because of their ablility to keep fans around for longer than desired hours.

He quickly formed a band with Snow, his brother and another guitarist and was bestowed the name The Mountain Boys by several fans at one of their first gigs at a restaurant called Arizonas. The first night they knew just 14 songs, but they faked their way through a four-hour set and held onto enough of the crowd to help launch them as a regional act.

In a year or so, Church was throwing original songs into the set mix and not long afterward was selling CDs of his own material. For two years, they played often in bars and restaurants in the Hickory, Lenoir, and Boone area.

The financial cushion his father provided him gave him time to make contacts. Six months in, he had to take a day job, but six months after that, he was signed to a publishing deal at Sony/ATV Tree Music Publishing.

He began getting cuts, including Terri Clark's "The World Needs a Drink." Then, Arthur Buenahora at the publishing company introduced Church to producer Jay Joyce. The two clicked instantly and began cutting demos.