8/20/2007 Stephen L. Betts Eric Church joins Capitol Reocrds labelmates Dierks Bentley, Luke Bryan, and trio Lady Antebellum at this week's Capitol Pub Crawl near downtown Nashville on Thursday (8/23) In a Dallas Morning News feature, Eric credits his artistic muse to songwriter Kris Kristofferson. "I was aware of Kristofferson through Johnny Cash songs," says Eric. "But it wasn't until I heard him do 'Sunday Morning Coming Down' himself that it grabbed me. This is what I want to do. I want to be this guy. It led me in the direction of the singer-songwriter vein ... like a Springsteen ... like a Kristofferson. I was very aware of that song, but it was the guy that wrote it singing it that really hit me." Eric adds that country is the coolest music format out there and that "Johnny Cash is the coolest cat that ever walked the earth. The problem with country is we hide that coolness real well. We don't really embrace it. For me to go out there and beat the drum is something I'm very proud of." He also reveals the personal nature of his recent Top 20 hit, "Two Pink Lines.": "I went through that as a teenager. Those three minutes of time when you wait for the test results is the most bizarre three minutes of time. Your life can go in so many different ways. He may or may not love this girl, but if she's pregnant he's going to marry her. That is such a real scenario. I know people who have done this. The song is about those three minutes. It's about consequences." This week's Capitol Pub Crawl is free and open to the public.
