I don’t usually like to get too deep or serious around here. We have enough of that everywhere else, quite frankly. I like to keep it light, loose, and funny. That’s my wheelhouse. That’s where I’m comfortable.
Sometimes, though, you stumble across something on the timeline that you can’t ignore. I didn’t think I’d spend 20 minutes today watching Eric Church give a University of North Carolina commencement speech, but it’s what I did.
And then I watched it again.
Eric Church performs at the Destination Sound event hosted by Mandarin Oriental in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 1, 2016. (Denise Truscello/WireImage)
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I’d encourage everyone here to watch it, too. Church, the 49-year-old country singer, used his guitar to give what the internet is (rightfully) labeling one of the most powerful addresses … ever? I’m no expert on the subject, but it’s hard to argue.
Faith. Family. Spouse. Ambition. Community. You. Six pillars of life to go along with six guitar strings.
Take a look:
Eric Church gives a college address you don’t hear much anymore
Yes, it’s long. But goodness, what a speech. You don’t get college speeches like this much anymore. This is probably considered a throwback by today’s standards, especially on a college campus.
Those places can be cesspools. I don’t need to explain why, because you all already know. It’s probably why these 10(ish) minutes from Eric Church are so refreshing.
Church talked about faith, which, again, is a slippery slope in 2026 — especially on a college campus.
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Country music artist Eric Church attends the game between the North Carolina Tar Heels and the South Carolina Gamecocks at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Aug. 31, 2019. (Jeremy Brevard/Imagn Images)
I’m not breaking news here.
“Your faith will go quiet when you need it loud,” he cautioned. “Tend to your faith, now just when you’re broken, but when you’re whole.”
He talked about family.
“Your family will get complicated in a way only the people who love you most can complicate things.”
He talked about the importance of marriage, calling it the second-most important decision you’ll ever make, next to your faith.
“You will go through hard seasons with your spouse,” he said.
He talked about the G-string, which, shockingly, drew laughs from the college crowd. Can’t imagine why! That’s ambition.
“When you fail, and you will fail, Hemingway wrote it plainly, right in the sternum: ‘The world breaks everyone. Afterward, the best of us are stronger at the broken places.’ Get back up, tune the string, keep playing.”
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Eric Church performs onstage during the 57th Academy of Country Music Awards at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on March 7, 2022. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
At the end, Church — who actually attended Appalachian State — finished with an original song, “Carolina.” All along the way, the message was clear.
“The difference between a life that sounds like music and a life that sounds like noise is whether you stop and listen,” he said, “whether you’re honest enough to hear which string has drifted out of tune and humble enough to make the adjustment instead of just turning up the volume and hoping nobody notices.”
