Yeah, that’ll get you canned pretty quick. Of course these days Eric Church has a pretty sweet gig, making music that he loves, playing for crowds of adoring fans, and selling out arenas and amphitheaters around the country. But well before he was the country music legend that he is today, Church found himself in a situation that most of us find ourselves in at some point in life… working a terrible job just to scrape up some money. And for Eric, that meant selling knives for a home shopping network. To be fair, it doesn’t sound all that bad, but according to Eric, he wasn’t very good at it, and there was one reason why… he actually encouraged callers to NOT but knives… why? Well, because they had no business owning one. The Early Years After graduating from Appalachian State, Church moved to Nashville to try to catch his big break in the music business. Of course, you don’t just immediately move to Nashville and become a country star overnight… well, these days some bozo can blow up on TikTok and get a record deal overnight… but generally, it took a lot of work and sometimes, a lot of luck. And Eric had to work some pretty terrible side jobs to support himself while he was grinding it out in his music career. And according to Church, the worst was working the overnight shift at the shop at home network. “I’ve had a lot of awful jobs…my worst one was when I first came to Nashville. I got a job at the Shop at Home Network. I worked midnight, graveyard, midnight to eight. That was bad enough but then I would work all night, go home, shower and then I had writing appointments all day because I was trying to get a career started. I’d go write songs and get meetings just trying to get signed. And end up getting done at 3 of 4 with all of that, I’d go home, take a shower or sleep for a little bit and then I had to be at work again at midnight.” Yeah, that sounds miserable enough as it is. But Eric said that wasn’t the reason he didn’t stay at the job very long. It turns out, it had something to do with the product he was selling: “I sold knives from midnight to 7 or 8am. And, anytime somebody calls you at 3 or 4am and needs 200 knives for $19.95, it’s automatically an alarming situation. And I just, I was young and I’d been in a lot of these people’s shoes, I had done this…I knew they were drunk. I knew what they had done. They’d just come home from the bar, flipped on Shop at Home and said, ‘You know what? I need that.’” 200 knives for $19.95? Something sounds off there… they can’t possibly be good knives. But that’s beside the point… That being said, it’s pretty easy to do some drunk shopping, whether it’s online at Amazon or from some 3am infomercial that came on the TV while you drunkenly wolf down some Taco Bell. But apparently Church wasn’t quite so eager to sell knives to people in the middle of the night: “So the reason the job didn’t last long for me is that I was maybe the worst salesman in history because I ended up talking a lot of these people out of it. I’d say, ‘I’ll tell you what man, go to bed, call me, I’ll be here in the morning. If you get up in the morning and want these knives you call me back.’ Because I knew what was going to happen, you know. They bought 200 knives for $19.95…first of all some of these people you didn’t know whether you should call the cops. What do you need 200 knives for? Even though I’m selling them…what do you need them for?” But of course his bosses didn’t really appreciate the fact that he was talking people out of buying the product he was supposed to be selling: “So, it was awful doing that job. And then they got rid of me because, they were like, ‘You’re the worst. I can’t believe you’re talking people out of it.’ I was like, ‘Man I know…I’ve been there.’ I’d want someone to talk me out of buying some of the stuff I’ve bought at 2am.” Classic Eric Church: Never afraid to break the rules to look out for others. And for obvious reasons, here’s this one: The post “I Had A Lot Of Awful Jobs”: Why Eric Church Got Fired From a Home Shopping Network first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

All three farmers have found love! Continue reading…

The Atlanta Braves and country music are a match made in heaven. Some members of the Braves recently sat down with us on the Whiskey Riff Raff podcast. Third baseman Austin Riley, utility player Kyle Farmer, and the voice of the Braves Radio Network, Ben Ingram, all carved time out of their 162-game schedule to talk about their favorite country artists, how the locker room is full of “Ella Fellas,” and how the Atlanta Braves and country music have always been intertwined. Austin Riley talked to us about how convenient it is for him that baseball season ends right when hunting season begins, Kyle Farmer (a Georgia native) discussed how fitting it is for him to be a member of the Braves at this point in his career, and Ben Ingram also gave some insight on how he takes care of his golden radio voice. During our time with the Braves play-by-play announcer, we really got to dive into country music and his love for the genre. We brought up that the Atlanta baseball team and country music have often crossed paths with one another, and mentioned the line in Tim McGraw’s “I Like It, I Love It” that alludes to Atlanta, and then most notably, Morgan Wallen’s “98 Braves” that compares the season that ended in heartbreak for the team to a failed relationship. Ingram agreed that there’s definitely a connection between the southern baseball team and the southern genre: “There is a crossroads there for sure. I grew up in the south. This is the only team in the region. It’s not lost on me.” And like I said earlier, Ingram is a huge fan of country. He rattled off one heck of a list naming off his favorites (Colter Wall, Sturgill Simpson, Whiskey Myers, etc.), and said that what he looks for the most as a music fan is creativity: “You like who you like, and some stuff that other guys listen to just isn’t for me. Other stuff is. I’m kind of critical when it comes to music, and it’s not just country music. I’m a big rock fan too. I love country music, and I love old country music. I like creativity. I like people that are talented to write their own songs, perform those songs, master instruments, and bring that to an audience. I think one of the hardest things to do is create something out of nothing and bring that to a live audience.” Ben Ingram knows a little something about bringing entertainment to a live audience. He’s been the play-by-play man for the Braves radio network for 16 seasons, and if you are a Braves fan and listen to his work, you know he’s one of the best in the business. One thing that Ingram and his team often have to do during games is juggle the play-by-play with a mid-game interview. Just recently, Ingram got a chance to talk to Jason Aldean in the broadcast booth, and he talked to us about how that came to be: “That got thrown on us 24 hours before it happened. They said, ‘Hey, Aldean wants to come on the air.’ We’re all for some pub, so roll through. I don’t listen to any of his stuff, but I know who he is.” That’s evidently how it often works out for the radio team, and Ingram noted that other artists rolling through, like Jason Isbell and members of R.E.M., are some of his favorite on-air interviews. Conducting an interview while also calling a game can be a lot to handle at once, but Ben Ingram says he’ll welcome the opportunity anytime: “We like it like that. I want our booth to be the hangout, and for people to roll in there and come on with us for an inning. It’s entertainment… it’s fun like that. It doesn’t have to be rigid. It doesn’t have to be the exact same thing, and I love having guests on there.” That being said… there’s one “opportunity” that he’s still really holding out hope for: “I said, ‘Look, I asked for Ella Langley and I got Jason Aldean.’ No disrespect, but she’s a little prettier. So if we can get her to the booth, that would be welcome by all of us.” @whiskeyriff @Atlanta Braves #whiskeyriff #whiskeyriffraff ♬ original sound – Whiskey Riff If Ben Ingram and the broadcast team can’t get Ella Langley to help call an inning, they’ll have to take solace in knowing that she will be at the ball park on June 13 for Braves Country Fest. The celebration of country music is coming up, and it’ll feature a stacked lineup including Cody Johnson, Ella Langley, Ernest and Mackenzie Carpenter. The star-studded gathering of artists playing inside Truist Park makes for a can’t-miss event. You can hear more from Austin Riley, Kyle Farmer and Ben Ingram of the Atlanta Braves by checking out the interview on YouTube or making sure to download the podcast on Apple Podcasts by searching “Whiskey Riff Raff” or by clicking here. We’re also available on Spotify and wherever else you can listen to podcasts. Cheers, y’all. Audio Video The post Play-By-Play Announcer, Ben Ingram, Weighs In On The Atlanta Braves’ Longstanding Relationship With Country Music first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Meet the man who pulled the trigger on the most surprising Dutton Ranch death yet. Continue reading…