Friday, July 1st  2016 /  Main Stage

Hailing from the outskirts of a blue-collar border town in Canada, Eric Ethridge’s journey to country music is one that could be reflected in a country song.

He began to play guitar at a young age and started penning lyrics while in high school. Around the same time, he was the captain of his high school football team, which led him to pursue varsity football at Western University. While at school in London, ON, he was a regular feature at many clubs and bars, constantly honing his craft and growing his name amongst the local crowd. Eric has a unique and powerful sound, which blends country music with his southern rock roots, and engaging lyrics that relate to his listeners. His 7-piece band provides big sound and a larger-than-life energy that has gained his act a serious reputation among country musicians and fans alike.

His career began to build serious momentum and credibility in January of 2015, when he teamed up with his two–time Juno nominee fiddle player (and producer) Matthew Piche, to release a series of orchestra-country-pop music videos. His most recent video of Andy Grammer’s smash hit “Honey I’m Good”, garnering him a mention in Rolling Stone Magazine. At the same time, it gained the interest of platinum selling producer/songwriter Jeff Coplan (Love and Theft, Tim Hicks, Blackjack Billy), to collaborate on a new sounds, and a new style which he anticipates will carve out his place in the North American country music market .

Eric and his team are buzzing after having a summer which proved to be successful beyond all their expectations. After being announced as one of the top 8 Boots & Hearts Emerging Artists, he proceeded to gather over 11,000 votes from fans and supporters. Eric was chosen to be in the top 2 of all the emerging artists, giving him an opportunity to perform one of the first songs he’d ever written “Country Girl” on the main stage in front of 35,000 screaming country fans. Shortly after his first big stage experience, Eric headed to Los Angeles to collaborate with Grammy Award wining Canadian Producer Brian Howes, to take his project to the next level. In August of 2015 after several offers, Eric signed to the United Talent Agency (Formerly the Agency Group) to take his performance to a national and international scale. Eric has been honoured to share the stage with such acts as the Brett Kissel, Emerson Drive, Chad Brownlee, The Bros. Osborne, Thomas Rhett and Florida Georgia Line. As he continues to build his craft as a performer and songwriter, Eric and his team are preparing for his debut radio single release and developing his performance to compete on the national and international scale in 2016.