Andrew Stiles reminds me at the end of his weekly Stiles Section column this week. I meant to call a timeout for the commencement speech Eric Church gave at UNC-Chapel Hill this past weekend after I read Dante the Don’s testimonial to it on X.
Church is the highly successful country music singer singer/songwriter. As the powers-that-be at UNC-Chapel Hill explain, Church delivered a commencement speech structured on the six strings of a guitar. Tune them up. Strum a chord. Take the strings to represent Faith, Family, Spouse, Ambition/Resilience, Community, and You. Keep the strings in tune.
The six guitar strings represent life. Church distills a lot of lived life in his advice, concluding with a performance of his song “Carolina” adapted to the occasion.
I can’t even remember who my college commencement speaker was or what he said. The class of 2026 is likely to remember Eric Church and his six strings.
Footnote: Church himself is an alumnus of Appalachian State.
Quotable quote: “The G string. I didn’t name the damn thing.”
