Still Laying Out the Hits

Eric Lee Beddingfield

When former linebacker Eric Lee Beddingfield (’02) couldn’t deliver hits on the field anymore, he started delivering them onstage.

After redshirting in the fall of his freshman year at Georgia Southern, the former Eagle suffered a career-ending neck injury in practice the following spring.

“I never even got my time in the spotlight,” he said in a 2009 interview. “I was walking around campus, 19 years old, thinking, ‘Woe is me. What do I do now?’”

Growing up, music was a staple in the Beddingfield home. He picked his guitar back up and played it in his dorm to take his mind off of his injury. It filled the void, he said, and then some.

Forming the band County Line, a regional following soon developed as he fronted the group and wrote songs. The band recorded a 12-song CD and opened for a number of national acts at shows around the Southeast.

After graduating with a degree in business management he moved to Nashville to pursue a solo career. Beddingfield teamed with producer Kent Wells and recorded an album that included a duet with Dolly Parton on the track “Train, Train,” releasing three singles, all of which hit the Music Row Top 40 – “Kill the Mullet” (#38), “Small Town America” (#25) and “Nowhere USA” (#22).

New Music Weekly named Beddingfield one of the Top 10 artists to watch, and “Nowhere USA” reached No. 1 on the independent chart in 2008.

Beddingfield’s most recent album “This Life Ain’t For Everybody” features 12 tracks, including “The Gospel According to Jones,” with the legendary George Jones. He continues to write, tour and make frequent television appearances.