Business Owner, Eric Blankenship, Sees His Nashville Music Dream Come Full-Circle

Eric Blankenship and his partner, Jim Borelli, own and operate All Access Coach Leasing, a tour bus company in Gallatin, Tennessee, about 30 miles north of Nashville. They design and lease buses for the entertainment industry.

“We have 52 buses currently and we’re building five more this year,” says Blankenship. “Our music clients include George Strait, Eric Church, Jason Aldean, Koe Wetzel, HARDY, Cole Swindell, Laura Alaina, and many others. We also have nine WWE wrestlers.”

Their buses are built on the property in a state-of-the-art shop in the back. All Access buys the bus shells equipped with only the driver’s seat, then adds everything else. The cost to build a custom-made bus varies depending on specifications.

“We have a design room, and the client comes in, picks out what they want, we lay out the floor plan, and then we go to town,” Blankenship explains. “A band bus costs about $1-point-2 million, while a star bus can be anywhere from 1-point-5 to $2-point-5 million depending on what the client wants in it, for example – how many slide outs and things like that.”

Star buses are those designed for a major artist. They have more requirements than a band bus with things like a bedroom in the back and extras like bigger refrigerators, washers and dryers, etc. And those buses used more for living quarters often have more of those slide-outs he mentions. Slide outs, which have become more popular in recent years, allow drivers to widen the bus by extending the sides (hence the term slide out) which allows for more space on the inside. Slide outs can only be used when the bus is parked.

Tour buses have come a long way since the early days, going beyond simply offering a mode of transportation and a place to sleep between shows.

“We have steam showers on buses and the fastest internet you can get,” Blankenship says. “Our electronics are way above what people used to have. The entertainment world has gotten so tech savvy they’re not going to watch a crappy signal on TV. We don’t use satellites anymore; everything now is done with a streaming service.”

When Blankenship moved to Nashville decades ago, he never imagined he’d one day build a multi-million-dollar tour bus company. He originally left his native Texas to become a country singer.

“I grew up watching the shows we all watched. Hee Haw, Pop Goes the Country, and those other type shows. My brother plays piano, my sister sings, I sing – I just love music.”

By the time he was 12, he had recorded his first album.

“We’d do gigs all over the place, we’d open up at department stores, play the mall, and all kinds of things. As I got older, I ended up with a band and started playing music for a living. Then, in 1992, I moved to Nashville to follow the dream.”

Within six months after arriving, he got a job selling t-shirts for Ricky Skaggs. He didn’t know at the time it would slowly start moving him in a different direction.

“That’s when I went on the road for the first time with a major act on a bus,” he recalls. “And I got my license, so I could help drive because I loved buses and couldn’t wait to get one on my own.”

He later did the same thing with Tim McGraw, Lori White, and others, selling merchandise and driving, all while still trying to sing whenever he got the chance. Lori White often allowed him to perform a few songs before her shows on nights she didn’t have an opening act.

Eventually, Blankenship came off the road and returned to Nashville ending to focus on his music, but he ended up taking a job with Music City Coach. He began helping the owner lease buses not realizing it would pave the way for what would come next. About four years later, he and Borelli started All Access.

“We started with $5000 in cash and a $10,000 credit card and the next day we were broke. We didn’t have any equipment when we started, but we had some guys with eight to ten buses they gave us to run and we got a percentage of what they made, plus we could charge for maintenance. We bought our first bus in 2003 and went from there.”

They would build All Access into what it is today. And while Blankenship is extremely grateful for the company’s success, he’s never lost his drive or desire to sing. He cut an album in 2016 called Rollin’ With the Flow (featuring some of his music friends like Jimmy Fortune and Leona Williams), and now performs, with a full band, every Tuesday night at a club in nearby Hendersonville called The Local.

He often runs into artists and musicians there he’s met through his bus business, and in January shared a personal goal with Ben Isaacs of The Isaacs.

“I told him if I could do one thing, I’d love to play the Grand Ole Opry one just time while my dad could still see me perform,” Blankenship says. “My dad’s 84 and he and my mom funneled so much money trying to get me a record deal from the time I was a kid.”

Isaacs apparently remembered what he’d told him. A few months later he came back to Blankenship with an invitation.

“He said what are you doing on April 29^th? How would you like to debut with us on the Grand Ole Opry.”

Blankenship, who was blown away, said “absolutely.”

So, that night at the end of April, Blankenship stepped onto the most iconic stage in country music and performed the country clasic “Statue of a Fool.” He had the Isaacs singing back-up and his proud father sitting right in the front row.

“It was the most incredible thing I’ve ever done,” Blankenship says. “It really, really was. I wasn’t nervous but I was so anxious, it was like being on a cloud. I was out there on the stage singing but it was almost like I was watching myself, you know? The band was great and the Isaacs were amazing.”

He hit all the high notes without a hitch and was so well-received, he got a standing ovation.

“I walked off the stage and T. Graham Brown grabbed my arm and said, “Dude, you nailed it. Look back out at that crowd, do you see that? That doesn’t happen very often.”

Blankenship still can’t quite believe it.

“You just don’t walk up there and get on the Opry. It was quite the night.”

Dreams never do really die. Sometimes they just take a litte longer to come to pass.

Since then, other doors have opened for Blankenship, as well. At 60 years old, he got his first ASCAP royalty check for a song he’s written, he recently opened up for Gene Watson in Blankenship’s hometown, and in October he’s scheduled to open for the Oak Ridge Boys.

“When I left Texas for Nashville, I was determined to be successful in the music business never dreaming it would be on the business side of things. But now, buses pay my bills, so I can play music without having to worry about making a living doing it. It’s given me the freedom to just go out and play.”