Former Seahawk goes from giving hits to making them

Former Seahawks standout Craig Terrill gave out plenty of hits in his NFL career. Now with guitar in hand he hopes to make a few in an aspiring music career that continues picking up steam.

“I hope if people listen because I was a football player, maybe they come back and listen a second time because of what they heard and they like it,” Terrill said in an interview with Seattle Sounds.

Terrill started playing guitar as a teenager in Indiana, influenced by his older brother and a love of country and classic rock.

“I just started listening to Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty and John Mellencamp and a lot of my writing influence comes along those lines,” he said.

While football dominated, music was always a close second in his heart. So when injuries cut his career short, he focused on writing and recording. He’s since put out two albums of his own and built a strong following around the Northwest.

There are plenty of similarities to music and football, according to Terrill. Most noteably, teamwork.

“It’s big time teamwork stuff where each guy you gotta know your stuff, you gotta be on your game you can’t be unprepared. Otherwise it shows up and brings everybody else down,” Terrill said.

Making his mark in music hasn’t been easy. Like any aspiring artist, Terrill’s had to pay his dues. In some ways he said it’s harder than playing pro football.

“The nice thing about football is you make it or you don’t and they let you know real quick,” he laughed.

“In music you never know if you’ll make it. I think the music industry is so much tougher than the NFL and the NFL is pretty tough.”

Stepping out of the spotlight can be a challenge for many pro athletes. In Terrill’s case, though, music has always been an outlet and remains so. Whether he ever “makes it” or not.

“After you’ve played in the NFL and you’ve been in that spotlight and you step away from it and it’s very chaotic, very competitive, it’s kind of a relaxing breath when you step out of it. So if the music goes there, great. If not then that’s fine too,” he said.

The Craig Terrill Band performs Bruce Springsteen’s Born To Run in its entirety Friday September 7th at the Triple Door.