When Chase Rice sang that he hated cowboys, and all dogs were going to Hell – he didn’t mean it in either song. His beloved dad was wearing a cowboy hat on the cover of that album. Rice filled his Instagram grid with pictures and videos of his black lab Jack. “All Dogs Go to Hell” was tongue in cheek – “I didn’t miss you baby, and all dogs go to Hell,” he sang. “I Hate Cowboys” is about how cowboys win the hearts of women that Rice wants to keep for himself.
The 2023 album I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go to Hell earned praise for its introspective authenticity and Rice‘s dedication to change his career narrative from backward ball cap party guy to serious songwriter. In 2024, he followed with Go Down Singin.’ Rice teamed with songwriting great Lori McKenna for four of the 11 songs on the album. He packed the collection with sing-along anthems and storytelling central to country music. Oscar Charles produced it.
Rice recently performed these albums top to bottom during two acoustic shows at Eric Church’s Chief’s on Nashville’s Lower Broadway.
“The whole process of putting together the I Hate Cowboys record and the ‘Go Down Singin‘ record was a long two years of figuring out how to do something I’ve never done before,” Rice explained. “All the songs were written on guitar and a depth I haven’t really hit before.”
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Chase Rice’s Songs are a ‘New Depth’
Rice pulled up a chair to a white-clothed table in one of Nashville’s trendy mid-town restaurants to talk about the journey that led to those albums and what comes next. For the first time in his professional music career, Rice is an independent artist. And, he’s loving the freedom it allows him.
“I’m in love with music,” Rice said. “I’m not overthinking anything. I’m not having to wait on an album cycle. I’m not having to wait 52 weeks for a single to pop to drop the album. I have the ability to write songs and record them as they’re written. I have a producer (Oscar Charles) who loves what we’re doing because we’re writing a lot of them together anyway.”
Rice said Charles wasn’t chasing mainstream trends or country radio and that he isn’t either. He calls their partnership “perfect timing.” The men made Go Down Singin,’ and Rice said they “accidentally” wrote nine songs after he played the iconic Red Rocks amphitheater near Denver, Colorado. Rice bought a guitar there and named it Eldora. Then, he wrote a song called “Eldora.” He thinks he’s going to name his next album, Eldora.
Normally, if an artist wrote nine songs, he might get to record three of them, Rice said. But because they have no limitations, he recorded all nine.
Chase Rice Wants to Name His New Album After His New Guitar
“We’re going to add three or four more, call it an album, and put it out early this year,” he said, then laughed. “And that has nothing to do with why we even sat down. We sat down to talk about the ‘Go Down Singin’ record, which I love.”
A waitress refilled Rice’s glass of water, and he thanked her, then continued sharing his excitement. He reflected on his early years in Nashville, saying he’d only played guitar for four years when he arrived. Rice co-wrote “Cruise,” which made money and allowed him to stay in town. The song wasn’t him but set him on a creative path he didn’t know how to divert from.
“I was like, ‘Oh shit. What is this?’” he said. “I knew nothing. Why would I not go down that road? I wasn’t very good or experienced. And, I had all this success with ‘Eyes On You.’ So, it was like, ‘I guess that’s me. I have no idea who I am.’ You got to take the wrong road to hit the right one.”
The right road led to Go Down Singin’ and “Haw River,” which couldn’t be more different than “Cruise.” “Haw River” walks the line between traditional country and bluegrass. The song is a murder ballad about a “holy man” committing genocide against the American Indians – and the woman who stopped him. An episode of 1923 inspired the song.
1923 Inspired One of Chase Rice’s Favorite Songs
Rice determined the tracklist by keeping notes of the songs he wanted to listen to every time he started his truck. He noticed the list was consistent, and those songs in that order became the album.
Working with McKenna was unexpected. Rice admits she passed on writing with him several times over the years based on the songs he was releasing. Now that Rice knows her, he said it makes complete sense. The Hall of Fame songwriter didn’t want to be in the room with someone singing “Ready, Set, Roll.” But when she heard his song “Bench Seat,” she changed her mind about him.
“The first song we wrote was, ‘Oh, Tennessee,’” Rice said. “It’s a song about being in Nashville and getting everything you ever wanted, and it just fucks up your whole life, and you blame Tennessee. But the truth is, it’s your fault.”
Now he has a few albums worth of songs he’s proud of, and he’s tired of having the “Chase Rice is changing his music” conversation. The truth is, he said, this is always the music he wanted to make. He just got brave enough to make it.
“I’m Not Chasing Bullshit”
“It’s been me the whole time,” he said. “I just didn’t know how to do it, and now I know how to do it. We’re having fun doing it.”
Staying true to himself comes with rethinking what success looks like. He’s happy to do it.
“I’m being real now,” he said. “I’m not chasing bullshit. I think the songs I’m writing are incredible. I don’t think they’re necessarily radios, but it doesn’t matter. Let’s put ’em out and see what happens.”
Photo by Ben Christensen
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