Chase Rice Going Indie With 'Go Down Singin' Album

08-06-2024

(EBM) Building upon the ironic turn of 2023's I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go To Hell, celebrated by Billboard as "one of 2023's most unexpected artistic pivots" and one of the best albums of the year across all genres, Diamond-certified songwriter Chase Rice doubles down on the raw introspection of that project with forthcoming independent release Go Down Singin' arriving September 20.

Mirroring the cover art of that critically acclaimed I Hate Cowboys album, which features an image of his late father holding two Coors Banquets during the late '80s in Wyoming, Rice recreated that photo himself for Go Down Singin' as he continues to honor the man who not only served as his childhood hero, but who also still shapes his music and the person he is today.

Marveling at being a work-in-progress, he considers the 11-song cycle an arrival on the brink of "being the man my father always believed I could be." Now, after what seems like so many chances, the Florida-born, North Carolina-raised dreamer is making good on what his father told him so many years ago, "Boy, anyone can play guitar, but no one is gonna really listen to you until you start singing."

And writing. Though he co-wrote "Cruise," arguably one of country's biggest songs this century, Rice realized he'd only been skimming the surface. A kid when he started, he faced challenges, loss, soul-searching and gained a new appreciation for the art instead of the craft. With Go Down Singin' Rice emerges as a spirit settling into a more philosophical place, still wildly committed to living wide open in pursuit of his dream and being the best man possible.

In a voice sturdy as a retaining wall, Rice confesses, "I'm 38 now, and that's part of it. I've journaled since I was 15 years old, but there's something about being able to tell other people. I'm a deep person, but I don't know to show it in real life, so I'm trying to do it in my music.

"For me, Go Down Singin' is everything about where I am and what I want," he continues. "I'm starting to see myself as who I want to be, not who I thought I should be. That's a good start. And I think a lot of men struggle with this stuff, too."

Getting honest, digging down, Rice shifted his approach. Collaborating for a second time with producer Oscar Charles (Boy Named Banjo, Madeline Edwards, Elvie Shane), the pair worked to create a sound that was as honest, as real instrument-grounded as the songs that were emerging. Written largely on guitars and piano, Go Down Singin' shows a man reckoning with growing up.

"For one record, I thought I was Ed Sheeran. For one, I thought I was Florida Georgia Line," he offers. "I was 22. I got into the party scene, I got lost. I didn't know. I was very influenced by Eric Church, and wanted to be like him, though mostly, I was just so confused. You fall into things, being in the studio, and you look back..."

Now when Rice looks back, it's for the sake of the songs. As a writing process, Go Down Singin' also marks a creative - if seemingly unlikely - collaboration with three-time GRAMMY winner Lori McKenna, who is also featured on the album. Known for vulnerable but clear-eyed emotion, the Americana force came to see Rice play in Boston and recognized the wounding and the promise inside him.

"I just had Chase Rice over here, who I had not known. His last record has a song called 'Bench Seat.' I think it's like a masterclass in songwriting, and he wrote it by himself," McKenna shared with Billboard of their first songwriting session together. "I think he's got this long, beautiful road ahead of him."

"I wanted to bring her a song I had started that was the story of moving to Nashville, getting anything you wanted and losing it all," Rice recalls of "Oh Tennessee," one of their four cowrites on the album. "I knew she would understand, and from there, well, we had so much to say."

Across their collaborations and the entire record, the man who's had three No. 1s, his own sold-out tours and key stadium support slots with Garth Brooks and Kenny Chesney takes stock of where he is, where he's going and what really matters.

"I'm a f*** up, and I know it," he admits. "But I'm trying. I mean, my favorite story in the Bible is David, who sends his best friend off to war, so he can be with his friend's wife... I was a lost kid who lost his Dad. I'm not alone. I know lots of people struggle, too. The last record dealt with that loss, and this one is about taking all that and becoming who you're meant to be."

Go Down Singin' Track List:
(songwriters in parentheses)
Go Down Singin' (Chase Rice, Blake Pendergrass)
Fireside (Chase Rice, Jackson Dean, Jonathan Sherwood, Oscar Charles)
That Word Don't Work No More feat. Lori McKenna (Chase Rice, Lori McKenna, Oscar Charles)
Hey God It's Me Again (Chase Rice, Corey Crowder, Randy Montana)
Oh Tennessee (Chase Rice, Lori McKenna, Oscar Charles)
Haw River (Chase Rice, Blake Pendergrass)
Arkansas (Chase Rice, Rob Baird)
Numbers (Chase Rice, Jeff Hyde, Ryan Tyndell)
If Drinkin' Helped (Chase Rice, Lori McKenna, Oscar Charles)
Little Red Race Car (Chase Rice, Jackson Nance, Heath Warren)
You In '85 (Chase Rice, Lori McKenna, Oscar Charles)