Chase Rice and Morgan Wallen have a strong friendship, but it’s not just based on fun times. It turns out that the two artists have grown closer over the past few years through a common thread – an unhealthy relationship with alcohol that led to sobering up.
Rice Was Inspired By Wallen’s Sobriety
Rice recently caught up with The Sports Objective, where he talked about his fellowship with Wallen, which he says grew throughout the global pandemic. During the conversation, he also discussed how the “You Proof” singer’s sobriety has motivated him to become sober himself.
“Morgan Wallen and I have gotten really close, and that was through COVID a little bit. We’ve always been kind of buddies, but not really. And then COVID happened,” Rice recalled deepening his relationship with Wallen. “He started exploding during COVID, which was a tough thing for him to handle because your only view of success or ‘how successful am I right now?’ was through the internet, which is a very dangerous place to be.”
Rice added that while watching his buddy’s quick rise to fame, he saw Wallen go from being a frequent drinker to someone who never touched the bottle.
“He would say all the drinking problems he had, stuff like that. And now he’s completely sober,” Rice shared. “Through the history of him and I becoming buddies through COVID to becoming sober together, because I don’t even hardly drink anymore, it’s just like, [alcohol was] a thing that was taking me down and stopping me from becoming the best version that I can be of myself and those people like that – like I golfed with Morgan yesterday. When you’re around people like that, that motivates you to be better, it really helps me focus on, ‘All right, here’s a good influence over here doing this. Absolutely killing it in life. Killing it with his music. How can I take that sobriety into my life to help me become better?’”
75 Hard Challenge
Nevertheless, it seems their friendship has paid off as Wallen’s transformation motivated Rice to complete the 75 Hard challenge, which is “a transformative mental toughness program” that has changed numerous lives, according to the program’s website.
“Four days into me getting sober…. Yeah. I did that,” Rice confirms. “And the reason I did it was because I was so afraid. I was so scared to death to do it when my buddy brought it to me, and it kept coming up. Then, when he said, ‘No. We’re starting tomorrow.’ I was so scared to death that’s when I knew I had a problem that I needed to fix.”
“Four days into that was a Kentucky Derby, and I’m sitting here going, ‘how am I not going to drink at the Kentucky Derby?’” he continued. “But Morgan was there, and he and I stayed together, hung together, and it just makes you closer as a person. So being around people, that’s been helpful.”
Kentucky Derby
Chase Rice and Morgan Wallen both went to the Kentucky Derby last year and were spotted taking photos together with fellow country stars Darius Rucker and Jason Aldean as well as with Aldean’s wife, Brittany Aldean.
Brittany shared an image of the fivesome’s group photo from their outing and included the caption, “Great weekend with great friends 🙌🏼 Ever have times in life when social media isn’t a priority and life is?… The best way to be♥️.”
Another snapshot shows Rice and Wallen hanging out with Sam Hunt, while at the Kentucky Derby.
“I got your trifecta right here. Derby Day LFG,” Rice writes alongside the snapshot, which he shared on his Instagram page.
“A Tar Heel and a Vol walk into a bar🤨,” Rice writes alongside a third Instagrammed picture, which shows him with Wallen on a separate occasion.
Chase Rice Recently Released His New Album, I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go To Hell
In February, Rice released a full-length album titled I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go To Hell. The project, which Rice co-produced alongside Oscar features 13 tracks, including standout songs like “Bench Seat” and “Way Down Yonder.” The cover art for Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go To Hell features a picture of Rice’s father.
“This is my dad on the cover of my new album. He was the best. One of those guys that makes me proud to call him my dad. The world needs more like him. I’m grateful.”
Of the songs on his album, Rice tells CMT, “From meeting Oscar to telling him the story of ‘Bench Seat,’ to playing him other songs, man, we cried on this record making it. I go in, I do a take, and I’m just like, ‘Whew, that was real.’ But then sometimes you’ll hear the producer be like, ‘Yeah, man, but this was a little too much here.’ Then all of a sudden, I’d be like, ‘Was that all right?” And he’d be like, ‘Yeah, man … that was unbelievable.’”
In October, Rice will join Old Dominion as a special guest on their No Bad Vibes Tour. The trek kicks off on October 26 in Glendale, Arizona, and runs through December 15, with its final stop in Nashville, Tennessee.
