Chase Rice On His Late Father’s Influence, Leaving Bro-Country Behind And Finding Freedom In His Music

Chase Rice recently released his brand-new album, Go Down Singin’. Carefully crafting together 11 songs, the project serves as a continuation of Rice’s previous critically acclaimed album, 2023’s I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go To Hell, and marks the country artist’s first independent release.

Becomes Independent Artist, Leaves Bro-Country In The Past

Both Go Down Singin’ and I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go To Hell helped launch a new era for Rice, who not only announced his exit from label Broken Bow Records / BBR Music Group earlier this year but also revealed he is shifting away from bro-country, which found him earning a well-deserved writing credit for the highly-successful Florida Georgia Line smash, “Cruise.”

With Go Down Singin,’ Rice goes beyond the surface, delivering the most raw, vulnerable, and authentic version of himself — something he could do with the help of producer Oscar Charles, who was at the helm of the project.

“I’m just being me. I’m not trying to be FGL or Sam or whoever else is popular,” Rice, who often ventures from his shows in an Airstream, explained in a lengthy interview with Music Mayhem and other media outlets. “If I was trying to do what I did my whole career now I’d be moved on. I would’ve tried to write a Morgan Wallen record at some point. Now I’d be trying to write a Bailey Zimmerman record, just leave that to them. I can’t do what those guys do. And I love writing songs on a guitar.”

Rice, who calls Eric Church his first real inspiration, says over the years he realized his sound couldn’t be further from The Chief, but adds, “I don’t want to be Eric Church either. He’s awesome. He’s a great inspiration from the same area…. he was a big inspiration for me when I was in college.”

Changing Direction Musically

Rice’s motivation to dive deep into the acoustic and storyteller side of country music came during Covid, where he says he “hit a wall” and “went home, sat by myself, got off of social media and watched a Springsteen documentary.” That documentary got the ball rolling, and Rice wrote several songs, by himself with an acoustic guitar — something he hadn’t done in years. 

“That’s when I changed my mind like, this isn’t for down the road, this is now. And that line in the sand for whatever reason for me was like, ‘All right, you guys do what you want over there. I’m going to do what I want over here, and I’m just going to start writing songs that I actually care about,” he explains of changing direction musically and leaving his label to create the album he’s always wanted. 

No Long Chasing Trends Or Radio Hits

Instead of trying to be what he imagined the radio would play, Rice chose not to overthink his artistic process, and he says that’s when playing music became “fun” again. 

“It was so fun not to be chasing like, ‘Ooh, this song’s popping right now, let’s chase that.’ It was just like, man, let’s make this song the best we can,” he shares. “And that was the first start where it was like, this is so fun.”

“I was being genuine in the beginning way back, even with the ‘Cruise’ stuff and all that, we were clueless, absolutely clueless,” he reflects. “But we were having fun and that’s what this felt like again, but it was more organically instead of FGL right by my side killing it and me just trying to keep up.”

Go Down Singin’‘ Draws From His Personal Life

For Go Down Singin’ Rice drew from his personal life and experiences, which included the unfortunate death of his late father, Daniel Rice, who passed away from a heart attack when he was in his early 20s. Rice reflects on his relationship with his father in “Numbers” and “You in ‘85.” The latter of the two is one of four tracks he co-wrote with three-time Grammy winner Lori McKenna. (Of note: McKenna also co-wrote “That Word Don’t Work No More,” “If Drinkin’ Helped,” and “Oh Tennessee.” She is also featured on “That Word.”)

“I lost my dad when I was 22, which was horrible,” the 38-year-old diamond-certified singer/songwriter recalls. “I moved to town, and I was the biggest sh—bag. It just happened in college football. I was the captain, the best dude on the team. And then I came here, and my dad had died, and I just sent it….”

“You In ’85” Reflects On His Relationship With His Late Father

Rice admits he had trouble singing “You in ‘85” while laying the track down during a recording session. But after talking with his producer, his perspective changed. 

“Oscar came in and was like, dude, this is not a sad situation. This is you getting to celebrate what that moment would look like if you could finally sit down with your dad and talk to him as a man, as a grown dude,” Rice explained. “So that changed my whole perspective of losing my dad, my life the last ten years, and I just stopped being mad and that was within ten minutes more healing than I’d had in 10 years. And that was part of this record, which is so cool.”

As for the accompanying music video for “You in ‘85,” which showcases old footage of Rice, and Daniel and other family members, he says, “The video I showed my mom last week, oh my God, she lost it. And it was hard to see her cry like that, but it’s the first time I’ve seen my dad moving aside from a picture in 15 years. So it was a healing process.” 

Chase Rice Honors His Late With Go Down Singin’ Album Art

Rice also salutes his dad on the Go Down Singin’ album cover. Fans will recall that his previous record, I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go To Hell, features an image of his dad during the late ‘80s in Wyoming, sporting a track vest and holding up two cans of Coors beers. This time, Rice recreates the image of his pop’s, wearing his old man’s clothes and posing with the same brand of beer in his hands.

Calling the album “a huge healing process for losing my dad, losing the label, and losing what seemed like your career at the time,” Rice takes listeners through his journey of moving to Nashville, Tenn., and getting involved with the music business then later parting ways with his record label. He reflects on moving to Nashville in the aptly titled “Oh Tennessee,” which provides a picturesque take on what it’s like to live in the Great Smoky Mountain State as a singer/songwriter.

“[It’s about” moving here and getting everything you ever wanted and your life falling apart,” Rice says of the fiddle-leaning anthemic track before insisting, “It was all self-induced blaming Tennessee, but it was my fault. It wasn’t the industry, it wasn’t the state, it was me. But realizing that just helps you become a better person.

In the title track, Rice doesn’t mince words with the backstory of chasing his dreams. He sings matter-of-factly yet keeps things optimistic in the lyrics, singing, “I did my best, I went for broke / Breathed in every drop of neon-covered honky-tonk bar smoke / When this town did its worst, I just smiled and said, bring it / Said, if I go down, hell, at least I go down singin.’”

Admits To Having Regrets Of A Lot In The Past Ten Years

“I have regrets about a lot of stuff I’ve done the last ten years,” the former football player says looking back at his journey, despite having landed a handful of No. 1 hits. “I don’t believe in the whole no regrets thing [and] I think the key is, you have to at least learn from ‘Em and change it. If you’re not doing that, then you’re screwing up, then what’s the point of any regret? But yeah, I mean, I wish, but at the same time, I couldn’t control it. I could not find the right person, and Oscar wasn’t here.”

Rice adds, “Oscar’s the guy helping change my career right now along with the songwriters. But I’d say he’s the biggest part of this whole piece because he understands me, and I understand him and we work so well together. But I wish it happened differently. I wish I could go back and start this 10 years ago, but I couldn’t have done what I’m doing now.”

What Chase Rice’s Father Would Think Of His Music Now Compared To Early ’20s

When asked what his father would think of his music nowadays compared to the early ‘20s Rice, the Florida-born, North Carolina-raised star puzzles over the past decade. 

“When I was in college, I had it together. I was the captain of the team and the FCA leader, I was like a good dude and I don’t think I ever stopped being a good dude, I just started doing dumb sh**, which is fair. I was 25 when I moved to town and was completely lost,” he shares, looking back at his past work, which led to his fifth cathartic collection. “He’s not going to hear ‘Ride’ and want to listen to that. And that was a cover song, but still. ‘Eyes On You,’ I don’t know what he’d think of that.”

“He knew me when I was playing guitar, and I wasn’t very good yet, but that’s what he saw,” Rice continues of how his dad helped him reconnect to his stripped-back acoustic sound. “If he saw me go into a room with the track guy and start humming hip-hop melodies over tracks, I don’t know what he’d think of that. He certainly wouldn’t want his picture on that, I don’t think. But that’s why I waited so long to use it. I didn’t know if I’d ever use that. But when we wrote the Cowboys record, it was like, ‘Oh, this is perfect.’”

Confidently Letting Go Of The Past And Looking Toward The Future

Noting his resistance toward being self-indulgent and heavily promoting his music for commercial use, Rice is confident in letting go of the past and letting his lyrics and songs speak for themselves. 

“I don’t necessarily want my face on album covers. I’ve never wanted that for some reason. It’s weird to me. This business is so full of promoting yourself that it shouldn’t be about that. It’s about music,” he shares. “That’s all it’s about. And I think [my dad would] be real proud of that record. I think he’d love this album. He loves storytelling, he loves honesty. He was a no bulls**t to the point guy. I think he’d be very happy with where I am now, and he got me the guitar that I write all these songs on. He’d be proud of it.”