I can’t believe I’m even writing about Chase Rice right now.
For years he’s kinda been the stereotypical punchline to the joke that was the bro-country era, with pop-infused songs like “Drinkin’ Beer. Talkin’ God. Amen” and “Ready Set Roll.”
But I’ll admit that he’s had a couple good songs here and there. Tracks like “Jack Daniels and Jesus” show you what Chase is actually capable of if he wanted to make a true blue country album.
So is now the time that we get an actual country album from Chase Rice?
Maybe…
Chase has announced his first album since 2017, and it sounds like he’s wanting to take it in a different direction.
In a post to his Instagram, Chase said that for a long time he was chasing “bullshit” trends to stay relevant – but that he’s done with that and ready to make the kind of album that he wants to make:
“For 10 years I’ve put out glimpses of who I truly am in my music, but I’ve never been able to piece it all together. I was chasin’ whatever bullshit thing I thought I was supposed to be doing at the time. I’m done with that.
February I’m putting out my first full album since 2017, and this one wrecked me. I finally deal with the loss of my dad in this music, and this is an album I know he would be proud of.”
Ok, I gotta admit I’m at least curious…
Now of course you could argue that he’s still chasing the current trend as country radio moves in a more…well, country direction. But at the same time, back when Chase was coming up in Nashville, you basically had to be making bro-country pop sounding bullshit to get on the radio – and maybe that really wasn’t what he wanted to be doing.
I respect artists who are willing to come out and admit that they were chasing trends and not making the music they wanted to. It’s not easy to go against your record label when your success is (seemingly) in their hands.
So when somebody admits they were wrong for doing what their label wanted as opposed to following their own creative intuition, I’m at least willing to give them a chance if they want to move in the right direction.
So am I getting my hopes up for the new Chase Rice album?
Not really.
But is there a chance he surprises all of us?
Sounds like there might be.
