Chase Rice can’t help but wonder what his story would look like if he would have chased God over everything else from the very beginning.
Country music fans have noticed that the “Bench Seat” singer has had a shift in priorities in the past five years or so. Rice decided to draw a line in the sand and step out of the bro-country style of country that made him a household name (he famously helped FGL write “Cruise”). His releases of I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go To Hell and Go Down Singin’ in back-to-back years were intentional as it gets. He wanted to establish himself as authentic, traditional, and most importantly, not what everyone assumed him to be.
That also shined through in his stellar album, Eldora, which he released in September of 2025.
But naturally, there was always still the question of his motivation, and it can be tough for country music fans to buy into an artist who completely changes directions. After all, the era is over, it isn’t popular anymore… a new direction would make sense.
Though it was clear to see that he wanted to change as an artist, what was the catalyst for that change? Thanks to a recent interview Chase Rice did on the Take Back Ocala podcast, we found out that his faith has been that driving force.
The country singer has been letting God lead the way in his life since 2017 or so. In the interview, he discussed that all the weight of his life including being the victim of sexual assault at a young age, which saddled him with shame, guilt, and addictions, had become too much for him to bear.
He turned to Jesus thanks to some well-placed people in his life, and he even developed a technique to help him stay grounded:
“When that shame creeps in, I talk to it. I’m like, ‘It’s all good man. Nope. I choose Jesus. I choose Jesus right now.’ When I do that, it’s like the shame has no power.”
Though 2017 was a big turning point in his life, Rice admits that 2013 acted as a monumental moment for him. All of his vices were catching up to him, and his father passed away, and it all seemed to happen at once. Rice finally looked in the mirror and realized he couldn’t do life alone:
“The journey for me of fixing my sh*t… I realized over the years is that I can’t fix it.”
It was around that time that he started to get help, which eventually led to him putting his full faith in God.
During the conversation, he stated that he feels like he’s going down the right road now. That being said, some days are easy for Chase, while other still prove to be hard. But deep down, he knew that those hard days were controlling him, and Rice no longer wanted to be burdened by his past:
“I started being scared of, ‘Oh sh*t, what if all of the sudden, I get famous, and people find out who I am?’ The heart of who I am has always been good, but things that I’ve done have not been good in my life. For me, I had to live up to the character that I had created of this party guy. I can’t sing about God, I can’t do this, because I’m not worthy.
I think I held my own career back over the last 10 or 13 years because I was scared of the success. What if you are found out? I just feel like it would have gone a lot differently. If I could have set all that stuff aside, focused on the music, focused on God and what he wanted me to do, I think my story would look completely different. Doesn’t mean that the story I’m on now is the wrong one. Redemption is a way cooler story than getting it right.”
Rice made it very clear that he’s still working on himself plenty. He feels like he’s a better man than he was a year ago, and strives to continue to be able to say that. The country singer is confident that his continued improvement will happen, solely because he’s putting the control in the hands of the Lord:
“I just know that I want to choose Jesus. I want to choose Jesus today. I want to choose Jesus in this moment, in this struggle, in this good thing. If I’m doing that, I can’t go wrong there.”
You can hear Rice talk more about how he’s leaning on his faith now more than ever before in the latest episode of Take Back Ocala:
