« I want to make songs that are crazy deep and make people think, » he says.
It’s been a little more than a decade since Florida Georgia Line released their megahit “Cruise,” which kicked off the “bro country” era and changed the lives of the group of guys who wrote it.
For co-writer Chase Race, it’s been an amazing journey, but it was only the beginning. He went on to have his own solo career with country hits like “Eyes on You,” “Lonely If You Are,” “Ready Set Roll,” and others. Despite his success, something was missing in the music. It was during the COVID pandemic that Rice got back to writing songs the way he used to in college, just him and his guitar.
“It took me back to the way I was writing songs back then and when I moved to Nashville,” he says. How you write your songs makes a huge difference because I got into the track world for a while and realized that’s not me, why am I doing this.”
Instead of focusing on songs that might be successful commercially, he began to dig deep and write about the kind of things that mattered more – to him.
“I want to write songs that are crazy deep and make people think because that’s what I want to hear when I’m listening,” he explains. “Not just ‘girl on a truck on a perfect night’ which was what that bro country thing was. I’m not the kind of guy that listens to music aimlessly on a boat or in a car or partying or whatever.
