Following the recent release of his brand-new project, The Album, multi-Platinum entertainer Chase Rice has stripped back all 15 songs for a reimagined version of the record on The Album (Acoustic), available now.
The journey of The Album first began in early 2020, when Rice surprised fans with a diverse collection of music, mixing heartland six strings and keys with EDM-laced drama. As the year progressed and Rice returned to his roots with an acoustic guitar while spending time off the road, he was inspired to reimagine the project in a whole new way.
'As we all slowed down this year, I found myself gravitating back to how it all began for me – writing songs with just myself and a guitar,' notes Rice. 'I started sharing videos of me playing some of the new music that way and fans really loved it, so that inspired me to go back to each song and create these acoustic versions, which give The Album a whole new perspective.'
Included among the 15 tracks is Rice’s current single 'Drinkin’ Beer. Talkin’ God. Amen. (feat. Florida Georgia Line),' which holds the distinction of Rice’s fastest trip to the Top 10 at Country radio thus far in his career and marks his fifth Top 10 to date.
Rice, joined by FGL’s Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley, recently sat down with Ashley Eicher to discuss the magic of the song as well as their storied musical history together, including as co-writers of FGL’s Diamond-certified and then-record 24-week No. 1 smash hit, 'Cruise.'
'We haven’t done music together in 10 years,' notes Rice when describing the decision to collaborate again on the new track, nearly a decade after co-writing the 11x Platinum hit, 'and all of a sudden it all comes back around for guys who literally lived in a house together and were just trying to figure it out for themselves.'
'We called it the 'fun house,' just to sum it up in two words. We had a whole lot of fun, we played a lot of music, we drank a lot of beer and talked a lot of God,' laughs Hubbard. 'Honestly, that’s sort of why this song resonates so much for all of us. We were all kind of finding ourselves as adults, but we were also really grounded in who we were, in our faith, in our passions, in what we were pursuing, in what we loved — so it was fun just doing it all together when we were green as could be and had nothing to lose.'
'It was a nonstop creative house,' adds Kelley. 'There were so many days when we wrote so many songs, and then we’d get ready to go out and we’d be making up more songs and keeping the whole creative flow going. That’s hard to replicate… We try to somewhat re-create it when we’re writing songs and hanging out, but in those early days we couldn’t get away from songwriting and I still feel like that’s in us.'
The Album / The Album (Acoustic) Track List:
(Produced by Chris DeStefano & Chase Rice unless otherwise noted)
1. American Nights (Kevin Griffin, Martin Johnson, Francois Tetaz; produced by Martin Johnson)
2. Lonely If You Are (Chase Rice, Lindsay Rimes, Hunter Phelps)
3. Everywhere (Chase Rice, Zachary Kale, James McNair; produced by Zachary Kale)
4. Best Night Ever (Chase Rice, Chris DeStefano, Matt Jenkins)
5. Messy (Seth Ennis, Kylie Sackley)
6. In The Car (Chase Rice, Jesse Rice, Hunter Phelps, Mark Holman)
7. Forever To Go (Jordan Minton, Casey Brown, Geoffrey Warburton; produced by Casey Brown)
8. You (Chase Rice, Jon Nite, Zach Kale)
9. Break. Up. Drunk. (Chase Rice, Hunter Phelps, Jordan Schmidt)
10. Down Home Runs Deep (Daniel Ross, Michael Hardy, Mike Walker, James McNair)
11. Belong (Chase Rice, Chris DeStefano, Jon Nite)
12. The Nights (Chase Rice, Zach Kale, James McNair; produced by Zach Kale)
13. Bedroom (Chase Rice, Jon Nite, Jimmy Robbins; produced by Corey Crowder)
14. If I Didn’t Have You (Chase Rice, Channing Wilson, Jonathan Singleton; produced by Jimmy Robbins & Jonathan Singleton)
15. Drinkin’ Beer. Talkin’ God. Amen. (feat. Florida Georgia Line) (Chase Rice, Hunter Phelps, Cale Dodds, Corey Crowder; produced by Chase Rice, Florida Georgia Line & Corey Crowder)
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For more information about Chase, visit chaserice.com.
