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While Nashville Was At The CMA Awards, Chase Rice Was Bagging A Big Ole Buck
Chase Rice may have not have been at the CMA Awards yesterday, but safe to say, he had himself a great night.
Chase Rice's life story is truly one of the most unique experiences a person can have on Earth.
He grew up in Ashville and played football at the University of North Carolina, where he was a standout linebacker with legitimate NFL dreams but an unfortunate injury derailed that potential career.
https://twitter.com/ApexWolfaholic/status/1583854440884625410
After graduating, Rice wound up in NASCAR as a Hendrick Motorsports pit crew member for Ryan Newman's Nationwide Series car and Jimmie Johnson's Sprint Cup Series car, winning two championships with the Lowe's team with the latter.
Through a connection with a friend, he was able to get an application to CBS to star on Survivor: Nicaragua, where he came in second place and for the first time tasted life in the national spotlight. He then used a skill he picked up in college, playing guitar, to launch the career we all know him for.
https://twitter.com/Survivor_bdays/status/1571846065912963072
Admittedly, the first part of Chase Rice's country music career was iffy at best. He was a huge part of the bro-country wave that dominated the 2010's airwaves, having co-written Florida Georgia Line's "Cruise" and succeeding commercially with his own songs such as "Ready Set Roll" and "Eyes On You." There were a few quality songs in his early catalogue ("Carolina Can" comes to mind immediately) but all in all, Rice was an artist that...well, we didn't cover much.
But things changed a few years back and he decided to leave his label and start making the music that he really wants to make.
During a recent appearance on the Whiskey Riff Raff podcast, Rice opened up about what might have been his "ah-ha moment" in redefining his sound:
"I was talking to somebody about that out in Utah, and she said it, and I said, ‘Damn, I’m using that.’ It’s such a well thought-out thought. She said, ‘It sounds like you don’t want to be well-known, you want to be known-well.’ And I was like, ‘Sh*t, that was well said.’ That would be it."
What came from that moment has been a steady stream of very good country music, making us here realize that it was time to give him another chance.
His two latest albums, I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go To Hell and Go Down Singin', are truly some of the most refreshing works coming from any "mainstream" artist in the past few years. Songs like "Bench Seat," "Key West & Colorado," and "Fireside" have connected with old and new fans alike, and even though they don't put up the streaming numbers of his heyday, Rice seems to be truly happy and satisfied with the art he's releasing to the world.
But, as the Nashville industry tends to do when "one of their own" bucks a trend or leaves completely, Rice wasn't nominated for a single award at the 2024 CMA Awards, which took place last night at Bridgestone Arena.
You have to assume he still had the opportunity to go, sneak in some liquor, and chop it up with other artists. But he once again tossed off any obligation he felt to an industry that hasn't been too warm to him of late and instead headed out into the woods with a few of his friends in search of a buck.
And a buck he did indeed find.
Chase posted a picture to social media celebrating his harvest with an excellent caption:
"And the CMA award for "biggest buck of the night cause all the other country singers were frolicking around in Nashville" goes to...."
https://twitter.com/ChaseRiceMusic/status/1859646231901073614
It's really hard to not root for Chase Rice. I love a good comeback story and will always support an artist willing to toss aside commercially viable but unfulfilling music in search of something deeper.
That's what country music is all about and I think I speak for a lot of us when I say, it's good to have this Chase Rice here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QlIBUs07IE
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