Chase Rice is back with new music, music that is the beginning of a new musical chapter for him. The 36-year-old just released “Key West & Colorado,” the debut single from a forthcoming new album

“‘Key West & Colorado’ is my favorite song that I’ve ever put out,” Rice tells Everything Nash. “And why I say that is, I’ve written other songs: ‘Carolina Can,’ ‘Jack Daniels and Jesus,’ that I could look back on so far in my career and think, ‘Okay, the songwriting in that one, just how personal it is, it may be a little more closer to me.’ But ‘Key West & Colorado,’ from the production, the way we wrote it to just this new phase of my life, it is absolutely my favorite song that I’ve ever put out to date.”

“Key West & Colorado” might be Rice’s favorite of the moment, but he knows that there are more in the future which will likely take the top spot, at least in his mind.

“That will not last; there’s a couple of the songs that I’m more fired up to get out from this album,” Rice concedes. “Just ’cause this album is so much more — it’s a more figured-out version of me, from the songs to the production, the way we recorded it, all that.”

Rice doesn’t have a release date for his next album, but he does say that his new record is different than any of his previous projects.

“It’s gonna be ten to 13 songs, somewhere around there,” Rice reveals. “We wrote all the songs on acoustic guitar, which is different. I started writing songs on acoustic guitar ten-plus years ago, and then the track guys came in and changed country music forever, for better or for worse. That’s for other people to decide. But that was a world that I got drawn into, ’cause it was new and fresh and really, really cool for me back then. And now that’s not what I want to do.”

Rice credits the unwanted time off of the road, because of the pandemic, with at least some of the inspiration for his next set of tunes.

“I listened to other music a lot over the last two years, through COVID and being off the road,” says the singer. “I wanted to get back to more of the acoustic guitar for me. That’s where I really found that is what I do best, is when I start a song with an acoustic guitar.”

Rice recorded the new album in his home, but the songs were mostly written when he was in other parts of the country, drawing inspiration from different surroundings as well.

“Half of it was written in Montana. Some of it was written in Florida, Alabama,” Rice says. “Three songs from this album were written in Nashville. So it is me at my best because I was relaxed. There was no pressure to do this song for a live show, do this song for that. It was more just, let’s only put songs on this album that I really, genuinely love. And then we produced it with Oscar Charles. It’s the first album I’ve ever had where only one producer’s on the album, Oscar Charles is pretty new to the scene, and he’s unbelievable. He’s crazy talented with how he brings a live band together.

“That’s what we did, and we did it in my house in Nashville,” he adds. “So it was a very, very different process completely, from my whole career.”

Rice is playing at fairs and festivals this summer. He will join Jason Aldean for part of Aldean’s Rock N’ Roll Cowboy Tour this fall. Find music and tour dates at ChaseRice.com.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of EB Media / Kaiser Cunningham