With both I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go To Hell, praised by Billboard as “one of 2023's most unexpected artistic pivots” and as one of the best albums of the year across all genres, plus Go Down Singin’, lauded by Rolling Stone as “an excellent collection of poignant, often anthemic country…a more refined, emotionally vulnerable version of what he does best,” Chase Rice returned to his songwriter-first roots. Now, he doubles down on that notion, with his surprise Fireside Sessions album featuring all 25 songs from both records as live, single-take versions with cowriters including Lori McKenna, Jackson Dean, Hunter Phelps, Randy Montana and more as featured artists. Listen HERE.
“The cool part about tonight, and why we put this together, is because the I Hate Cowboys record and the Go Down Singin’ record were the start of a whole new part of my life and my career. It was no longer chasing whatever was popular; it was finally just writing songs that I cared about, writing them on guitar – which is how I started writing songs – and then Oscar Charles producing the last two albums together. We wanted to finalize all that by coming together tonight,” Rice shared while unveiling the surprise project during his debut at the iconic Bluebird Café in Nashville with a special writers’ round featuring Charles plus fellow collaborators Blake Pendergrass, John Byron and Jonathan Sherwood. “We're going to drop the Fireside Sessions album tonight which is featuring all these songwriters, and songwriters on both albums, and it's going to be all of us just playing guitar like you're seeing tonight, and that's going to be the finalization of this chapter.”
Bringing together the cover images from each of the preceding albums, the Fireside Sessions album art unites Rice and his late father as grown men for the first time, bringing to life the lyric from album closer “You In ‘85” which Rice describes as the overarching theme of this multi-album musical chapter: “So if I could have one thing it’d be us man to man / A couple Coors Banquets in hand”
In paying homage to his dad, Rice’s vulnerable approach directly impacted his musical shift towards stripped-back authenticity as he grappled lyrically with that loss and how it has impacted him as both a man and an artist. Recorded around the fireplace at his farm outside Nashville in the style of Music City’s famous writers’ rounds, Fireside Sessions now serves as the culmination of that multi-album tribute as he looks ahead to new music covering other topics already in the works.
“I’ve always written songs like these but was never inspired enough to put them out,” he shared with the Tennessean. “Now I'm at a place where records I wasn’t inspired to let see the light of day define my career. Come hell or high water, this is the kind of music that I now make.”
For more information, visit ChaseRice.com and follow on Facebook, Twitter/X and TikTok @ChaseRiceMusic and on Instagram @ChaseRice.
About Chase Rice
With more than 2.6 million albums sold and over 2.8 billion total streams, plus a legion of passionate fans at his high-energy concerts across the globe, Chase Rice has established himself as a powerful force in Nashville and beyond. With independent album Go Down Singin’ available everywhere now as the follow-up to the critically acclaimed I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go To Hell, and both brought together on brand new offering Fireside Sessions, Rice’s sound continues to evolve to reflect the realities of his life; from emotional reckoning to an admiration of the American West. The new music serves as a follow up to his three-part project, The Album, which featured his latest Platinum-certified No. 1 hit, “Drinkin’ Beer. Talkin’ God. Amen.” and the Platinum-certified Top 10 hit “Lonely If You Are.”
This is the same gravelly-voiced Chase Rice fans first fell in love with years ago – but better, freer; unbeholden and uninhibited. The new music builds upon the success of his sophomore album, Lambs & Lions, which featured the 3x Platinum, two-week chart topper “Eyes On You” – Rice’s first No. 1 as an artist and the most-streamed song of his career. Lambs & Lions followed Platinum-certified Ignite the Night, which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums and No. 3 on the all-genre chart, producing a pair of Top 5 hits; Platinum-certified “Gonna Wanna Tonight” and Double Platinum “Ready Set Roll.” In addition to guesting on sold-out stadium shows with Kenny Chesney and Garth Brooks, Rice served as direct support on Dierks Bentley’s 2024 Gravel & Gold Tour and consistently sells out venues on his own headlining tours across the U.S. and beyond.
