With a packed summer touring schedule and a brand new single out now, Chase Rice is a busy man. On Friday, the country music star dropped “Fireside,” his brand new single which ushers Rice’s next era. PopCulture.com had a chance to catch up with Rice to talk about the new song, as well as his partnership with UScellular, which encourages music fans to “live life in US mode,” and offers some lucky fans the opportunity to win a trip to see Rice live in Summerfest in Milwaukee on July 6.
Speaking to Pop Culture from the road, Rice opened up about what’s on the horizon, starting with “Fireside,” and how his new album is shaping up. “We’ve worked for a long time on this next record,” he said. “It’s been a long process from the last album to this one. It’s kind of a continuation of that. In a more knowledgeable way. The last one we had no idea what was going to happen, because I completely wanted to change what I was doing because I was fed up with faking it.”
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Rice penned “Fireside” with Jonathan Sherwood, Jackson Dean, and producer Oscar Charles, who worked with the singer on his album I Hate Cowboys and All Dogs Go to Hell, which we heralded as the “best country album of the year” in 2023. Together, the four men have crafted a song more akin to Americana rock ‘n’ roll than what some call Country, and, to use a modern colloquialism… it’s a banger.
“Oscar’s a great guy to help me with that,” Rice said. “He and I got together on the last album, and it felt like we did a really good job. But it was just a start, a starting point, and now ‘Fireside’ is the first step of what’s coming next. And man, it’s something I’m real proud of.”
Rice went on to offer some background on the tune, explaining that it was Charles who first brought the song to him when it was still in the world. “This was an interesting song. This is the only song on this album… ‘I Hate Cowboys’ was the only song on the last album… that I wasn’t there when the song was started,” Rice shared. “They were both sent to me.
“Oscar, I talked to him,” Rice recalled, “I said, “Man, we’re really missing this type of song for our live show that we didn’t get on the last record. Do you have anything like that…? Let’s make sure we get something like that on this next album because I really want something like that for our live show.’ And sure enough, a day later, he sends me ‘Fireside.’”
“It was already written,” Rice continued. “There was some stuff on there that I wanted to change, make it a little more me. I asked Jackson and Sherwood and Oscar. I said, ‘Would you guys mind if I change some things? If you want to give me songwriting credit, you can. If you don’t, I don’t care. It’s not about that for me. It’s about making the song the best it can be,’ and I ended up adding my stamp on it.”
Rice noted that this was a very “interesting way to go about writing because you got to figure out a way to make it yours.” He added, “When Jackson Dean’s singing a song, you’re like, ‘Holy s—, how am I going to do this?’ Because he’s such an unbelievable singer. I was a little shocked that he didn’t want to do it, but I was glad for the opportunity. Then I put a bunch of my stuff on it and it became mine.”
“It’s wild, because that never happens. You always say, ‘This is what I need.’ And then people send you,” Rice continued then revealing, “I’m used to people sending me ‘Eyes on You’ 2.0 or ‘Cruise’ 2.0 or ‘Ready Set Roll.’ It’s like, ‘You guys don’t have a clue what I’m doing now, do you?’ But Oscar did, obviously. It’s wild that he sent me one song and that was it. It was a blessing, for sure, to be able to even get this song.”
Rice also revealed that he has yet to play the song for an audience, confessing, “My first time playing it’ll be at the Opry next week, so that’ll be fun.” Click here to check out “Fireside” at your preferred music streaming service, and click here for Rice’s tour dates. Keep it locked to PopCulture.com for more from our interview with Chase Rice!
