Chase Rice Teams With Florida Georgia Line on New Single ‘Drinkin’ Beer. Talkin’ God. Amen’: ‘It’s a Special Song’ (Exclusive)

Country artist Chase Rice and close friends Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley, the Grammy-nominated duo Florida Georgia Line, are giving fans new music just in time for the holiday season. Rice, Hubbard and Kelley had a lot of success together with FGL’s hit song “Cruise” in 2012, and now the guys are back at it again. In an exclusive interview with PopCulture.com, Rice gave insight into where the idea of his new single derived and what it was like to work with his buddies again.

“[…] It’s the first song we’ve put out as a single since ‘Cruise’,” the “Eyes On You” singer said. Working with FGL’s producer, Corey Crowder, along with Cale Dodds and Hunter Phelps, Rice and his crew came up with the premise for his song on the back of a tour bus. “We were just on the back of a tour bus, and Corey was obsessed with the idea of writing a song, he kept saying a porch song. ‘I just wanna, I wanna write a song that just feels like it needs to be on a porch […].”

The 35-year-old continued, “[…] So, we couldn’t figure it out, then I looked through my phone, through my notes and I saw ‘Drinkin’ Beer. Talkin’ God. Amen’ and I was just like, ‘Man if this ain’t a porch song, then I don’t know what he wants.’ […] It was just a fun write because it happened easy, but the best ones usually happen easy for me anyway.”

Adding how excited Kelley was to get into the studio to record the track, it wasn’t the original plan to feature Hubbard and Kelley, but that all changed in the process. “And the further it got down that road, it was like, ‘Alright, well, why don’t y’all just jump on this song?’ And it was Brian’s idea actually […] he said, ‘I know how we can make this really special. Let’s do a CRFGL collab and it’s been 10 years since we’ve done that.’ So it’s a special song.” Rice added that there’s more meaning to the song than what most may realize, detailing there’s a lot of “history” and “friendship” behind it.

Artists like Rice have been eager to get back out on the road; however, since the coronavirus is still forcing communities to fall ill, there’s a lot of question on when music-goers will be able to attend concerts like usual pre-pandemic. The former college linebacker says regardless of what other artists are doing, he and his team plan on giving fans an opportunity to see him live in concert.

“[…] I wanna get away from the cars because you can’t feel the energy, so the pods are the next step I think,” Rice explained when asked how he thinks this coming year is going to pan out in regards to live music events. Explaining that there are now pods for audience members — so those attending won’t have to stay in their car the whole time, but still social distance — Rice feels concerts will eventually go back to normal, but it’s just a matter of time at the moment.

“I mean, the biggest thing for that is, give people the opportunity to listen to music how they want to listen to music. If you wanna distance, go ahead, we’re gonna give you that opportunity. If you wanna crowd together, give them that opportunity as well.” While the country hit maker intends on enjoying the holidays with family, he’s also focused on piecing “together part three” of The Album as he’s about three or four songs away from finishing that up, and confirmed that he’ll “move on to a new record next year.”