CMA Music Festival: Interview with Chase Rice

Well, I’m just now wrapping up all of my coverage of CMA Music Festival with this interview with Chase Rice!

Fans of the CBS hit reality tv show ‘Survivor‘ will no doubt remember Chase Rice from a recent season filmed in Nicaragua in 2010.  He was one of the last standing and runner-up for the grand prize of $1,000,000!

Aside from being on ‘Survivor‘, Chase is an up-and-coming country artist who has recently moved to Nashville to pursue his dreams.

His first single “Buzz Back”  is a fun, uptempo song from his 6 song EP “Country is Me“.  He, also, has released a 3 song EP “Bring on Summer“.  You can see the video below.  He is planning on releasing a full album next year with all new music, too.

He is recently signed to independent label, Artist Revolution, and he’s been spending much of the summer touring with Brian Davis and Florida-Georgia Line.

Chase is originally from North Carolina and has had dreams of breaking into country music for several years.  He had always been a fan of country music, started playing guitar and then started writing music in college as a way to deal with the emotions of losing his dad.  “My dad was and always will be my greatest inspiration to write music. I was back at home, sitting on the couch playing guitar, and my dad said to me, ‘Anyone can play guitar, but nobody is really gonna listen until you start singing.’  Well, I didn’t start singing right away, but a few months after that conversation I got a call from my mom telling me to come home, my dad had a heart attack.  He was taken home to see the Lord that day and my life changed forever.  People deal with the loss of a loved one differently, but I dealt with losing my dad by writing a song about everything I was feeling.  You can’t sum something like that up in a song, but music quickly became my outlet to express what I was going through.”  recounts Chase.

Prior to ‘Survivor‘ he was working as pit crew with NASCAR team before moving to Nashville.  This was a job he wasn’t ready to give up at the time.  However, coming back from ‘Survivor’ he found that he couldn’t physically do that job after all the weight-loss since it is so physically demanding.  So circumstances lead to him visiting with some friends in Nashville who invited him to move in with them to give his music career a try.   He had already visited Nashville for 2 1/2 years prior working on his music, but this would be a permanent move to focus on writing and building his music career.   It’s funny how life can lead you down different paths so quickly and where one door closes, another opens.   Seems that this is the path that Chase is meant for!

A little more fun facts about Chase…

3 words to describe himself:  “Stubborn, adventurous, and determined.”

Celebrity crush:  “Jessica Alba and Julianne Hough.”

Favorite food:  “chicken alfredo”

Craziest thing ever done:  “Starving himself for 39 days on ‘Survivor’.  People don’t know how real that show is.  They don’t sneak you food or anything.  Took 2 weeks to start even eating normal after returned.”

You can find out more about Chase at: www.chaserice.com