The OTP with Chase Rice

a very successful football player. He had dreams of going to the National Football League, but due to injury, that didn't really happen. We'll get into that during the interview, but we talked about how he made that shift from football to music. It's a very interesting story. And twenty twenty, when he had some time on his hands, he really did some remarkable things, putting out multi part albums, which is so cool. And so we had a chance to talk to him about all of these things and I

want to share this with you guys. So here it is my conversation with Chase Rice, and he's coming to us from his Bison Fat Chase Rice I'm so excited to have you on the OTP. We have so much to talk about, and I guess the place that we should start is with your current single, Drinking Beer, Talking God. Amen. What was the genesis of this song and are you surprised by how much it's resonating with people right now? Answer the Sago one first, No, I'm not surprised, because

I even liked the song. Like sometimes you do songs, you're like, I don't even want to hear myself sing this, or I don't want to sing it myself. But then when I kept listening back, I was like, man, I just want to keep hearing a song and just makes feel good. It makes me happy. It does remind me of a lot of stuff I did last year, you know, just with Quarantine Haptman, and the timing of it couldn't have been any better so I could relate to it.

And if I can relate to it, I think that's a sure sign that other people are gonna be able to hopefully relate to it as well. So I'm glad that it is. I think it's really cool to see what it's doing already, because it's gonna I think this is the very beginning of the song and how much it can really connect. So you drop a single, and for a lot of people, especially in the environment that twenty twenty was like, that's enough, that's plenty to do

in a year. You have a single, it's very successful, but you come back and saying, no, I'm not going to just give you another new song. You did an album in two parts. Why did you decide to surprise your fans in that way? And what was your inspiration for all of that music given that the world was nothing like anyone has ever experienced before. Well, it already

started to be honest. I did part one of the album them very early twenty to twenty, and then so when I go start looking at part two, I was already ready to do something last summer, release it, and then obviously everything happened the way it did. But I didn't want to completely stop putting out music. I mean, a lot of people were sitting at home that was not a whole lot to do. So between Netflix and whatever HBO show was happening, people were also listening to music.

So I decided to continue to put you know, part two out. Part three was actually supposed to come out last fall, and that didn't end up happening. I did push that part, but that's coming out here in the next months. So yeah, I just thought it was important to continue to put out music and continue to you know, not completely go on hold. I mean we weren't doing live music with that. I mean, you can't put out songs as you've got ready to go. Why an album

in parts? Like, what's the benefit of doing that? It was definitely something I just wanted to try. That was new. Honestly, I was just fed up with how people were listening to music. And that's not blaming anybody. I mean I

was listening to music the same way. I wasn't listening to albums anymore full all the way through this because I think we're starting to be trained to have our attention spans so short, which gave me the idea, do the parts, you know, put out last music, but put it out more often, give the people a chance to dive into six or seven songs as opposed to you know, a full album, which is usually ten to fifteen songs. I just wanted each song to, you know, get its

fair time as being the center of attention. I put so much work into these songs that if people weren't gonna listen to albums, I wasn't gonna give them one. Having said that, after Part three, I'm going to scratch that idea at least for my next record and drop a full album at one time, because now I'm in a place where I have a ton of songs that I'm ready to release it one time. So there's different ways to do it. There's some smart things about it.

I think there's some bad things about it. I personally love full album, so I tried it and it did really well. People people love these songs. I'm starting to go back to live music now and an album Part one and two that I never really got to hear live. I'm finally hearing it live and it works people. It's connected with people. There's plenty of songs on this, you know, part one and two that we're not singles, but people still, you know, Forever to Go, Best Night Ever, people are

singing the hell out of them. So yeah, it worked, But now I'm gonna go back to a full album later this year. How important is it to always keep things fresh for you as an artist? I mean your fans the consumers of course, but also just so that you don't get into a rut. It's very important. There was a three year period there where my band was about to kill me because our set was almost the same for three years. But I was like, man, if it's not broken, I fix it. But then I even

got tired of it. It's like, man, I'm tired of going up and singing the same song. So I'm sorry MyD Bison and go nuts in the background. But to me, yeah, you gotta keep it fresh. You gotta if not, if nothing else, for myself, I mean, there's always gonna be the hits that you're gonna play. You're always gonna play ready to set role you're always and plays on you. I'm going to want it tonight now. Lonely if You Are has become a hit all last year, which was

cool to finally see this past weekend. Like, man, this song really did connect with people last year. But to change it up for myself and for me to go out there on stage every night and actually be passionate about actually want to go do it, you need new songs, and that's what I'm working on right now. This next record, you know, Part three, like I said, comes out in a month, so that'll be three three new songs that

I'll be able to play live. Throw some of those in there, and then full album later this year is going to be a whole other bats. That to me is by far the best songs I've ever written, so I'm real excited to get that out. It seems like you have a lot of life experiences to draw on. I did just a very basic, scratching the surface list of cool things that you've done in your life. You were part of a NASCAR pit crew. You were on Survivor Nicaragua and finished second, which I feel is important

to add. You've traveled the world. You are currently talking to me on your bison farm with actual bison in the background, so I can confirm this is a real thing. You seem like a real renaissance man. How do you bring all of those different experiences and bits and pieces them and mush them all together and create music that's relatable to people who will never go to Nicaragua and wouldn't even know a bison if it walked up in him. In faith? Yeah, well, I don't. I don't sing about that.

I don't. I'm not going to be singing about survivor I'm gonna be singing about honestly I don't see my bis and never making the way into a song. But what it does do It allowed what I've realized, especially last year, was it allowed me to go live a real life. I realized from twenty thirteen to twenty twenty, I didn't have a life. I was just traveling. I was touring. And that's when I look back a lot of the songs and I was just trying to write songs.

It's like, all right, what are we gonna write today? Yesterday we had a song that we wrote that it was we were just trying to write a song. And to me that that that's not music. So for me, having as much time as I've had, all for me to get over here and not be thinking about anything. All I'm thinking about what's in front of me, because what's in front of me could kill me if I

slip and screw up. But being able to live real life, whether it's on my farm, whether it's just going to visit buddies in North Carolina, going to we had just had a ski tripping Big Sky Montana. Being a live real life has allowed me to open my mind up to Oh, there's a life out there that doesn't look like my crazy, fake life that you can get sucked into. And as a touring musician, and now I have a

whole lot of stuff to write about. So that's why I'm real excited about Part three and real real excited about the next record. Now, this is a football podcast here on the OTP, so I feel I would be remiss if I didn't ask you a little bit about your own football career, because you played at North Carolina. Tell me about your football experience. When did you start

and kind of how did that chapter of your life end. Yeah, I started in middle school and I realized really eighth grade was when I was like, oh, okay, I'm a solid player. In the ninth grade, tenth grade to start becoming even more solid. You become one of the better players on your team. You become one of the leaders. And then junior year was when it was like, okay, wow, I'm actually really good at football. I have a chance to go to college and not have to pay for it.

I would have hated college anyway if I didn't have football and didn't have a reason other than going to class and partying, I would have hated it, but being able to earn the scholarship to University North Carolina gave me a purpose. It gave me a reason to go to college and a reason to go get an education on top of chasing a dream goal of playing in

the NFL, and that was close to happening. I was a really good player in my sophomore year, started the back half of the season, geared up to be one of the best players on the defense my junior year, and then the very first game of the year, I got hurt. I busted my ankle real, real bad. It was an injury that I tried to come back from, but I was not even close to the same player. I'd lost speed, I'd lost confidence. It still does things where it'll like starting to slip out at tendon that

I tore, and it just feels a little weird. But it ended every goal or dream that I had a play in the NFL. And on top of that, right a miserable time when you're realizing I can't play football anymore. When I was good enough to continue to the next level, my dad died. So it was just the worst of all worlds colliding one time. But that the way I dealt with it was I broke my first, very first

song about it. So I realized it wasn't even another path that was so bad in the beginning that they wasn't like I was like, oh, I moved to Nashville and be a country singer. No, I was just a hobby and it was therapy for me to be able to write about my life. And luckily that therapy has lasted, you know, I guess now at this point has been over ten years and I get to make a living

doing this. So that's how football transition into music through an absolutely horrible experience and a horrible couple of years. But if you can tarn a negative and a positive, that's one of the best things you can do in life. Well, now has it almost flipped to where football is something that becomes a release or an escape and music is the thing that you do as your career, that's the dream, that's the job, and now football is where you can

kind of have that life. Yeah, it literally has flipped. Their Saturday nights or Sundays depends on the game, whether it's college or the NFL, that I'm not walking off the bus to go singing unless this game is over. I'm not missing what's about to happen. So that's how much I love football. That's so much. I finally get to be a fan as opposed to Watson the game thinking, oh, this is Tampa two, what's the middle linebacker going to do? Okay,

now they gotta whatever matchups. You're obsessing over the technical stuff in the game and how it's played as as opposed to now, I just watched football and I drink beer and it's awesome, and I get to do my job while I do that, you know, going on a stage. So I couldn't love my life anymore. So if anyone is ever at a Chase Rice concert on a Friday or Saturday night and you're a little bit late, they should check ESPN because there's probably a pretty good game

on somewhere Tar Heels are playing. I think it was Clemson in the ACC Championship a couple of years ago. Oh man, I was thirty minutes going late at the Grizzly Ros and they didn't seem to mind. The people were cool with it, because I guess that's pretty normal for some people to be late sometimes anyway, But at least mine was an okay, reason I was watching my tar heels. So how did you become a Titans fan? If you're someone who normally was a college football guy,

that was kind of your spot. How do you transition to the NFL. That was tough for me because I grew up in Floor and that was back when the Jags were a brand new team and the Titans became a new team to Nashville. But because I grew up in Florida, I was pulling for two teams of Jags and the Titans because they had Javon Curse. Literally, Javon Curse is the reason I'm a Titans fan because he was a Gator and I grew up a Gator and

he was my favorite defensive player in the world. And I remember him literally holding the chain just like around his neck, being tough as hell during the Super Bowl against the Rams, and I'm just sitting there all in wanting to win so bad and obviously the most heartbreaking loss you could possibly imagine. Oh my god, the amount of Florida Gators in country music is unbelievable. Like, do you guys get together on the weekends? There are so many Gators fans in the country music space. There's a

lot of dogs. There's a lot of Georgia Bulldogs. There's a lot of Gators, and I'm a Gator for sure, grew up one, but I went to the University of North Carolina. So I think there's three of us really that are Tar Heels, Me, Luke Combs, and Eric Church, all Carolina guys. I'm claiming that the heels all day long over the game. That's good. It provides some variety, which we appreciate. You've actually gotten to meet and create real relationships with some of the guys on the Titans team.

Do you find you have a lot in common with them, not only from your football experience and so you can relate in that way, but also because there are a lot of similarities when it comes to preparation and process from music to sports. Yeah. I mean, first and foremost, that's the world I came from, so it's just easy for us to relate. Matt Overton's one of my best buddies, and he came out of the Titans last year. So any guy that has to work for what he has.

There's a lot of players out there who are just talented as hell, more talented than I could ever be and just didn't have that mindset. I've seen so many players I had more talent than anybody, but didn't have the mindset of, you know, working hard. And any guy's like a guy like Matt Overton that just works so hard for everything he's ever had nothing given to him. That's the guy that I can get along with because that's what I had to do in football. So I

love people with that mindset in general. They're good people to be around. They're good people to surround your surround yourself with. Guy like Mike Rabel, I mean as a player, he was one of those guys where I'm talented, absolutely, but plenty of linebackers out there faster than him, plenty of linebackers out there stronger. But he had that mindset with guys like Teddy Bruski and all that, that we

gotta work, let's go. And that's why I get a lost so well with Mike as well, So any people with that mindset, and that's the culture that he's building with the Titans as well, that's a team I can get behind. You know, all right, I know I've got to let you go. But for my last question, we kind of blew over the bison farm thing, and I want to lean into it just a little bit. So why did you decide that a bison farm was something that you needed in your life? Well, I had the farm.

That was first thing. If you get into bison farming, you gotta buy the farm. You're crazy because you're not going to make your money back. I already had the farm. I loved looking at my land, but I'd never really looked at it a lot because I'm on tour, I'm on the road, and then all of a sudden, you give me a year off and I'm walking on my front port standing at my land. I'm like, I gotta do something with this. And my preacher was actually at

my house one night. You're just grilling out, cooking, and he starts talking about his buddy, who's a bison farmer. I'm like, I mean, there's nothing more American than American buffal I called Daniel was actually here. We're gonna work the bison here in a minute, And I said, to man, do you think i'll need a new truck if I get these bison? He said, Brother, that is the last question you need to be asking. There's a whole lot into this before you end up needing a new truck,

and I'll sell you right now. These guys are all girls. And then there's Bennington right there, the big one. But I'm about to get worked and it's our first day doing that so on this farm anyway, So it's gonna be a learning experience today, but by the end of the day, I'm gonna have a whole different experience that

I've ever had before. I'm excited. Oh my gosh. Well, we're gonna circle back and call you back at about six thirty tonight and see if you're still alive, you still want to keep these bison on your property, and we'll go from there. I'm gonna be diving into some nice, nice, very very cold beers after this one, so i might be slurring my words a little bit, but it's gonna be a good day. Chase, thank you so much for a chat with us. This was phenomenal. Look forward to

the season. It's gonna be fun. I'm glad we can hopefully have fans back. That'll be the best look to the folks at Farm Bureau Health Plans when you need someone who understands the exes and ohs of healthcare coverage, they've been protecting Tennessee and since nineteen forty seven. Thank you, thank you, Thank you to Chase Rice for taking some time to talk with me. What an awesome conversation. And guys, thank you for tuning into this edition of the OTP,

the Official Titans Podcast. So great to have you here with us. If you have not subscribed to this podcast, do it. You want to make sure that you are always getting the most updated version of the OTP downloaded right to your phone, and you could do that by subscribing, So be sure you do that. Tell your friends and family, spread the word about the Official Titans Podcast. Because the Draft is over, but we are not. There is so

much more to come this off season. There's tons of Titans football to talk about, so be sure you stick around. I'm Amy Wells. Thank you so much for tuning in to this edition of the OTP.