Multi-Platinum singer/songwriter Chase Rice continues to reveal the sonic shift of his forthcoming album with rugged outlaw anthem ‘Way Down Yonder‘ released today, 14 October.
Written by Rice together with Hunter Phelps, John Byron, Blake Pendergrass and Corey Crowder during a writing retreat in Florida, the song paints a vivid picture of hardworking characters living beyond the confines of the law:
Way down yonder where the outlaws wander
You can feel that thunder in your bones
Rippin’ hot rod runners under moonlight cover
Just some back glass gunners on the road
Where you buy your bud with your moonshine money
Make your love where the bees make honey
When the cut’s where you’re born and raised
Man it’s in your blood, we were born this way down yonder
“When we wrote this song, I had the mountains of North Carolina where I grew up in mind; all the moonshining history there in the Appalachians,” recalls Rice. “Then all of a sudden during the recording process, Rob McNelley started playing this crazy carnival sound on the acoustic… and it got Western quick. That turned it from a song I didn’t think was even going to make the cut for this next album into one of my favorite songs on the project.”
The song’s release today is accompanied by an official music video, shot in a single take as a time period piece at Fort Worth’s Stockyards National Historic District, which pays homage to the city’s rich Western history. The video is available to view here.
‘Way Down Yonder’ was written the same day as ‘Key West & Colorado,’ joining the recent release now in previewing the forthcoming track-free album, which was recorded during a two-week period alongside producer Oscar Charles and a live band at Rice’s farm outside Nashville, using makeshift recording environment and to capture a pure, raw sound unlike any of his previous studio projects.
The shift in setting suited the set of more vulnerable, personal music from the man Billboard celebrates as “having storytelling details tumble from his lips, his portraits created quickly and efficiently,” with CMT noting, “The vocalist worked day in and day out to find the courage to knock down the wall he had kept up his entire career. Once he demolished the barricade holding him back, he left his heart and soul on the writing table.”
For all the latest news on his forthcoming music as well as upcoming tour dates, visit ChaseRice.com and follow Rice on Facebook, Twitter and TikTok @ChaseRiceMusic and on Instagram @ChaseRice.
ABOUT CHASE RICE
With more than 2.3 million albums sold and over 2.3 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 a forthcoming album crafted in his rural Tennessee home-turned-studio, his sound continues to evolve to reflect the realities of his life, as evidenced by recent release “Key West & Colorado” and his latest, “Way Down Yonder,” due October 14. The new music serves as a follow up to his three-part project, The Album, featuring his latest Platinum-certified No. 1 hit, “Drinkin’ Beer. Talkin’ God. Amen. (feat. Florida Georgia Line)” and 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, somehow capable of evoking Chris LeDoux and The Chronic, campfire singalongs and stadium anthems, all at once. The new music builds upon the success of his sophomore album, Lambs & Lions, which featured the Triple-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 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; “Gonna Wanna Tonight” and Platinum-certified “Ready Set Roll.” In addition to selling out arenas with Kane Brown and Jason Aldean plus stadiums with Kenny Chesney and Garth Brooks, Rice also consistently sells out venues across the U.S. and Europe on his own headlining tours.