Chase Rice Feels Comfortable In His Own Boots With New Story-Filled Album ‘Eldora’

If it wasn’t already official, Chase Rice is making music solely for himself in this stage of his career… and I mean that in the best way possible.

His last two albums, I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go To Hell and Go Down Singin’, were certainly a departure from what built Rice’s career up in the early days. The country music singer has made an effort to separate himself from his “Bro Country” era, and it was actually during a conversation with Whiskey Riff on the Whiskey Riff Raff podcast that Rice alluded to a moment in particular that could very well have been his “ah-ha moment” for making the stylistic switch:

“I was talking to somebody about that out in Utah, and she said it, and I said, ‘Damn, I’m using that.’ It’s such a well thought-out thought. She said, ‘It sounds like you don’t want to be well-known, you want to be known-well.’ And I was like, ‘Sh*t, that was well said.’ That would be it.”

Which leads us to the new album that the talented singer-songwriter just released, titled Eldora. Rice says the new project that was released on September 19 was inspired by a trip out to Colorado (when he was opening at Red Rocks for Dierks Bentley). He and some friends passed by a place called the “Eldora Lodge,” and it was almost as if fate led them to that moment… and the songs and subsequent album that came rushing from it.

The first 9 of the 12 songs featured in the album were written in Colorado, while the last 3 songs were written in Nashville. Rice decided to record it all in the order that the songs were written, and every recording is done using the one take method. To say all of that in another way, Rice describes Eldora as the “most album album” he’s ever done.

And the album cover for Eldora features Rice’s trusty sidekick (and pet dog) Jack. The country star and his best friend are sitting in front of an old cabin, and Rice suggests that the cover art represents settling into a new place, and saying goodbye to Nashville in a figurative sense.

As for the music itself, Rice has formerly described the set of 12 songs as mostly stories. It’s meant to be listened to from front to back, and themes of regret, shame and hope are all present within the track list. They are stories mainly based in Colorado, but if you are to look deeper, each song also represents Rice’s journey through music, and the regret he has with some of his past projects and collaboration.

But most importantly, Eldora is about hope, and Chase Rice has plenty of that to go around at this point in his life. The 40-year-old (the day Eldora dropped is Chase’s 40th birthday) explained during our conversation with him that he feels as though he’s making the best music of his career, and he’s hopeful that people who liked the pop country contributions he made will follow him to this new, more authentic place that he’s finding a home in musically:

“You want as many people to sing your songs as possible, especially when I love these new songs so much more than anything I’ve done. I just want people to know who I am through my music and know that it’s not fake.

I don’t care about if I’m the most popular artist in the world. I just want people to care about what I’m doing, and know that these songs were written really well, and say, ‘I want to hear these songs in 50 years.’ The stuff I was doing before, it’s not going to stand the test of time.”

And sure, some of those “Bro Country” songs that Rice played a part in (like FGL’s “Cruise”) were chart-toppers, but what he’s doing now – and specifically what he did with Eldora – is as genuine and timeless as anything Chase Rice has ever made. Most importantly, you can tell that Chase Rice feels comfortable in his own boots, whereas in the past, he might have felt as though he was in someone else’s.

It’s a pleasure to hear the music that’s coming from Rice’s soul in Eldora. Some might say, “I like the old Chase Rice,” and in response to that, I’d point you towards the plenty of other artists that are still making music like that. But you’d be doing yourself a real favor if you sat down, played Eldora front to back, and got to know the real Chase Rice that’s coming through his songs and songwriting in the modern day.

“Cowboy Goodbye”

“Namin’ Horses”

“ELDORA”

“Mr. Coors”

The post Chase Rice Feels Comfortable In His Own Boots With New Story-Filled Album ‘Eldora’ first appeared on Whiskey Riff.