Chase Rice’s latest album, Eldora can be best described as a biographical musical soundtrack to the former linebacker’s artistic reinvention and personal growth. As Rice explains in a recent CMT interview, the album was inspired and created in the mountains of Colorado, a far different scene from the usual familiar streets of Nashville.
“We went up to a frame cabin, and on the drive up the next day after Red Rock Show, we passed a place called the Eldora Lodge,” he says. “I didn’t know what Eldora was. Turns out, it’s a town in Colorado, but I wanted to write about Eldora,” Rice recalls.
As Rice explains it, the process was as raw as the landscape that inspired it. “It’s overall, nine songs that we wrote in Colorado, three songs that we wrote here in Nashville, and it’s all in order,” he says. “The first song we wrote was ‘Naming Cowboy Goodbye,’ and the last song we wrote was ‘Sunset.’ We recorded it in order that we wrote it, and it’s all one takes. It’s me and a guitar playing into one microphone next to us in the room. And it was hard. It was a hard way to do it, because you got to really learn the songs, which is awesome,” he shares.
His organic approach toward making Eldora marks a clear departure from Rice’s earlier, party-driven anthems. “All my albums have been kind of where I am in life,” he admits. “That’s why a lot of my early music was a lot of parties. This has got a lot of stories about regret and shame. But a lot of hope in this record too.”
He says that the album’s cover, featuring Rice’s dog Jack and a cabin, symbolizes “saying goodbye to the I Hate Cowboys era, and to Nashville in a way that I tried so hard to be a part of.”
Rice urges fans to experience “Eldora” as a complete journey: “It’s meant to be listened to in that order, the journey that it takes you on from song one to Song 12… go check it out, front to back and actually give the album a chance so you can feel the emotions of these stories.”
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From Gridiron to Great Outdoors
How did the singer celebrate the launch of his new album? Fishing, of course, as Rice posted on Instagram how he celebrated his birthday this past weekend on the waters of Montana.
While music is Rice’s passion, the outdoors are another love for the former North Carolina Tar Heel who also spent time as a member of the pit crew for NASCAR legend Jimmie Johnson.
While he’s not prepping for any sports, these days, staying in shape still has been a part of his regimen since high school, as he said in a recent interview. “We did a lot of bands, a lot of squats, a lot of power cleans,” Rice recalls of his college days. “Our coach was big on fast-twitch muscles. Anything we were doing that was quick and fast, that was huge.” Though he’s traded the gridiron for the stage, Rice’s relentless work ethic remains. “I’m just trying to optimize my body now, as opposed to being a crazy fit dude. I just want to be in good shape,” he says, describing his current regimen of bodyweight and band workouts, often alongside his trainer-turned-road manager.
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