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.
