Back in January 2020, when COVID-19 was just a thing on the radio happening half a world away, Chase Rice played a show just up the road on a Friday night. Writing my review, I said, “He doesn’t need to prove he’s a rock star, because everyone here knows that Chase Rice is one.” That’s how it felt at the time. But then I ended it with the thought, “He’s come thousands of miles, and he’s found a special kind of connection.”
Looking back—and there’s a lot of that on “Goin’ Down Singin'”—maybe that’s why he has explored so much on his records since? Certainly, the last one, “I Hate Cowboys And All Dogs Go To Hell,” was a real about-face.
This one is sort of a bridge between that and the old. The title track is stoic, detailing the struggles that Chase Rice faced over the years.
“Fireside” is much more pop-oriented; the chorus is almost euphoric. This is a complete contrast to the reflective ballad that is “That Word Don’t Work Anymore.” Lori McKenna’s harmonies are superb as the world crashes around the hopeful young lovers.
Maybe it’s a flavour of the album as a whole that you start with dreams and life gets in the way.
And that everyman feel continues with “Hey God, It’s Me Again.” These are the people left behind in the stories for Springsteen’s Highway Stars. Those not even worthy of a mention. These are Chase Rice’s people.
It suits him too—and he writes or co-writes these—at its best, as on “Oh Tennessee,” it’s totally different from that usual country, mama’s apple pie cooling on the window sill type stuff. It’s quite striking how dark these are.
The blues of “Haw River” is straight from the primal swamps. The heaviest thing he’s ever done, it could have been straight off Steve Earle’s “Copperhead Road”—it’s a shining example of where Chase Rice is in 2024.
There’s a little light relief with “Arkansas,” and “Numbers” is almost a glimpse as to what “Go Down Singin'” could have been if it had been a conventional country record. It’s perfect, too.
The fact he eschews the cliché is laid bare on “If Drinkin’ Helped,” on which he deliberately tackles it, and the musicianship is stunning. The solo here is almost Fleetwood Mac-esque.
“Little Red Race Car” takes Rice back to childhood, and his voice is so expressive these days—and if these types of songs (and you always wonder what US stars would do if they failed their driving test!) are legion, this one is a beauty of a thing.
The mood of looking back to the past to find the answers to the present continues to the end of “…Singin’.” “You In ’85” is one of the best songs on offer, comparing life 30 years ago to now through the eyes of the small-town people that color this collection so vividly—the more things change, the more they stay the same?
Well, not quite. Chase Rice is rooted in country, but he’s not the same artist as I saw back in 2020. Maybe we’ve all changed since then?
What is clear, though, is that on “Go Down Singin'” more than ever, he’s singing his own song, and following his own voice has made him sound better than ever.
Rating 9/10
