Chase Rice tried to make the most out of the abundance of free time he found himself with during the COVID-19 pandemic. As he filled his time with writing, the singer says he went down a path of self-reflection and evaluation that, in turn, delivered him to a more vulnerable place then he’s used to.
These emotions shine though in Rice’s his latest single, “If I Were Rock & Roll.” The reflective, yet feel-good, song finds the singer recounting the people he’s met, things he’s seen and experiences that have led him to where he is today. Listeners will hear Rice shout out NASCAR legends, football teams and the armed forces.
Of course, all that time to look deeper within himself also led Rice to reflect on heartbreak. “If I were a smart man / I wouldn’t just write you a song / Straight from the heart and / Pray you turned it on / No, I’d step it up and I’d mean it,” he sings.
“If I Were Rock & Roll” marks another first for Rice: The song is his first major release that he wrote completely by himself. “As I sat down to write this song at my dining room table, with nothing but a guitar and the line “if I were Jesus,” inspired by Bruce Springsteen’s “If I Was the Priest,” I wanted to incorporate all of the things that have been such a huge influence in my life into the lyrics,” he says in a press release.
“From Earnhardt to my military buddies, to Johnny Cash, to my grandpa … these are all people and memories who have shaped the man I am,” Rice continues. “It’s a very personal, real song to me, and yet how the song ends, with the one that got away, makes it one that I think a lot of people will relate to.”
“If I Were Rock & Roll” is available for download now and will hit country radio later in October.
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