Photo: Getty Images
Chase Rice “was just messing around on guitar,” when he glanced at a photo of his late father. It was the same one that became the album artwork for 2023’s I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go To Hell.
Rice said he’d realized, “‘Man, I've written a lot about him, but I haven't written much about my mom.’ …I didn't know how to write a story about my mom, but I thought it'd be really cool to write one about how they met and that love story from the '70s.” Rice quickly wrote the chorus, and finished writing the song that day with producer Oscar Charles and Dan Couch.
The singer-songwriter caught up with iHeartCountry on his tour bus shortly before taking the stage at Losers Bar & Grill in Nashville, Tennessee’s Midtown neighborhood on Thursday evening (May 28). Rice delivered the debut live performance of the song he wrote for his mom, “Connie Lou,” at the free pop-up show, which also featured Rhys Rutherford and Hannah McFarland. Rice shared during the event that “Connie Lou” comes to life via his new team-up with Coors Banquet and Wrangler, which hosted the event with the country star, printing chords from the song onto denim apparel. “Connie Lou,” a Western-inspired anthem that chronicles a rodeo romance, officially made a surprise debut on Friday (May 29).
1 of 2 Photo: John Amis
2 of 2 Photo: John Amis
Rice played “Connie Lou” for his mother for the first time after playing a show at Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado. He said, “she had no idea that this was even happening. …I said, ‘Mom, I wrote you a song.’ She starts tearing up. She's like, ‘oh no,’ because half of my last records have been kind of sad and storytelling in the last few albums. I said, ‘no, no, no. It's a fun song. It's not going to be sad. Just know that.’ And so, we played it for her and she's freaked out a little bit, I think. …I think she's happy with the song. She's happy with the story, and she's happy that it's not a sad song for a change.”
Rice has delved into emotional, personal stories throughout his latest projects, I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go To Hell (2023), Go Down Singin’ (2024), and ELDORA (2025). He said he shifted his focus to “telling stories a lot more than just following whatever was popular in music.” Sharing stories about his family started with the photo of his father. “Once I finally settled into being OK with not chasing what was popular and writing stories that are me and true to who I am, that made it a hell of a lot easier to pull it together and say, ‘OK, we're going to start with this picture.’ …It's a lot easier for me to tell stories when it's my family and my story.”
After taking much of the year off from touring, Rice said he plans to keep writing music like “Connie Lou.” He also looked ahead to more shows throughout the summer. “You put a lot of work into the studio, you put a lot of work into the writing before the studio and to see a song that you write and you spend so much time on it, whether it's writing it or recording, all of it comes together and then all of a sudden you bring that to life,” Rice said of performing live. The singer-songwriter said most of his setlist comes from his latest albums “because that’s where my heart is,” but he puts new spins on “Ready, Set, Roll,” “Eyes on You,” and more with instrumentation that wasn’t on the records (and, of course, shares the stage with his dog, Jack, by the end of the night). “It's like, wow, people are actually singing these songs back to me. So that's the coolest part, is just seeing that people actually appreciate the work you're doing.”