Chase Rice has career on ‘Cruise’ control

July 2, 2015 at 12:05a.m.

Chase Rice is no stranger to the limelight.

After attending the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill on a football scholarship, the Florida-born Rice worked on a NASCAR pit crew before being runner-up on 2010 CBS reality show “Survivor: Nicaragua.”

Oddly enough, this Forrest Gump of sorts story was only getting started. Rice ended up in Nashville where he began writing with the members of Florida Georgia Line, with whom he co-wrote the most downloaded country song of all time, “Cruise.” Not a bad start in the Music City for a songwriter seeking his own solo career.

“It was huge financially and respect-wise around town,” said Rice, calling from somewhere in Illinois. “People said that’s one of the guys who wrote ‘Cruise,’ which was a one-kind of song for me.”

While he’s proud of the definitive bro-country tune, Rice said when it came time to write his major label debut, 2014’s “Ignite the Night,” he made the stylistic mistake of trying to chase “Cruise” instead of sticking to more of a rock and edgy sound.

Even though the 28-year-old singer-songwriter had a top-5 hit with the album’s lead single, “Ready Set Roll,” he’s looking forward to getting back to his bread-and-butter sound on the next record due out later this year or early 2016.

“‘Ignite the Night’ had more pop-ish stuff, which was popular at the time,” Rice said. “I realized that’s cool, but that’s not 100 percent me. I want to go back to the rock edge. I’m enjoying writing my next record because it’s going to be more me; it’s going to be more about the music I want to do as opposed to what’s popular.”

Rice said if you’re looking for comparisons regarding the next album, think about Eric Church, who focuses not on writing hit singles but instead releasing solid albums backed by heavy touring.

Speaking of touring, Rice is currently opening for Kenny Chesney next Thursday at Quicken Loans Arena. In the past year or so, he has made the jump from honky-tonks to arenas. In fact, he’s quite fond of a certain Northeast Ohio venue.

“Hell yeah, I remember the Dusty Armadillo,” Rice Said. “We sold it out I think in four minutes the last time we played there. I’ve been pretty vocal that Ohio is my favorite state to play. It’s where my dad’s from. I’m looking forward to getting there and seeing what it’s like now on the other side of it in an arena opening for another artist.

“I’m pumped to get to Cleveland. It’s unbelievable. I was watching the [NBA] Finals. I was pulling hard for them. I was excited to see LeBron James go home. Hopefully, they’ll win it next year.”

So Rice is opening for Chesney, who in many ways is the LeBron James of country music. With that in mind, and using the Cavs as an example, what Cleveland player currently mirrors Rice?

“Man, I’m going to go with [Matthew] Dellavedova,” Rice said. “I love the way the guy plays. He’s underrated. I’m not saying I’m underrated, but I do believe – and my fans know what I’m talking about – there’s a lot of people out there who don’t know what I’m all about.

“I’m OK with playing that underdog role, and that’s what I’m doing. The biggest thing he did that was so awesome was he knew his role and he was OK with putting his time in until he got a shot. That’s what I’m doing – putting my time in. We’re just touring like crazy, getting the job done. And one day, people are going to look up and say, ‘Where did this guy come from?’”