Chase Rice
#
157
Ranking
BIRTHDATE
BIRTHPLACE
Ormond Beach
,
FL
,
USA
41
6
'
4
"
Chase Rice (born September 19, 1985) is an Asheville, North Carolina-raised country singer-songwriter who went from playing linebacker at UNC and working a NASCAR pit crew to finishing as the runner-up on Survivor, co-writing the Diamond-certified all-time best-selling digital country single "Cruise" for Florida Georgia Line, and scoring two number-one singles of his own before making the most critically acclaimed artistic pivot of his career with the deeply personal 2023 album "I Hate Cowboys and All Dogs Go to Hell," a record he dedicated to the memory of his late father Daniel.
Current Tour & Setlist
Rice is actively touring in 2026 behind his "Go Down Singin' International Tour," which has already moved through Europe and is now hitting North American markets with confirmed stops including Gallatin County Fairgrounds in Bozeman, Montana on July 15 with support from Preston Cooper, Boots on the Bend festival in South Bend, Indiana on August 14 and 15, and additional dates across the summer and fall. His upcoming album "Eldora" is expected to bring a new round of touring later in 2026, and fans can expect a setlist blending hits "Eyes on You," "Ready Set Roll," "Way Down Yonder," and "Bench Seat" with deeper cuts from "I Hate Cowboys and All Dogs Go to Hell" and new material from "Eldora."
Early Life
Born Chase Rice on September 19, 1985, in Florida and raised from age 11 on a farm in a small tobacco-farming community outside Asheville, North Carolina, he was the youngest of three boys with his father Daniel, a blue-collar racecar driver and contractor who won his class at the Rolex 24 at Daytona and instilled in Chase a faith-first philosophy of always keeping God first, and two older brothers Chad and Casey who both won a state football championship at A.C. Reynolds High School before him. Chase won his own state championship ring with Reynolds in 2002, earned a spot on the University of North Carolina's football team as a linebacker, and drew early musical inspiration from Garth Brooks and Kenny Chesney before his father's death from a heart attack in 2008, when Chase was just 22, became the defining emotional wound that eventually shaped his most honest and personal work.
Career Highlights
After a career-ending injury cut short his NFL dreams, Rice graduated from UNC, joined Hendrick Motorsports as a rear tire carrier for Ryan Newman's Nationwide Series car and later worked on Jimmie Johnson's championship-winning Sprint Cup team before an unexpected turn on CBS's Survivor: Nicaragua in 2010, where he finished as the runner-up, pushed him fully toward music. He moved to Nashville and into a house with childhood friend Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard, co-wrote "Cruise" for Florida Georgia Line, which became the Diamond-certified best-selling digital country single of all time, then launched his own solo career with the debut album "Dirt Road Communion" in 2012. After years of mainstream hits including two number-one singles "Eyes on You" and "Drinkin' Beer. Talkin' God. Amen." with Florida Georgia Line, Rice made a bold artistic pivot with the critically acclaimed 2023 album "I Hate Cowboys and All Dogs Go to Hell," his most personal record to date featuring a vintage photo of his late father on the cover, followed by "Go Down Singin'" in 2024 and the upcoming album "Eldora" in 2026.
Family & Personal Life
Rice has never married and has no children, and as of 2025 described himself as not actively looking for love but trying to get his life in order so that if the right person comes along he is ready, having briefly been romantically linked to TV personality Kristin Cavallari in 2021. His most profound personal relationships have been with his late father Daniel, who died when Chase was 22 and whose image graces the cover of his most acclaimed album, and his black Labrador Jack, whose picture appears on the back of the same record and who inspired several songs. He is an avid hunter, outdoorsman, and four-wheeler enthusiast who follows UNC Tar Heels football and the Florida Gators passionately.
