With sold-out crowds already singing along to the unreleased song and preview clips garnering over 2.7 million views on social media, the eagerly-awaited full version of ‘Key West & Colorado‘ from multi-Platinum singer-songwriter Chase RiceĀ is available everywhere now.
‘Key West & Colorado’ received a worldwide first play on The Country Show with Bob Harris on BBC Radio 2 last night (28 July), with Harris calling it a “wonderful new track.” The first play was followed by release day spins on Absolute Radio Country and Downtown Country.Ā
āWhen we wrote āKey West & Coloradoā in Grayton Beach we werenāt necessarily planning on writing a song that day,ā recalls Rice of the songās origin. āWe went out on Brian Kelleyās boat that day ā it was me, him, John Byron, Blake Pendergrass, Corey Crowder and Hunter Phelps ā and he told me that Iād actually posted about a trip I did from Key West to Colorado and he thought itād be a cool title. Within less than a minute I twisted it to what the song turned into.ā
The impromptu songwriting session was emblematic of Riceās recent bout of creativity away from the traditional confines of Music Row, with the bulk of his forthcoming album written on trips with friends or alone with an acoustic guitar at his Tennessee farm. The shift in setting suitedĀ the manĀ BillboardĀ celebrates as āhaving storytelling details tumble from his lips, his portraits created quickly and efficiently,ā withĀ CMTĀ noting, āThe vocalist worked day in and day out to find the courage to knock down the wall he had kept up his entire career. Once he demolished the barricade holding him back, he left his heart and soul on the writing table.ā
āThe aspects of songwriting heād always been naturally good at, he began to hone in on with more skill and attention,ā addsĀ Country Now. āEarlier songs like āJack Daniels & Jesusā and āCarolina Canā proved Riceās innate love of imagery-rich, potent songwriting, for example, but this time around, he dug his heels deeper than ever into that vivid storytelling style.ā
With this release as a preview of the full-length project to come, Rice shares what he describes as āa story about a man trying to figure his life out ā trying to figure out his past, trying to figure out his satiation with the breakup that he had or the woman that was in his life that he lost ā and the trip that he took to help him along that journey.ā
Somewhere between Key West & Colorado
I found God in a gold Silverado
Had to get a little lost to get a little found
Learned you canāt find love if you canāt slow down
Somewhere between that sand and the snow
Salt in the air and salt on the road
Finally let myself let her go
Somewhere between Key West & Colorado
Not long after the spontaneous writing session that spawned āKey West & Colorado,ā the song quickly found its way into Riceās live sets as a fan-favourite acoustic moment, particularly throughout the Blessed and Free TourĀ with Kane Brown earlier this year. Immediately after wrapping that run of shows, the man praised byĀ American SongwriterĀ as āone of country musicās most intriguing and lasting actsā hunkered down in his living room with producer Oscar Charles and Jordan Rigby to set up a makeshift recording environment, intent on capturing a new, raw sound unlike any of his previous studio projects.
āIt felt really good to dive into recording with āKey West & Coloradoā translating right away from on stage to the studio,ā explains Rice, āand itās the perfect bridge from where I was to where this albumās going. We spent two weeks recording with no click track, a live band, no fake instrumentation at all ā really getting in there and grinding and making it right. Itās been the craziest, coolest thing Iāve ever done since Iāve worked in music and Iām excited for people to hear it.ā