The long-awaited moment has come for Chase Rice as the country singer-songwriter releases his latest single, “Key West & Colorado.” The reflective song is one that Rice has debuted for sold-out crowds, playing acoustic renditions while touring with Kane Brown (not to mention garnering more than 2.7 million views when he teased it on his social media channels). Rice shared on Instagram last week that it was “unreal” to see live audiences react to the song, and now, it’s finally available Friday (July 29).
“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 can’t find love if you can’t 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”
“When we wrote ‘Key West & Colorado’ in Grayton Beach we weren’t necessarily planning on writing a song that day,” Rice recalled of the impromptu songwriting session. “We went out on Brian Kelley’s boat that day – it was me, him, John Byron, Blake Pendergrass, Corey Crowder and Hunter Phelps – and he told me that I’d actually posted about a trip I did from Key West to Colorado and he thought it’d be a cool title. Within less than a minute I twisted it to what the song turned into.”
That writing session confirmed that “Key West & Colorado” should be played for audiences, reads a press release announcing Rice’s latest single. Following its success during live shows, Rice teamed up with producer Oscar Charles and Jordan Rigby in a makeshift recording studio in his living room to record the track.
The latest song from Rice sets the tone for his forthcoming full-length project. Rice describes “Key West & Colorado” as “a story about a man trying to figure his life out – 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 – and the trip that he took to help him along that journey.”
“It felt really good to dive into recording with ‘Key West & Colorado’ translating right away from on stage to the studio,” Rice said in a statement, “and it’s the perfect bridge from where I was to where this album’s going. We spent two weeks recording with no click track, a live band, no fake instrumentation at all – really getting in there and grinding and making it right. It’s been the craziest, coolest thing I’ve ever done since I’ve worked in music and I’m excited for people to hear it.”
Listen to “Key West & Colorado” here: