Country music star Chase Rice stunned fans when he announced earlier this month that he was stepping away from touring.
The 40-year-old recently opened up more on the decision in an interview with Rolling Stone, and he sounds set on slowing things down a bit for the rest of his career.
“It was earlier this year, probably around September,” he told Rolling Stone about when he began leaning toward the decision. “I was elk hunting, and I just really didn’t want to go back. I wanted to stay out in Montana. Throughout the fall, I kept doing shows, but I was like, ‘This is not right. I’m not excited to get onstage anymore.’ Everything felt wrong. So, I had a conversation with management and my agent, and it was just like, ‘Wow, we’re really going to do this. I’m going to step away until I feel like I want to do it again.’”
While he announced the move away from touring, he told Rolling Stone that none of his scheduled shows are being cancelled. He also said he isn’t taking a break from music.
“It’s just a break from touring,” he said. “I’ll probably never tour like I did again. And financially, that is not your best decision, because if you’re doing 80 shows over one eyar, you’re not doing it because you’re making a million dollars a night, not for me anyway. You’re doing it because it’s a business. You got to cover your expenses. So, I’ll never do that again. But creatively, I’m planning on writing my ass off. There won’t be an album this year, I know that. But I’m really looking forward to slowing down, seeing what we can create.”
Rice announced that he was stepping away from touring on social media in early January.
“Alright everybody, I wasn’t sure whether I was gonna talk about this or not but here we are,” he wrote on Instagram. “I’ve been touring for 13 years and I’ve lived a dream far greater than I could’ve ever expected. This isn’t a goodbye thing or anything like that to be clear upfront, although it may feel like that, but I’m exhausted.
“I haven’t been able to be myself on stage in quite a while and really enjoy music and why I got into it in the first place,” he continued. “I love songs, I love living them, hearing stories from other people, and figuring out how to put that life into music. After 13 years it’s finally beat me up to the point where I need to step away for a while.”
Rice said he needed to “go live life so that I have more real experiences to write down.”
“I won’t be touring this year and it wasn’t even really a decision, it was something I know that I just have to do for myself,” he said. “A lot of artists do this all the time, but it’s new for me so it’s kind of a big deal in my life. To my band and crew, I love y’all. You’ve seen me at my worst yet you still love me back like I’ve lived my best. I hope we can all get together in the coming years and get back to enjoying life on the road again.”
Rice said he loved the fans who have followed him on his journey.
“You have truly made a dream of mine come true,” he said.
Rice, a native of Ormond Beach, Florida, began his career in 2010. Aside from his country music stardom, he is a former linebacker for the North Carolina Tar Heels and was a NASCAR pit crew member for Hendrick Motorsports.
He also appeared on “Survivor: Nicaragua.”
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