Chase Matthew talks new album & earning country credibility: "I'm not riding the wave, because I am the wave”

Genre-blending country artist Chase Matthew chats to Headliner about leaving North America for the first time as he heads to the UK and Europe on tour, having mixed feelings about Beyoncé making country music, finding out country legend Keith Urban is a fan, and his new album, Chase.

Matthew’s career really is a dream come true for a country artist who once worked as a mechanic and thought he might never leave the United States, to recently completing a UK and European tour. Growing up in Nashville, Tennessee, the state in which country music was born, he went from signing to the country label Holler Records to a major label partnership with Warner Records Nashville. Chase marks the third album to his name, having debuted in 2019 with his first single, Never Say It To My Face.

Hello, Chase! How’s life in Nashville today?

It's good. The weather's finally starting to warm up. So we're getting out the ATVs (all-terrain vehicles) and having fun, that’s what we do around here.

You grew up there, which must have played a big part in your musical identity?

I come from a musical family, so it's always been in my blood, I guess you could say. I've always been around music. Growing up in Nashville, I spent a lot of time down on Broadway before the area became a touristy place. I spent a lot of time there. My mother worked downtown, and so I'd spent a lot of time at work with her sometimes. I’d be by the window, watching musicians walk up and down the road. I think that probably played a big role in what I'm doing today. I love my home and where I'm at now. And I think that every journey is what gets you to where you're supposed to be.

Before you went full-time as a musician, you were working as a mechanic? That might be the most country thing Headliner has ever heard!

I was an ATV mechanic, but I also worked on other vehicles and cars. But for six years, that's what I did. I grew up out in the country with my dad, and we didn't always have a lot of money. We always say, ‘Poor boys got poor boy ways.’ In other words, if you don't got the money to pay somebody else to fix it, you gotta learn how to fix it on your own. My dad taught me a little bit, and then I ran with it. It's like my hobby as well. I do the music thing, but my hobby is to work on stuff and build fast cars and trucks.

In terms of country artists, who were the ones that made you want to pick up a microphone?

I would say Jason Aldean and Keith Urban, which is crazy, because I just got off tour with Jason Aldean. I'm going out with Keith Urban this year, which I can't even believe I'm saying. Nickelback, as well – I grew up around a lot of rock and roll. And contemporary Christian music; I grew up in church, so I had a little bit of that as well. I think it all added up to my sound today.

A few years before signing with Warner, you self-released your debut single Never Say It To My Face. How was that experience of releasing a song into the world for the first time, DIY style?

That was great. I've actually never talked about that song. I recorded that on my laptop back in the day. I didn't ever think I was going to put it out, but I wanted to finally put something out via the distribution platforms. So that was my first time getting my feet wet. I left it up because I was like, ‘Man, one day we're gonna look back and talk about this, and we're gonna laugh about it,’ and here we are laughing about it.

I did a lot of production back then, too, and I started putting my own drive into my music. I produced all of it and mixed it and everything. It’s definitely not the best, but it shows the growth of where it all started.

How has it been working with Warner Records Nashville?

I was looking for an opportunity to get on country radio, and they saw my vision and what I wanted to do. I was able to keep all of my creativity and still be able to do whatever I wanted. I think that Warner is definitely the artist label. They don't want to change anything. They want to make sure you're happy and you're staying creative. That's kind of what sold me on it. We didn't end up doing a record deal, though; we did what's called a joint venture, and so we basically just partnered up. They helped me wherever I asked for help, and it's been great – I still get to do my own thing and really mean it.

Country music has really been going through a special moment in the last few years, especially internationally, with events like C2C doing so well in London and other European cities, for example. But it feels like it’s got even more heightened off the back of Beyoncé releasing Cowboy Carter and her GRAMMY wins for that album.

I have mixed emotions about all that, actually. I don't know how many of them I should share… I'm not riding the wave, because I am the wave. I'm country, I grew up in the sticks. I ride four wheelers, I work on shit, that's what I do, right? I think there are a lot of people who are trying to jump on our wave, which is our thing, our genuine authenticity. People that ain't lived none of that in their life, that they're singing about, are trying to join the genre just because it's hot right now.

I’m not gonna say any names, but you mentioned a few. If you're genuine, people believe it. If you're not, and they can tell you don't know what you're talking about, they're not going to go for it. GRAMMYs are cool; hopefully I'll get one one day. But I'll tell you, man, I want to earn it. I don't want it handed to me.

Your third album, the eponymous Chase, is out now. How does it feel to have it out in the world and to share it with people?

It feels good, man. We've had some really awesome opportunities. Some billboards in Times Square, in downtown New York City, and a lot of people are coming out of the woodwork to show support. I got to celebrate it by playing Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, which is a very iconic venue here in the States. We played that venue the night the album came out. That was a really cool celebration with my hometown.

How does this record compare when you put it next to your previous two albums?

I haven't been this excited about an album since my very first one. I've really tried to hone in on what I wanted on these songs, and what I wanted this project to say, and it's really laid out a path for what I'm going to do in the future as well. We'll look back at this in three years and be like, ‘Wow.’ There's a song for everything, a song for any kind of emotion you're feeling. It's a project for the people.

Thanks to this album, you’re coming to the UK and Europe for the first time, and you’re covering a lot of the bases of the UK with Belfast, Glasgow, Manchester, and London. What do you expect when touring in Europe?

I’ve never left North America! In a way, I'm a little bit nervous, just because I haven't been there before, and, you know, planes and water! It's just a scary thought, but I'm excited to do something different. I already know when I get there and hear people singing my songs, knowing that I'm that far away from home, it's going to be a crazy feeling.

I'm excited for Ireland. That's going to be cool, because I'm partially Irish. I'm really excited for Manchester — I think that show sold out. So that's going to be wild. I know that some of these shows are really close to selling out, so I think I'm just equally excited for all of them, and I'll be able to answer which one was my favourite after it's all said and done.

How did it feel to find out one of your heroes, Keith Urban, was a big fan of yours and wanted you to go out on tour with him this year?

It's so wild. It was like a chain of events that happened. My manager told me, ‘Hey, I got a weird phone call. Keith Urban's manager just called and said, ‘Keith's a huge fan of yours.’ And I was like, ‘What? Keith Urban knows who I am?’ And a few weeks later, somebody from Live Nation came up to me. He goes, ‘Hey, man, you’ve got a big fan. You've got a huge fan, dude. Keith Urban's called me six times this week, trying to get you on his tour.’ This guy is the president of country music at Live Nation. So I knew it was real at that point. And so when we finally got everything finalised, I just couldn't believe it.

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