Chase Rice

North Carolina-raised country singer and songwriter Chase Rice grew up listening to Garth Brooks and other singers who reshuffled and updated country music into something more in line with pop in the 1990s. During high school and college, however, Rice put most of his time and energy into sports, playing linebacker on the University of North Carolina football team. An injury eventually sidelined his football career, and it was then that he finally picked up a guitar in earnest and began writing songs. After graduating from college, Rice took a job as part of the NASCAR Hendrick Motorsports pit crew, playing out in the bars of Charlotte in the evenings whenever he could, and flying to Nashville on the weekends to take part in songwriter nights.