Fortieth No. 1 for co-writer Ashley Gorley
Tuesday, June 11, 2019 is a date that Chase Rice will remember for a long time. It was the date of his first Number One party. Chase celebrated the success of “Eyes On You” with co-writers Ashley Gorley and Chris DeStafano at The Tin Roof in Nashville.
Chase, Ashley and Chris met with members of the music media before the awards presentation and recalled the day that they wrote “Eyes On You.”
“That day was pretty pivotal because it was not good in my career the day we wrote that,” admitted Chase. “I was on my way out of Sony. I think I had, like, a week left in my contract. It was a scary time for me, even though, looking back, I probably wasn’t acknowledging that as much, but it was a tough time. Like, ‘if we don’t get something going big right now, this could go south real quick.’”
Signed a bottle of Jack Daniel’s
“Ashley started playing this piano riff. We wrote the song and we pretty much tracked the entire record that day,” said Chris DeStefano, who also produced the track. “All of Ashley’s piano parts sounded incredible. Chase felt so strongly about that record that he signed a bottle of Jack Daniel’s and on the bottle it says, ‘This is going to be my first number one song.’ That was just over two years ago.”
They still have the bottle and it’s still unopened – or at least it was during the media meeting!
“Chase is unique because he already had a fan base established before a number one record,” noted Ashley. “A lot of times, we’re trying to write a hit that gets somebody in there, but now we’re just trying to enhance what he already had going. That’s a great position to be in so we had fun. We had a lot of different cuts with Chase, but this one just stood out.”
Working together since day one
“Chase and I have been working together since Day One, since the first time we got in the room together,” said Chris DeStefano. “It was ‘Ready, Set, Roll’ [co-written] with Rhett Akins and that came all the way up, almost rang the bell. But it’s become a little bit sweeter because it didn’t. The last three or four years have been an incredible ride. I’ve believed in Chase since Day One. He’s one of the hardest-working guys in the business. An amazing person. He deserves this, and I feel that, right now, it’s sweeter because of all that time that’s gone by and all the musical memories we’ve had in the [writers] rooms together and we’ve been able to share an awful lot of awesome history.”
Chase acknowledged that the greatest thing to happen to him was the ‘failure’ of the last three years. Early success can sometimes be more of a curse than a blessing.
“Lee Adams, the head of the Broken Bow radio staff, said, ‘Do you want me to update you every day?’ I said, ‘I want you to update me every day twice, morning and night! And I was serious. I started celebrating then. I haven’t really stopped.” – Chase Rice
“A landmark thing” for Gorley
I reminded Ashley that I had seen him perform “Eyes On You” during this year’s Tin Pan South. As soon as Ashley hit the keyboard, everyone started screaming then calmed down so they could hear the song. I asked Ashley if he knew how many number ones he has now racked up as a songwriter.
“This is number forty for me,” replied Ashley.
Chris DeStefano chimed in, “The best part about having number ones with Ashley Gorley is… having a number one with Ashley Gorley! But they’re all special.”
“This was a landmark thing for me,” said Ashley, referring to his fortieth number one. “But for all of us to be friends; I was best man at Chris’ wedding. We’re all very tight, and this one was specially unique what with being Chase’s first number one, knowing what we want to do, which is get the artist to the next level. This was a special one in lots of ways. Numbers and all that stuff aside, just to be with people we enjoy working with makes it extra special.”
Hearing that “Eyes” would be No. 1
Chase talked about how he found out that “Eyes On You” was going to top the Country Singles charts. He said he got a call from the label telling him that the new chart would be coming out on the following Monday and he would be getting his first Number One.
“Everything that night was pretty fitting. It was a Saturday night in small town, Alabama, it was dumping rain on us. The show was, like, way below what we had been doing because it was just pouring all day and it was an outdoor show.”
Chase said it seemed very fitting for his career to find out about the number one that way. Everything that could go wrong had gone wrong so far that day.
“But it didn’t ruin the day at all. This was awesome, man! This was what we worked hard for and tonight’s the night. It would just be us and the band and the crew, because there weren’t a lot of people at the show. But it ended up being a perfect night.”
“Luke Combs was messin’ everybody up”
Chase talked about watching the progress of “Eyes On You” on the charts. “Luke Combs was messin’ everybody up,” he said with a smile. “He was sitting there [at number one] for, like, six weeks. But it continued to be a smooth ride all the time. There was never a moment of, ‘Oh God, what’s about to happen?’ Lee Adams, the head of the Broken Bow radio staff, said, ‘Do you want me to update you every day?’ I said, ‘I want you to update me every day twice, morning and night! And I was serious. I started celebrating then. I haven’t really stopped.”
But despite the celebrations, Chase knows that, first and foremost the music business is a business.
“The thing people don’t see is I’m still waking up every day at eight,” he said. “I’m working out, I’ve been staying on writing every day. Not to mention we’ve just put out ‘Lonely If You Are’ last week, which Chris [DeStefano] produced. So we’ve been working hard. Everyone sees the party but there’s been a lot of work going on in the meantime. I’ve celebrated hard but I understand we’ve got to keep working.”
Preshias Harris is a music journalist and music career development consultant with the emphasis on new and aspiring artists and songwriters. Her book, ‘The College of Songology 101: The Singer/Songwriter’s Need to Know Reference Handbook’ is available at www.collegeofsongology.com Follow her blog at www.nashvillemusicline.com