Chase Rice is one of the hottest new acts in country music today and we're proud to announce that Kicker 102.5 is bringing the Academy of Country Music's New Artist of the Year nominee to downtown Texarkana for Railfest 2015 Saturday, May 16.Rice has an interesting background. He was a sports fanatic throughout his high school and college days and played linebacker for the University of North Carolina football team. However, an injury eventually sidelined his football career, and it was then that Rice finally picked up a guitar 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 whenever he could, and flying to Nashville on the weekends to take part in songwriter sessions.

In 2010, he popped onto the scene when he was a contestant on the hit TV show "Survivor: Nicaragua," eventually finishing second in the competition. Rice eventually released a six-song EP, "Country as Me," in 2011, following it up with the full-length "Dirt Road Communion" a year later in 2012.

But it was writing the song, "Cruise," for Florida-Georgia Line, that really kick-started his career. The song was released in 2012 and topped the country charts reaching number four on the overall chart.

Signed to Columbia Nashville, Rice released his major-label debut, "Ignite the Night," in August of 2014. It debuted at number one on the country music charts and sent his single, "Ready Set Roll," into the country chart's Top Five.

Here's the video.

Rice just released his second single "Gonna Wanna Tonight."

Railfest 2015 promises to be one of the most highly anticipated festivals in Texarkana with Rice taking the stage in historic downtown Front Street Plaza. For more information about Railfest and how you can get tickets for the concert, see our Events page.

(Source:CMT.com)

 

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