Chase at Chief's

As he took the stage at the Neon Steeple on Thursday night, Chase Rice was very honest. “I have no idea what to expect tonight,” he said. “So this is new for both of us.”

Rice was playing the first of two sold-out shows. Thursday, he was mostly playing songs from his I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go To Hell album; Friday, he’ll follow with songs from Go Down Singin’.

Chief’s was a very different format and very different venue for Rice.

Joined by collaborators Oscar Charles on drums and Jonathan Sherwood on bass—the first time the trio had ever played live together—Rice told some of the stories behind the songs on the album and his journey in Nashville. It was different, but still felt familiar.

“Me and a guitar is how I started this thing 12 years ago when I moved to Nashville,” he told the crowd.

And that’s where he said he’s tried to focus over the last two albums, plus the upcoming Eldora. Rice played two songs from that as yet unreleased project, including the title track for the first time anywhere live. “This one,” he said, “is a true story for somebody.”

It was only fitting that Rice would be telling these stories and playing these songs here. As he does at all his gigs, he brought a trademark He’s Not Here cup with him on stage, a little taste of Chapel Hill, North Carolina in a corner of Nashville that has plenty of Tar Heel homages of its own.

Because it was a Chief’s show, there were still unexpected moments. Elvie Shane just happened to be in the crowd. He ended up on stage performing an incredible cover of “Brown Eyed Girl.” When he finished, he simply went back and sat in his seat second from the aisle on the fourth row. Just a normal Thursday night at Chief’s.

A more expected visitor was Rice’s dog, Jack. The Chief’s staff greeted the well-known—and extremely well-behaved—celebrity with treats, bowls and a stuffed buffalo. He mostly hung out in the green room with his new haul, but joined Rice on stage for the emotional “Bench Seat.”

It was a reminder that Rice’s path has never been linear. A football scholarship to Carolina turned into a couple chance guitar sessions in a dorm room with teammate Ben Lemming. A detour to “Survivor” and Jimmie Johnson’s pit crew, among other jobs, were just temporary stops before Rice took a chance on moving to Nashville and pursuing music full-time.

There are hundreds of stories like his in Nashville. But very, very few of them end up on the Neon Steeple stage at Chief’s in front of two sold-out crowds.

“I’ve given up a lot to do this life,” Rice said. “But I get to do this for a living. Somehow, I get paid to do this tonight.”

There must be something in those North Carolina mountains. Rice attended A.C. Reynolds High in Asheville. That’s just over a one-hour drive through the North Carolina mountains from Eric Church’s South Caldwell High. Rice has frequently expressed his admiration for Church, and saluted him again on Thursday with a couple lines from “Drink In My Hand.”

The set list had Rice scheduled to finish with “Cowboy Goodbye,” another of the new songs from Eldora. That one includes a reference to Tweetsie Railroad, a North Carolina institution in Church’s beloved Blowing Rock.

“This is where I thought the curtain would come down and we’d just walk off,” Rice said when he finished the song. But it didn’t feel quite right to leave things that way. With the crowd cheering, and multiple requests for one more song, Rice obliged. There was only one possible option.

“OK,” he said, “we’re going to end it with ‘Carolina Can.’ We’re at Eric Church’s bar, so why not?”