Sue Bonzell:
He just passed 53 million streams of his new album, Intertwined. I am so excited. Chase Wright is here. Hello, Chase.
Chase Wright:
Hi, thank you so much for having me.
Sue Bonzell:
I’m so excited that you’re here. Now, it’s funny because I say your name and we were kind of talking about this. You get confused for Chase Rice all the time?
Chase Wright:
Yeah. I mean, like all too often, I mean, the names are very similar, obviously Chase and Chase.
Sue Bonzell:
Chase.
Chase Wright:
But Wright and Rice-
Sue Bonzell:
Rice.
Chase Wright:
… Also sound very, very much alike. And so yes, all the time.
Sue Bonzell:
Okay. All right. But we’re going to make it clear, this is Chase Wright.
Chase Wright:
Wright.
Sue Bonzell:
He’s a musician here in Nashville. He’s the Wright.
Chase Wright:
Yes.
Sue Bonzell:
The Wright Chase.
Chase Wright:
The Wright Chase. Oh, I like it. I like it.
Sue Bonzell:
The Wright Chase. Okay.
Chase Wright:
I like it.
Sue Bonzell:
We’re doing new things here. Okay. So Intertwined, this is the new album.
Chase Wright:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Sue Bonzell:
I’ve been listening to it and I’m like, man, it’s like every song on it is really, really good.
Chase Wright:
Thank you so much.
Sue Bonzell:
So, tell me about the album. What’s been going on with all of that?
Chase Wright:
Yeah. I actually started writing the record in 2018. Came down to Nashville for the first time in 2018 and started co-writing and all of that stuff. And some of the earlier songs on the record like Drive and Lying With You are actually from 2018 or really early 2019.
Sue Bonzell:
Really? Okay.
Chase Wright:
And so the record’s been a lot of years in the making and it makes me so happy to hear you say that because I’ve taken so much pride in making sure there weren’t any album cuts. That’s something that people say here in town, some songs that I like but maybe aren’t single worthy. And I wanted to make sure that every song I felt confident enough about that if it were to go to radio or something, it could work. And so, yeah, just a lot of time and effort put into that. And so, yeah. I mean, three years later almost we have a full 10 song project and it’s out.
Sue Bonzell:
It’s awesome.
Chase Wright:
And we’re actually getting the vinyl records I think this week.
Sue Bonzell:
Really?
Chase Wright:
Oh my gosh.
Sue Bonzell:
Oh, I’m excited.
Chase Wright:
It’s been six months or something awaiting for these records to come in. And so I think we might actually have the vinyls in our hands this week, maybe.
Sue Bonzell:
Oh that’s exciting.
Chase Wright:
But yeah, it’s just been a really, really awesome time.
Sue Bonzell:
That’s so fun. Well, now you’re all over Spotify too. You’re all on the hot country song lists and all this stuff. And I’m like, you’re just everywhere. You’re everywhere so much that you were even on a billboard.
Chase Wright:
I was on a billboard.
Sue Bonzell:
You were on a billboard.
Chase Wright:
Which is absolutely wild to me. I moved to Nashville in 2019. And to think that the billboards and stuff that I’d be driving by every single day, my face was plastered in a massive size on the side of a building downtown. And so, yeah. I mean, Hot Country, Spotify, they’ve been so, so great to me and really believing in me early on. And so they’re the ones who put the billboard up.
Sue Bonzell:
Nice.
Chase Wright:
And so super thankful for them. And they’ve really helped jumpstart so much for me.
Sue Bonzell:
Yeah. That’s awesome. I mean, so like I said, your song’s… Okay. Lying With You was I think the first song I heard of yours and I was like, oh, I like this song. So then I was like, okay, I got to check this guy out. Okay. So then I’m listening to all the songs. And like I said, I think every single one on the album is great. So make sure you go get it. So it’s out now.
Chase Wright:
Yes. Yes.
Sue Bonzell:
Yes? Go get it now.
Chase Wright:
Yes. Yes. Get it.
Sue Bonzell:
Okay. All right. Good. Now, you play the guitar.
Chase Wright:
Yeah.
Sue Bonzell:
You also play the piano.
Chase Wright:
A little bit. A little bit of both, yeah.
Sue Bonzell:
And then do you play trumpet or you did?
Chase Wright:
Okay. Yeah.
Sue Bonzell:
Okay.
Chase Wright:
So story time. My mom grew up playing it and so she went to college for it. And in the early age, she always tried to get me to be musical in some capacity. And because she played the trumpet as a young kid, I was a like, oh, I want to play the trumpet. So I could probably still make a sound, but I haven’t really played since sixth grade.
Sue Bonzell:
Okay.
Chase Wright:
But I did pick it up when I was in college and was just like, let me just see if I can make a pleasant sound out of this. And I still could. So I don’t know. I don’t see any trumpet solos coming soon. But I still think I could pick it up. And with a little bit of coaching might be able to make something pleasant come out of it.
Sue Bonzell:
Okay. All right. So last time you tried, I mean, was there any drinks involved? Anything like that?
Chase Wright:
No. I actually just came home and I think my mom was just playing it or something and I was like, you know what? I kind want to see if I can still do… And I’d filmed some Instagram story or something for it.
Sue Bonzell:
Oh, that’s fun.
Chase Wright:
Yeah. I mean, she still plays it and she’s been playing it for years and years and years. And so that’s sort of how I got into the music thing generally. But yeah, trumpet.
Sue Bonzell:
That’s really cool. Now, okay. So I basically stalked you on all your socials and everything.
Chase Wright:
Oh, thanks.
Sue Bonzell:
Well, that’s what I do.
Chase Wright:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Sue Bonzell:
That’s my job. So you like wine.
Chase Wright:
Yeah.
Sue Bonzell:
Wine is a thing for you.
Chase Wright:
Yeah.
Sue Bonzell:
Yes?
Chase Wright:
Yeah.
Sue Bonzell:
Okay. Favorite wine?
Chase Wright:
So I’m a red pinot noir kind of guy. I didn’t like wine. I didn’t used to like wine. COVID-
Sue Bonzell:
COVID made everybody drink.
Chase Wright:
… and quarantine. I kind of started getting into wine. And kind of a funny way, actually. I never really drank wine ever. And my roommate at the time went back home for three months during quarantine and he left a box of wine. And I was like, I don’t have anything else to drink a house. And I was like, might as well just try this out. And I didn’t like it at first. But sort of like how coffee, you don’t really like it when you first start to drink it.
Sue Bonzell:
That’s true.
Chase Wright:
That’s kind of how I was with this. And now it’s like, I prefer wine over a lot of things.
Sue Bonzell:
Really?
Chase Wright:
Yeah.
Sue Bonzell:
Okay. Well, see, now I’m surprised to hear you say that because most people out here in Nashville, they’re kind of like, yeah, wine’s okay. More beer.
Chase Wright:
I like Busch Light.
Sue Bonzell:
Whiskey. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Busch Light. Yeah. Whiskey is the big one. And then for you to say pinot noir, because I’m from wine country in California.
Chase Wright:
I don’t know a thing about wine.
Sue Bonzell:
You don’t have to know anything about it. You just have to know what you like. Right?
Chase Wright:
Right, right.
Sue Bonzell:
Right.
Chase Wright:
Right.
Sue Bonzell:
So you found the good stuff.
Chase Wright:
Yes.
Sue Bonzell:
You found the pinot noir. Very nice. Very nice. Well, good. We’ll have to share some wine together and we’ll and we’ll talk wine and we’ll geek out on some wine.
Chase Wright:
Yeah. I just know the red and white. That’s about my wine knowledge.
Sue Bonzell:
You know pinot noir. I’m impressed.
Chase Wright:
You’re right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Sue Bonzell:
I’m impressed. I’m impressed. So now where are you going to be playing? What’s coming up for you? What’s happening?
Chase Wright:
Yeah. So I actually have my first two shows ever in Florida this weekend. I’m leaving Thursday morning.
Sue Bonzell:
Nice.
Chase Wright:
To go to Orlando and then Delray Beach on Friday. And then after that, we have some shows which aren’t super finalized yet in May that should be West Coast-ish. And so from your neck of the woods I think is where we’re going to be. So yeah. So just sort of trying to figure things out still. CMA Fest, playing that. Which that hasn’t really been announced either, but that’s happening too.
Sue Bonzell:
Good.
Chase Wright:
Yeah. Just there’s so many things in the works, but not many things are finalized yet. So I’m excited to see where things are going. I’m in the midst of recording new music also. And so actually going later today to sort of finish up some of that. So there’s just a lot of things working. And so yeah. Really pumped to see by the end of the year what’s going down.
Sue Bonzell:
Yeah. It’s been a pretty good year so far. Right?
Chase Wright:
Busy. Busy.
Sue Bonzell:
Yeah?
Chase Wright:
Yeah. No, it’s been really, really cool. I mean, having a record and a vinyl that, like I mentioned, it should be coming soon. Having that just come to fruition is such a cool feeling, because it’s something that you dream about as a kid or you go to the store and you pick up an album. And it’s like you don’t ever think that could be you. And for that to be a thing is super cool.
Sue Bonzell:
It is very cool. I mean, I can’t imagine that feeling. That’s pretty cool. So now as far as future wise, when you were a kid maybe you had that dream of having that album. What’s the next dream? What’s the big thing that if you could have as a musician, what would it be?
Chase Wright:
Oh man. I have a laundry list of bucket list things. I really want to play the Grand Ole Opry first of all. That’s something that I’ve dreamed about for so long. And I mean, that’d just be such an amazing honor. And I mean, stadium shows would be sick. That’s all that I’ve envisioned for my live performances, stadium. And so that’s something that hopefully in the next I don’t know how many years, but hopefully that’s something that we end up working up to. And then one thing I really, really want to do is play my hometown venue. The one that I went to growing up so many times.
Sue Bonzell:
Oh, yeah.
Chase Wright:
I went to so many summer concerts there. And I think that once that moment happens, that’s when I’m really like, wow.
Sue Bonzell:
Yeah.
Chase Wright:
This is really happening.
Sue Bonzell:
It’s real. It’s real.
Chase Wright:
It’s real.
Sue Bonzell:
Yeah.
Chase Wright:
It’s real. So many things had happened where I’m like, this is real. But that would be one thing that, this is really happening.
Sue Bonzell:
That’s cool. So I mean, what do your friends back home think?
Chase Wright:
Oh my gosh. Well, so I didn’t realize the support back home was so big. I figured I would have friends from high school and stuff come out too, whatever. But I had a show back home in Indy the day after Thanksgiving. And I mean, the support there has just been wild and all of my friends coming out. And I mean, friends supporting is one thing, but friends knowing your music also is a whole different thing. And so I mean, it’s just so great to see everybody sort of rally around it and really support it. Because this isn’t an easy job. It isn’t an easy career path and you can’t do it without people supporting you along the way. And so just really, really awesome to see that.
Sue Bonzell:
Okay. You got to have the support.
Chase Wright:
Yes.
Sue Bonzell:
So now, I have friends that support me. But not when I go to karaoke because I’m not really good at karaoke. Do you ever karaoke?
Chase Wright:
I don’t karaoke. Okay. I don’t want to say don’t. I just haven’t really. I mean, karaoke is something that I feel like if you are a singer, right?
Sue Bonzell:
Right.
Chase Wright:
And you do karaoke, it’s either people are like, okay. It’s like, oh, okay. He sings. But then if you go up there and sort of fake it and I don’t know, just have fun with it, whatever, people are like, oh. He really can’t sing. Or you know what I’m saying? It’s like a lose-lose. You either do really well and people are like, okay dude, we get it.
Sue Bonzell:
You’re making us look bad.
Chase Wright:
Yeah. Or you just don’t really try. And they’re like, oh, he’s really not that good. I don’t know. So I-
Sue Bonzell:
You don’t want somebody to say, oh, he is not that good. And you’re like, that’s what I do.
Chase Wright:
This is his job? What is this guy doing? No. So I think if you do it, you have to do it kind of ironically. I would go up there. I’ve always said, if I’m going to do it, I’m I’m going to sing an Usher song or something like that.
Sue Bonzell:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Chase Wright:
Something where it’s like, they’re like, oh, Usher. I’m like, yeah, Usher. I used to listen to Usher growing up. Something like that. I couldn’t go up there and be like Sam Hunt. It’s just weird.
Sue Bonzell:
That would be funny you get up there and you sing one of your own songs.
Chase Wright:
Right? What is this guy doing? I’m in American Idol try-out or something.
Sue Bonzell:
There you go. Yeah. Yeah. People do that. They sing their own songs in American Idol, right? Yeah. I don’t know. Okay. Well, we’ve got you here and you brought the guitar. So I’m excited. We are going to hear you play one of your songs for us.
Chase Wright:
Yeah. Yeah.
Sue Bonzell:
So when we come back, we’re going to have him sing a song. And after that, don’t go anywhere because we’re going to be playing my famous game, Truth or Truth.
Chase Wright:
My favorite. What’s up, y’all. It’s Chase Wright and this is my song Drive.
(singing).
Sue Bonzell:
Okay. Awesome. That’s your new song Drive. I love it. Thank you for playing for us. Now, one thing we did not talk about is the fact that do you have a degree in economics?
Chase Wright:
I do.
Sue Bonzell:
What?
Chase Wright:
I do. I do.
Sue Bonzell:
I mean, economics?
Chase Wright:
What a fun, fun fact. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, no. But I do think as funny as it is, I think that that business mindset really, really helps me in this artist thing. Because you are running your own business.
Sue Bonzell:
Yeah, definitely. I know. When I read that I was like, economics?
Chase Wright:
Right.
Sue Bonzell:
And now he’s country music guy. Okay. This is kind of different.
Chase Wright:
Different, it is. It is.
Sue Bonzell:
Yeah. So you’re a numbers guy.
Chase Wright:
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Definitely.
Sue Bonzell:
Okay. Good. You handle the numbers.
Chase Wright:
Definitely.
Sue Bonzell:
I don’t do numbers. I just listen to the music.
Chase Wright:
Right. Right. Yeah.
Sue Bonzell:
Well we are going to play my, I’m going to call it my famous game. Truth or Truth. We don’t do any daring because I don’t want you to hurt yourself.
Chase Wright:
Perfect.
Sue Bonzell:
Right?
Chase Wright:
Love it.
Sue Bonzell:
No broken bones on my show.
Chase Wright:
Here for it. Yes.
Sue Bonzell:
Okay. So we’re going to play Truth or Truth. I’ve got some questions in here. You get to pick your own questions. So go ahead and pick a question.
Chase Wright:
A little bit nervous. Here we go. Okay. All right. Okay. What is the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done? Oh my gosh. I don’t even know. So with the economic side of thing, you have to be pretty analytical and calculated.
Sue Bonzell:
Right.
Chase Wright:
I feel like I rarely do really embarrassing things. I don’t know. Okay. Well just this is just what came to my brain instantly, was I was just in Florida.
Sue Bonzell:
Okay.
Chase Wright:
Recently, within the last month. And I might have had one too many drinks. All right. Which, okay. And I was trying to pull my friend’s boat into the dock.
Sue Bonzell:
Okay.
Chase Wright:
And fell off the boat as I was pulling it in. I started to stretch. It started to pull away. And instead of just letting go, I decided I’m just going to take this one down. Just somersaulted slow-mo right into the dock area and then went to get out of the water and cut my foot on barnacles. And it was a whole thing. It was just a chain of just not thinking. And so it was pretty embarrassing because I just felt off a parked boat and then cut my foot up pretty bad.
Sue Bonzell:
Too bad there’s no video of that. No video?
Chase Wright:
I know. There isn’t. There isn’t. No, no. Thankfully. But my friend was definitely, they were making fun of me. Rightfully so.
Sue Bonzell:
And isn’t it interesting how those things always happen when we have a couple of beverages.
Chase Wright:
Yeah. I think it might have helped because it definitely hurt after the fact pretty bad. The next day I couldn’t walk really.
Sue Bonzell:
Oh man.
Chase Wright:
Yeah. No, it was definitely not my proudest moment.
Sue Bonzell:
Okay.
Chase Wright:
Definitely not.
Sue Bonzell:
All right.
Chase Wright:
Definitely not.
Sue Bonzell:
Well we covered that. All right. Good. All right. Let’s do another one.
Chase Wright:
Okay, here we go. Let’s hope this one a little bit… Okay. What would you do if you got locked in a supermarket overnight? It’s so funny. I used to watch those videos of people hiding in toilet paper forts and trying to hide from the workers and sleep in the supermarket overnight. I mean, I think if I got stuck in a Walmart overnight, that’s probably one of the best stores to get stuck in, right?
Sue Bonzell:
Yes.
Chase Wright:
They’ve got everything you need. They got food. I mean, they got camping. You can go camping in Walmart. I don’t know. I mean, they got futons and stuff. I’d probably have a pretty good night’s sleep in a…
Sue Bonzell:
Okay.
Chase Wright:
Yeah. I mean.
Sue Bonzell:
You’d just be sleeping. You wouldn’t play with all the toys or anything like that?
Chase Wright:
Probably not. I mean, they do have the basketball goals and stuff, so.
Sue Bonzell:
Oh, there you go.
Chase Wright:
I might get a quick little pick up game going too maybe. I don’t know. But there are definitely worse places to get stuck overnight.
Sue Bonzell:
Yeah. And you could have your pick of any of the snacks, right?
Chase Wright:
Any of them.
Sue Bonzell:
Any of the snacks.
Chase Wright:
All of them even.
Sue Bonzell:
Yeah, exactly. All the sodas, all the drinks, all the everything. Yeah. That would be good.
Chase Wright:
I mean, yeah.
Sue Bonzell:
That’d be a little party.
Chase Wright:
It kind of would be. It’s like a little play land for grownups.
Sue Bonzell:
Then you’d have to go into the electronics area and crank the music.
Chase Wright:
Right. Yeah. Just-
Sue Bonzell:
Put up your video up on the screen and everything.
Chase Wright:
Yeah. You just walk in, the 40 TVs are just Drive music video playing everywhere.
Sue Bonzell:
There you go. See?
Chase Wright:
See? This actually might be a good marketing ploy. I might lock myself in a Walmart.
Sue Bonzell:
This could be your video. Just kidding.
Chase Wright:
Yeah, for real.
Sue Bonzell:
For one of the next songs. We don’t know.
Chase Wright:
Oh my gosh. I love it. I love it.
Sue Bonzell:
It could be fun. Okay. We got ideas galore here.
Chase Wright:
Man.
Sue Bonzell:
Okay. All right. We’ll do one more.
Chase Wright:
One more. Here we go.
Sue Bonzell:
One more.
Chase Wright:
Here we go. Oh man. What’s your biggest regret? That is tough. I try to live in the mindset of not regretting things. A firm belief is everything happens for a reason.
Sue Bonzell:
Yes.
Chase Wright:
On a deeper level, right? And so everything happens for a reason. And so even the things that I wish I could change or maybe am ashamed of or whatever, at the end of the day I’m grateful because it’s led me to where I am today. Right? And so, although in the moment things are difficult and maybe I wish things would’ve turned out differently, whatever. I don’t really regret anything because it’s made me who I am. It’s led me to where I am. And I know that there’s a bigger plan above all of it. And so, yeah.
Sue Bonzell:
So we got to get you the t-shirt, hashtag no regrets.
Chase Wright:
No regrets across the chest.
Sue Bonzell:
Right across the top.
Chase Wright:
Yeah.
Sue Bonzell:
All right. Well thank you for playing the game with me.
Chase Wright:
Absolutely. Thank you.
Sue Bonzell:
And playing your song and being here to chat with us.
Chase Wright:
Yeah.
Sue Bonzell:
So make sure you guys go follow Chase Wright on all the socials. Go download the album. Intertwined is the name of it. So go get it. Every single song on it.
Chase Wright:
Thank you. Thank you.
Sue Bonzell:
Really good. Thank you so much.
Chase Wright:
Thank you, guys.
Sue Bonzell:
Thanks for tuning in to Up N Country, where we have new episodes every Tuesday. And be sure to visit UpNCountry.com for all of the episodes and information about our VIP club, where you’re going to get exclusive backstage access. And if you’re on Instagram or TikTok, make sure to follow me, Sue Bonzell. I’ll see you next week.
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