(chasebryant.com/bio / January 2024)
There are at least 12 cities by the name of Summerville in the United States. But for Chase Bryant only the community of 50,000 residents outside of Charleston, South Carolina qualifies for naming his latest EP. Because it is the hometown of his wife Selena Weber.
It is the follow-up project to his debut album "Upbringing", which was released in July of 2021, well over 2 1/2 years ago. There is an understandable disappointment resonating, when he talks about the response to his last project. "I always felt like Upbringing was never really given the time of day just because of things that happened internally and so on and so forth", Chase Bryant says in a conversation with people.com. "I could never turn the damn lights on it."
That is going to change. As with the concept for "Upbringing", there is a larger vision behind the new project. Because "Summerville" is only the first of a total of 5 EPs, that are scheduled to be released over the course of the next 12 months. Each one of them will have a title that either references a place where the music originated or one that has a larger meaning in the life of Chase Bryant.
"I felt strongly that we couldn’t sit on this body of work forever", he said at shorefire.com. "We all collectively wanted to get the music out, and thankfully found a way to spread it all out over this year."
That makes "Summerville" the first building block. It holds 6 songs, all of which Chase Bryant wrote together with other songwriters. The overall impression is that of a modern, but not over-produced record, which shines not only with groove and rock elements, but most of all with a lot of passion and heart and soul.
"I made this record in a little bedroom studio in our house and I was just
trying to get back into my rock and roll roots. I wanted it to feel like it
was just a bunch of kids sitting around, playing rock and roll and having a
good time", he says on his
Homepage
about the intentions for "Summerville". After very difficult times (with thoughts of suicide), the town of Summerville has also become a healing place.
With an intro reminiscent of Bruce Springsteen's 'I'm On Fire', there is a reason for 'She's Just Like That' sitting in the center of the EP. It is a love declaration to the woman he has been married to since the fall of 2022. Vibrant, easygoing and infectious.
She's like that song stuck in your head,
Highway stars that fall out
west.
If it's the best you've ever had,
she's just like that.
(She's Just Like That / Chase Bryant, Neil Medley, Paul Sikes)
The beginning of the EP however is marked by the driving 'I Still Do', the lyrics of which actually are full of nostalgia and memories of happy times gone by. But the musical production with its changes in tempo and the dominating guitar does not convey any bitterness. Instead it allows for a passionate fall back into memories of yesterday.
I still drink too much, get to thinkin' 'bout us.
And I wonder why we
ever broke up.
I still drive down Main, ain't a damn thing changed,
'cept
you ain't here in this truck.
(I Still Do / Chase Bryant, Ryan Beaver, Joe Clemmons)
While the poppy 'Over You By Now' is definitely catchy, it somehow does not
fit the overall tone of the EP, with its theme of a relationship breakup not fully overcome yet. Instead the next track ('Don't Forget About Me') clearly stands out as one of the 2 biggest highlights on the project. At
first glance it is a simple request at a failed love to not forget him entirely. But beneath the
surface of a hopefully shimmering guitar line, deeper emotions lie, turning it into an appeal to
the wider music industry.
"There was a time, from 2015 to 2017 or so, where there were a lot of us! Every guy in town played guitar and had a pair of skinny jeans in their closet", Chase Bryant describes the songs' origin. "[But this] is me trying to show, ‘Here’s what I do, and it’s not just one thing.’ It’s the most mature piece of music that I’ve recorded yet. It started this EP and became the song that I wanted to center everything around."
Sometimes forever ain't meant to last.
I was part of your plan, now I'm
part of your past.
I know right now you don't wanna look back,
somewhere
at the end of your road,
no matter how far you go.
I just want you
to know,
if you ever need someone,
don't forget about me.
(Don't Forget About Me / Chase Bryant, Tommy Lee James)
But Chase Bryant saves the most impressive song for the end of "Summerville". Because 'I Still Do' is not only production-wise stirringly implemented, but the words in it also know how to touch. They can be understood as the wishes of a father for his son, who is only at the beginning of his life's journey. But there is also a deeper, autobiographical level from which the song draws its power.
"That song was a risk for me because basically, I'm talking to myself as a kid", says Chase Bryant, thereby allowing deeply personal insights into his inner self. "I'm just trying to tell that kid that I hope you get everything I never did. I hope that life isn't as hard on you as it was on me. It’s just a note to that kid in that picture that sits on my desk now. That's what that is."
It is as if this hopeful end to the project also represents his own realization when he asserts: "I don't wish my life turned out any different than it did. I think I used to. I don't now."
That house it ain't no home,
always in that room alone,
beat that
guitar to the bone,
learned every song on the radio.
I know you wanna
run so bad,
hit that road, never look back.
'Cause there was a time
when I was you,
and I never did but I hope you do.
twenty-five feels like the end.
You're gonna do some things,
that I swear boy, you'll never wanna do again.
Don't forget where you came from
but find your place out in the sun.
Make some noise and make it loud.
Don't stop 'til you make us proud.
(I Hope You Do / Chase Bryant, Andrew Stoelzing, Nate Miles)
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