The Morning Brew with Chris Bennett

420 Million Streams Independently?! Chase Wright Joins The Morning Brew

Chris Bennett Episode 265

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Today’s episode of The Morning Brew with Chris Bennett & Best Friends is packed with giveaways, chaos, laughs, and an incredible conversation with one of country music’s biggest rising independent artists.

We start the show by spinning the wheel and calling our Diamondbacks Mother’s Day ticket winner… but after some phone issues, we thought we might have to move on to the next name 👀

Then we give away even MORE Diamondbacks tickets with a special Mother’s Day edition of Fun Fact or Fake Fact.

Later on, we welcome today’s Country Climb Star of the Week, Chase Wright — sent our way by Austin Burke and The Playlisted Podcast. Huge thank you to Austin and The Playlisted Podcast for continuing to introduce us to amazing independent country artists.

Today is a huge day for Chase as he drops his third studio album, “Chasing Shadows,” and Q Country gets to become the FIRST country radio station to play his brand new song “Chasing Shadows.”

Chase talks about:
🎶 Learning guitar on a $20 garage sale guitar
🎶 Leaving behind a corporate finance job
🎶 Moving to Nashville in 2019
🎶 Building over 420 MILLION streams independently
🎶 The emotional story behind “Chasing Shadows”
🎶 The highs and lows of chasing a music career

It’s a fun, inspiring, and chaotic Friday episode of The Morning Brew 😂

Keep Pushing Through The Lows

SPEAKER_01

And the lows are low, but I promise you just keep pushing, pushing through. I'm I like feel like that the people that really make it, and it's part of me, the people that really make it in this uh town are the ones that just never, never give up. And I feel like, you know, every everybody talks about this being a ten-year town. And when I first moved here, I was, you know, three years in, two years in, and I had song going viral on whatever TikTok, and I was on all these big playlists, and I was, I was like, you know, and I was like that is Chase, right?

Mother’s Day Tickets Giveaway Chaos

SPEAKER_04

Today's Country Climb star of the week. Hello, best friends. It is me, Chris Bennett, and we got a fun show for you today. First, we start things off with a little chaos. Of course, why wouldn't we? Because uh that's basically the theme of my life. We did a huge social media giveaway for some diamondback tickets on Mother's Day against the New York Mets. We spun the wheel, called the winner, and I had some phone issues. I uh thought we might have to move on to the next name, but thankfully today's winner called back just in time. Then we gave away some more diamondback tickets to Saturday's game with a little fun fact or fake fact, Mother's Day edition. And later on, uh, we talked to today's country climb artist sent our way from Ostenberg in the playlisted podcast, Chase Wright. And today is a huge day for Chase because his third studio album, Chasing Shadows, just dropped. And we got to be the first country radio station to play his brand new song, Chasing Shadows. Uh, it's uh pretty awesome. We talked about his journey from learning guitar on a$20 uh garage sale guitar to becoming one of the biggest independent success stories in country music with over 420 million streams worldwide. Let's get the show started. Chris Bennett and the Morning Brew. Good morning, it's the Morning Brew. Is this Lila? Yes, it is. Oh, Lila, I was getting so scared. I had technical difficulty with my phone, and then I called and went to voicemail, and your voicemail is full. So I wasn't even able to leave a voicemail. But did you uh enter to win four tickets to the Diamondbacks game on Mother's Day on my Chris Bennett comedy pages?

SPEAKER_03

Yes, I did.

SPEAKER_04

Heck yes. Whack smack. I love my diamondbacks. Where are you from? What city are you in?

SPEAKER_03

I'm in Lakeside.

SPEAKER_04

Heck yeah. Uh well, are you uh are you a mama or you have a mama?

SPEAKER_03

I am and I have a mom.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, heck yes. Well, Lila, congratulations. You got in just under the buzzer. You won four tickets to the Diamondbacks game on Mother's Day. Take me out to the ball game, buy her some peanuts and cracker jacks. You're going to cheer for the Diamondbacks, I hope.

SPEAKER_03

Yes, thank God.

SPEAKER_04

Yes, awesome. Well, Lila, congratulations on winning four tickets to uh the Mother's Day Diamondbacks game. What radio station hooked you up? Q Country 925.

SPEAKER_03

Q Country 925.

Fun Fact Or Fake Fact Game

SPEAKER_04

There you go. Heck yes! You are caller number three. Who's this? Lacey. Lacey! Where are you from, Lacey? Snowflake. Lacey from Snowflake calling to win six tickets to the D-Backs first Mets this Saturday. All you have to do is play this fun game called Fun Fact or Fake Fact. Uh, you gotta get three out of five right. You get three right, you win the tickets. Um if you don't get three right, you lose. All right. Good luck, best friend. It is Mother's Day, so we're gonna do real fact or fake fact, Mother's Day edition. Real fact or fake fact. The founder of Mother's Day later tried to cancel it. Is that a fun fact or a fake fact? Fun fact. That is a fun fact. There you go. She's got one right. She's gotta get two more right. Yeah, uh Anna Jarvis, uh, she uh became furious when companies turned it into a commercial holiday and she tried to cancel it. All right. Uh let's see. Fun fact or fake fact. Mother's Day was almost called National Mom Appreciation Day. Mother's Day was almost called National Mom Appreciation Monday. Oh, sorry, National Mom Appreciation Monday. Fun fact or fake fact?

unknown

Fake fact?

SPEAKER_03

That is a fake fact. Holy moly.

SPEAKER_04

You must have had your Wheaties this morning because you are on it. All right. Fun fact or fake fact, Mother's Day is one of the busiest restaurant days of the year.

SPEAKER_03

Ooh.

SPEAKER_04

Fun fact or fake fact. A fun fact. It is a fun fact, that's right. Moms don't want to cook on their Mother's Day. Yeah, yeah. And even if uh if someone else cooks, they probably don't clean the dishes. So yeah, take mom out to eat uh this Mother's Day. You went three for three, Lacey. Congratulations. You won six tickets. Can you use all six? I can use all six. Heck yeah, you're going to see the Diamondbacks this Saturday against the New York Mets. What radio station hooked you up?

SPEAKER_03

Your country ninety five.

Meet Chase Wright And Rapid Fire

SPEAKER_00

You know it. Chris Bennett's Country Climb, Star of the Week.

SPEAKER_04

It is now time for our country climb! Star of the week, baby! And we got another artist sent our way from our best friend, Austin Burke, and the playlisted podcast. This artist has quietly become one of the biggest independent success stories in country music. In 2019, he moved to Nashville, bent on himself, stayed fully independent, and now has over 420 million. You heard that correct, 420 million streams worldwide. And today is a huge day because he drops his third album today. We're gonna be playing his song Chasing Shadows this morning. Please welcome Chase Wright.

SPEAKER_01

Dude, I can have you follow me around everywhere, man. That was the most electric opening I've ever had in my life. Thank you for having me, man.

SPEAKER_04

Absolutely, dude. What an amazing uh day. Before we get into your country climb, I usually like to start with some rapid fire questions, but today's a huge day. Your third album drops.

SPEAKER_01

What's that feeling like? Dude, I am so happy it's finally here. I feel like so much, so many months of preparation and and I mean years of writing and just all culminates to today when this record comes out. So I'm so excited that it's finally here, finally out, ready to get this out into the world. Because I mean I've been hearing these songs for months, if not years, at this point. So I'm really fired up that everybody else gets too, also.

SPEAKER_04

Sweet, man. We can't wait to play your new song uh on Q Country here in a little bit. Uh, but we're gonna have some fun with some rapid fire icebreaker questions. What's more stressful, releasing a new album or being in the public bathroom and realizing there's no toilet paper?

SPEAKER_01

Oh man, thankfully I've never had to deal with the public bathroom, no toilet paper situation. But I've thought about it because I've heard stories and I don't know what I would do in that situation, but I promise you it would not be good. I think I might just be going home with a with one less sock or something, you know.

SPEAKER_04

And since you've lived in Nashville since 2019, what's the most Nashville thing you've started doing that you didn't do when you were an Indiana boy? Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01

Wow. You know what? Go to a rooftop bar. Indiana couldn't even dream of a rooftop bar. In Nashville, it's like the only thing to do that's like super cool, you know, and not so like touristy. And so we we uh find ourselves on a Friday night at a rooftop bar having a little you know drink or two, and that's something I did not do before coming here. What's uh one thing about Indiana that you miss? Uh probably family. I know that's sentimental and that's you know, but all my family's there, and I'm the only one that like moved away. And so uh probably just miss missing family, and um, thankfully I'd get back to see them a couple times a couple times a year. If you weren't making music, what would you be doing? Man, I would love to say like be like a race car driver or something. If I could have a dream job that wasn't music, I'd love to drive race cars, but realistically, I would probably just be running some business. I'm like such a businessman through and through, and I feel like if I wasn't doing music, I'd be running some other business somewhere doing something.

SPEAKER_04

And you've had over 420 million streams on your music independently, baby. Was there ever a moment where you looked at your phone and thought, uh the this this can't actually be happening?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, no, definitely. I think it was maybe when my first record came out, or yeah, when my when my very first record came out in 2021, I believe, maybe it was 2022, I don't know, a couple years ago now. But I was I was looking and in what is it, Spotify allows you to see like real-time stats. And it's one of the only apps that allows you to see real-time stats. And I just remember seeing there was like 1,500 people listening to my to my record at that very moment. And the record had already, you know, accumulated through the singles I'd put out, like 30 or 40 million streams, like when the record. It was just like, I was like, what is happening? 1,500 people at this very second, you know, are listening to this new like record. And I only had 10, 10 songs out at the time, you know, and so that was one of those like sort of pinch-me moments, like, man, this is really happening.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, that I mean, being an independent artist can't be easy. What advice would you give to other independent artists?

SPEAKER_01

Man, yeah, being an uh independent artist, like fully like, because I like technically like some of these big artists that you hear are independent because it's not a major label. I got no sort of label, you know, and and so I think that just comes with wearing a lot of like hats. Like I had to learn how to use Photoshop, learn how to use all these video editing software. I bought a camera to shoot my own video. It's just you have to wear so many hats. And I feel like 80% of my day is spent doing everything but writing or singing, you know? And so I think when it just comes to being an independent artist, you gotta be the owner of your business, you gotta be the leader of your like team, and you have to be prepared to wear all these hats and honestly love to do it. And if you don't, then maybe being an indie artist isn't for you, and you should go find you know a label team that could help you with those different you know services. But I just love the game. I love doing all this stuff, although it is a lot of work at times, you know. But um, but yeah, man, just that I feel like the hats are never ending.

SPEAKER_04

And last question will be the hardest one to ask you all day. If you had one country song to request the rest of your life that wasn't your own, what country song are you picking and why?

SPEAKER_01

Oh man, I would have to say something off of the Sam Hunt Montevello album. And I don't know, I'd probably say, man, probably make you miss me off of the Sam Hunt that that his uh first first record. It's just a ballad that I always go back to, and I feel like it just hasn't gotten old. I've been listening to it consistently since for like the last 10, 11 years, and it still is just so good.

SPEAKER_04

And today's a big day for Chase because he just dropped his third album. Holy moly, what's it feel like waking up on release day knowing that your new album is out and uh being distributed to the world?

SPEAKER_01

It's honestly the biggest like weight off my shoulders. I feel like this is something I've been preparing for for like months and months, and I've just so much work has gone into this whole project with all the videos and all the you know, the interviews and the connections and trying to just make sure everybody knows that this project is coming out, you know. And and uh now that it's now that it's out, it's like maybe I could take a day off or something. No, I can't take a day off. I'm actually going to LA this weekend because we got a pretty fun thing planned out there for the record. And so you I, you know, you would you would like think like, oh, it's here, maybe I could take a day and just take it in. No, work keeps on moving. So here we are.

SPEAKER_04

And this is your third studio album. How does this project feel different than the other two?

Nashville Lessons And Pinch Me Moments

SPEAKER_01

You know, I feel like this project is when I got my like fire back a little bit. The first album, I was just so new to music, and like I was just making whatever I wanted to make. And then the second record, I kind of lost my way a little bit. I was I was touring a bunch. I wasn't really managing my time well in the writing room because I was playing so many shows and I had a lot of personal life stuff going on. And so I feel like I kind of lost my creative drive for that for that second record, and then I really like found myself again when writing this like third project. And I feel like the honesty in all these like songs, and you can just tell like this true, like authentic songwriting. And I just really loved creating this project, and that's what makes me so proud to put it out. Is like I just I just feel like so proud of this project just due to its you know create creativity compared to what you know I was I was making a couple years ago and I kind of lost lost my like drive a little bit.

SPEAKER_04

When did music first like take a big hold of you and a big part of your life?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I mean, I was so I picked up guitar for the first time in my freshman year of college. My dad surprised me with this$20 garage sale guitar because I had mentioned to him that, you know, hey, I think I might want to try to learn this. Like, I don't know. And he was, he just, he just got it for me. And that's like funny to think. Like, if he had never got me that, would I have ever bought my own? Probably not, because I was a college kid with zero dollars, right? But so I just started learning guitar in college and teaching myself on YouTube and all that stuff. And and one of my buddies in in college played guitar really well, but he didn't, you know, you know, sing. And I was posting a couple little videos of me trying to play guitar and sing, and he was like, How about this? I play guitar and you just sing, and we'll go make a couple hundred bucks at the bar by just singing cover songs. And I was like, I don't know, like I haven't really sang in public like ever. I'm pretty nervous, you know, whatever. And he just signed us up without me even really knowing. And he's like, All right, we got three weeks to learn three hours worth of music. I was like, What? So every day during during lunch, we would go and we would practice songs for like 45 minutes or whatever. And um, and so yeah, that kind of got me into that sort of performance space, and then I started working a like corporate finance job. I was working, and I was just the most riveting work you've ever seen. And uh, and it was in that that moment that I was like, man, this corporate life is not really for me. And I had a year and a half left of college, and I was like, you know, I'm gonna try what I can, I'm gonna do do what I can and try to make this music thing work in this last year and a half. And that's when I really dove in. I started doing all the social media every day. I was posting, I was really diving in into that and really trying to make it make it work. And one thing led to another, and we ended up in Nashville and we're doing it.

SPEAKER_04

Heck yeah. So you had a year and a half left to school. Was that when and then so 2019? Did you move like right after you graduated college?

SPEAKER_01

Or yeah, it I uh graduated in May and then three weeks later moved. And so um I had already signed a publishing deal in Nashville at that time. My uh this this this guy who ended up being my uh first manager uh found me on Instagram, found a video that I that I'd posted and reached out to me and asked me to come to a songwriters workshop that this uh company in uh Nashville was posting or hosting. And so I went to this songwriters work workshop, led by a hit you know, songwriter, and and got to meet my first co-writers in Nashville, but also met him and got to know him a little bit. And um we just started working together from that point on. And I um was coming down my last year of college a week every every month, and I was crashing on his uh couch and I was writing a bunch of songs, like 12 hour days for that full week, and then would go back to college. Next month, do it all over again. And we did that until I graduated, then moved to Nashville and started doing it full time and put out music about a year after that.

SPEAKER_04

Man, 2019, we're now 2026, three albums released. Did you imagine that things would grow this quickly?

SPEAKER_01

Oh my gosh. No, and it's and it's like funny because when you like say that, when I'm in the like trenches, I don't really see it for what it is. You know, it's like when I'm working, I'm like, okay, what's next, what's next, what's next? And I'm always trying to one up the last thing, right? I'm just trying to always, you know, grow and which I feel like that like you know, competitive drive is what keeps me going. But also it's not really the most healthy mentally at times, right? And so um, no, I I mean I I've talked to so many people about this recently. Like, all I wanted was to be able to like live off of making money from music. And and I've been able to do that since I moved to town, which I'm super, super grateful for. And it's like that's that was my only goal going into this whole music journey was like, what if this could be my full-time job? You know, and so I can't lose sight of that, right? Because that's what that's all that I really wanted, you know. And I and it's like, but still, some days I wake up and I'm so frustrated with how things are going or whatever. But like I'm living the dream that I wanted when I was working at a really bad desk desk job, you know? Right. And what's the biggest lesson you've learned since moving to Nashville? Man, the highs are high and the lows are low, but I promise you just keep pushing, pushing through. I'm I like feel like that the people that really make it, and it's part of me, the people that really make it in this uh town are the ones that just never, never give up. And I feel like, you know, every everybody talks about this being a 10-year town. And when I first moved here, I was, you know, three years in, two years in, and I had song going viral on whatever TikTok, and I was on all these big playlists, and I was, I was like, you know, and I was like two years in, and I and I was like, 10-year town, come on. Well, now I'm on year seven, and I completely get why it's a 10-year town. So it's just about, you know, highs are high, lows are low, but you keep sticking it out, and I promise something, something will happen.

SPEAKER_04

And what's been your biggest pinch me moment uh of this whole journey?

A $20 Guitar To Moving To Nashville

SPEAKER_01

Man, I would say probably hear my hear my song on uh on uh Sirius XM radio. And I know that's you know, you guys are you know different different than different than that, but I think just the like thought of hearing it on you know radio for the first time, or you know, hearing it being played somewhere without me pressing play, right? That's something that never gets gets old. And I love that you're giving people the chance and even giving me the chance that I've never heard this song that y'all are gonna play later on the like radio, right? And so you guys will be the be the first people to play this. And and that feeling never gets old. To hear a song of yours out in the wild without you pressing play is something that like when that when that first happened, that pinch me moment, I was like, holy crap, like this is like for real. Like millions or hundreds of thousands of millions of people are hearing this song right now and I didn't play it.

SPEAKER_04

And how would you describe your sound uh to people that are just learning about Chase Wright?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I mean, I just always loved like the the high energy, you know, bands and songs. And so I think when it comes to like sonically, you know, how my music sounds, I think that I've always tried to have this energy to it, you know. Like when I go out and play, you know, shows and concerts and stuff like that, like I'm trying to bring energy from top to bottom. We have a little bitty break in the like middle where I play some sad songs and then I'm right back into the, you know, it's just I just love that. It's just it's just fun. So I really try to have that like energy in everything that I uh do. But also, I feel like my like music is just very, very honest. You know, I'm not trying to chase pardon, man. I'm not I'm not trying to chase any sort of you know sound or topic or whatever. I'm just writing truly what I want to talk about and what I want to get off my uh chess. And so I think between blending that honesty and that high energy energy, I feel like that's just what you get and what you hear whenever you listen to my uh music.

SPEAKER_04

We are back with Chase Wright, today's Country Climb star of the week, and we're honored to have him as his third album drops today. And we're gonna play one of those songs from this third album, and uh, I'm honored for uh to be the first radio station to play it. Um this song's called Chasing Shadows. Tell us the story behind the song and uh how did it come about?

Writing Chasing Shadows And First Play

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so I this is one of the last songs that I wrote. I think probably the second to last song I wrote for the like the project. We we didn't have a title track yet. I didn't know what I wanted the project to be to be called, and but I was so tired. Well, first of all, I the the like the subject matter of the album was this like breakup album and all the difficult things that I've gone through in the last couple of years and just sort of getting that off my like chest, right? But I was so tired of writing like sad, like you know, angry breakup songs. And I was like, I need something that feels good. I still want to say something, you know, like we weren't good for each other and all this stuff, but like I want to make it feel a little bit, a little bit lighter, you know? And so I really went into the writing room that day with this like title Chasing Chasing Shadows, and just about how something looks looks real, and no matter how much you try to run after that thing that looks real, you're never gonna be able to touch it. And so just coming in with that and being like, hey, I think there's something cool here, this image of chasing shadows, and and but I like want it to be fun. I want it to be like a very stomp, clappy, up tempo, like summer feeling song. I'm tired of writing these sad, emotional, like rock heavy songs. And so yeah, we just we just started writing, and the song turned out so well. And I was like, man, this isn't even like just a song on the record, this might be The name of the record because it's such a cool like title and image, and like you could do some cool stuff with like the shadows and all this stuff for the cover. And so, yeah, I mean that was just sort of how it came to be, and it was a it was like something that I was holding on to for these like writers that I thought would really, really get it. And I mean, they knocked it out of the park. And since then, we've written a bunch of other like songs together, and it's like one of those one of those groups that I feel like I'm gonna get a lot of good stuff every time we we've gone in, we got some really good stuff.

SPEAKER_04

Heck yeah, well, I can't wait to play it right now for the first time on country radio. That's right, you're hearing it on our small town station. This is big time, buddy. All right, this is Chase Wright, and this is his new song from his third studio album that just came out today. This is Chasing Shadows on Q Country 925.

SPEAKER_02

We were running after something, we got close but couldn't touch it. Over time, the lies would finally come alive. We got too far down the road to change our minds and let it go. So I tried to ride it out and save my pride. You fuss a dead in every time. Yeah, we fucked up smiles, baby face and love and they're not excuses, season level, being laughed, unfortunately, all the stars, opening that's all the way we are in every time.

SPEAKER_04

Holy moly chase, that was amazing. How did it feel to hear uh your song off your new album played on the country radio for the first time?

SPEAKER_01

I didn't know the song could sound so good, you know? No, I'm just kidding. No, I mean that was that was uh that was really, really cool. I mean, no, it does not get better than than that. I know I uh talked about it, you know, earlier, but uh yeah, I mean, I feel like all that you'd like dream uh dream about as a uh kid is having having your song on the radio. And so super, super grateful for for that. And uh you know, I think it's I think it sounds pretty pretty good on the radio. I don't know, I don't know.

SPEAKER_04

Oh dude, I love that song, and uh I know there's a lot of other great songs on that album. If there's two other songs that uh people should check out, either from that album or just from your uh your repertoire, what songs would you recommend they check out other than Chase and Shadows?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so Chase Chase and Shadows the title, the title track, super fun. Um, but I think off this this record that just came out, I think um a song called Find Find Myself. That that one I feel like is really, really cool. And I feel like really um you know, wraps up the entire idea and theme of the record really, really, really, really well. And I think that this last song is It Was Always You, which is the first track on the album. If you're listening to the album from top to bottom, it's the very first one. And that's just a you know song that was the first one that I put out and it came at such a great time for me because I needed it the most, you know, I needed it the most when it like came out. I needed people to respond to it like they did to keep me, you know, motivated and going because I was going through such a low personally and like and like professionally, and it really jumpstarted things again for me. And um, and you know, and just how it sort of touched people and how people have resonated with that. Um, that one really, really does mean mean a lot to me. And so I think it was it was always you find myself and chasing shadows. If you only got nine minutes of your time, those are the three songs you need to be checking out.

SPEAKER_04

Heck yeah, and you know what, everyone should go download the whole album so you can hold all the great songs. Chasing shadows, and how can people follow you uh and your journey and support you?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I'm everywhere on everything at Chase Write Music, and that's W-R-I-G-H-T. Um, Chase Write Music, and you can find me everywhere. And I got yeah, I got 30 something songs out now, and so uh you ho you'll have you'll have a couple hours of listening.

SPEAKER_04

Heck yeah. Well, thanks so much for uh spending some time with us on your release date. Congratulations. And uh you have a home here on Arizona Radio at Q Country. So as you have new music coming out, we want to continue to be some of the first station that uh gets to play your music. Thank you so much. Appreciate you guys so much for having me. This has been Chase Wright. He is today's Country Climb star of the week.

SPEAKER_00

Come on. Chris Bennett's Country Climb, star of the week.

SPEAKER_04

That was a juicy episode today, best friends. Huge thank you to Chase Wright for being today's Country Climb star of the week. Make sure you go check out his brand new third studio album, Chasing the Shadows, streaming everywhere now, and give him a follow on social media to keep up with his country climb. And congratulations again to all of today's Diamondback Ticket winners. If you want to win tickets and be a part of future giveaways, make sure you're following me at Chris Bennett Comedy on all social media platforms so you can find out about all the juicy giveaways before anyone else. And don't forget, our morning brew anniversary bash is happening May 16th at the House in Sholo. We'll have live music all day. Austin Burke performing that night and our cornhole tournament presented by Horn Auto Center, benefiting three E snacks. So grab your partner, get signed up now at ChrisBennettComedy.com. Thank you so much for hanging out with us today, best friends. We'll be back Monday with more chaos, more laughs, and probably more things going off the rails. And if you enjoyed today's episode, please share it with a friend. That's how this little community keeps growing. For the morning brew, I'm Chris Bennett, reminding you to be nice to yourself, be nice to others, and don't be jerk. Bye.