I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go to Hell

Chase Rice puts a vintage picture of his father on the cover of I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go to Hell, a record he calls his "first full album since 2017," a formulation that somehow bypasses a 2021 release that was actually titled The Album. His phrasing underscores how this 2023 LP is a personal one for him, dedicated to a father who died back in 2008 because Rice feels its the first album that would make his dad proud. All this is a shorthand to say that Rice has dialed down the sunny, oversized elements of his music, the traits that served him well when he was writing hits for bro-country pioneers Florida Georgia Line. Rice still sings about good times and booze -- one of the livelier moments on the record is "Bad Day to Be a Cold Beer" -- but theres a melancholy breeze blowing throughout I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go to Hell, a record thats named after a pair of the albums moodier cuts. Rice wears his newly acquired pensive gaze well: he sounds sincere in these stripped-back arrangements. He also sounds good playing with the neo-Southern rockers Read Southall Band and, especially, singing with Boy Named Banjo on "Goodnight Nancy," one of the other rare lighthearted moments on I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go to Hell. If Rice does tend to overcorrect his steering here, heading toward po-faced earnestness, the album nevertheless does point the singer/songwriter in the right direction, toward music that will wear well as he eases into middle age. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine