Music

In the span of three years, Tennessee native Chase Matthew has gone from wielding wrenches and pliers to commandeering guitars, microphones, and massive stages. His song “Love You Again” currently ranks at No. 11 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart and has 154.9 million official on-demand U.S. streams, according to Luminate.

The former ATV mechanic wrote “Love You Again” with co-writers Casey Brown (“I Am Not Okay,” “Blue Tacoma”) and Taylor Phillips (“Thinkin’ ‘Bout Me,” “World on Fire”), at Brown’s home studio near Nashville.

“I call it the Magic Room,” Matthew tells Billboard. “There’s so many great songs that came out of there. Co-writing is not something I’ve done until recently, so to have an opportunity to do that with those two legends … the song came together really fast, in like 30 minutes.”

He further noted that much of the finalized version fans hear on the radio is what they recorded that day as a demo, including his vocals.

“Sometimes you can’t recreate those things and it’s cool to be able to say we just caught something in the moment, and it turned out to be more than good enough,” he says.

Matthew was born in Sevierville, Tennessee and his family moved to Ashland City, just outside of Nashville, when he was three months old. Matthew grew up in a musical family — his parents were both aspiring artists at one point, playing shows in downtown Nashville bars and in Printer’s Alley, while Matthew grew up playing drums in his church’s youth band. He started writing songs at 12 and putting out cover songs at age 15. He dropped out of high school and balanced work as a mechanic with crafting music.

Early on, other Nashville-area natives and members of the music community, including Jelly Roll, Ryan Upchurch and Struggle Jennings, took notice. Matthew, who is managed by Loyd Potts and Ken Madson of Ignition Management, was encouraged to post music on TikTok. His first video, for the searing post-breakup song “County Line,” which immediately gained traction on the platform, earning nearly a million views. Matthew followed with his six-song EP County Line, issued through Upchurch’s Holler Boy Records, in partnership with ONErpm. “County Line” presently has 242.1 million official on-demand U.S. streams through Aug. 29, according to Luminate.

“I wrote that song in my bedroom on a $200 laptop that I got off of Facebook marketplace — it was probably stolen, I don’t even know,” Matthew recalls. “It’s awesome that so many OGs like Ryan Upchurch and Jelly Roll have been part of it along the way. I’m grateful for it.”

Matthew released his full-length album Born for This in 2022 on Holler Boy Records. That same year, he took his momentum to the major labels, joining Warner Music Nashville’s artist roster through a joint venture. Last year, he released the whopping 25-song Come Get Your Memory (via Warner Music Nashville/Chase Matthew Music). This year, he’s steadily continued releasing music, including the five-track EP Always Be Mine (with four of the tracks co-written by Matthew). This year, the UTA-repped Matthew also opened shows for Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan, and in 2025, will join Keith Urban’s High and Alive World Tour. He also earned his first major music award nomination, in the People’s Choice Country Awards’ new artist of 2024 category.

Billboard spoke with Matthew, our September Country Rookie of the Month, about his early musical experiences, collaborations, and his goals for what lies ahead.

What made Warner Music Nashville your label of choice?

I was doing as much as I felt like I could have been doing independently at the time and I wanted to level up. They jumped in with me and — I don’t even know if I’m allowed to say this — I kind of named my deal, and it was cool, because they believed in it and they showed me that they believed in me. I wanted to hear myself on the radio, not an independent-owned station, though that’s awesome. I wanted to turn on the radio in New York City and hear myself being played there. I met with a lot of labels … and they believed in me more than anybody else in town. They haven’t tried to change a thing about me. They’re definitely the artist label of Nashville, is what I would call it.

This year, you released the EPs We All Grow Up and Always Be Mine. Is another project in the works?

I’ve probably got 300 songs on my phone just begging to be released. I’ve got another album that will drop next year. It’s going to be some really good songs and I’m being very selective on what’s going to end up on that project.

Will there be any collaborations on that album?

Yes, there 100% will be. I’m trying to decide what I want to do and which friends I want to reach out to and say, “Hey, man, I want you to be a part of this.” But it’s coming along.

Speaking of collaborations, you have a collaboration with Flo Rida, “Floats Your Boat,” that was just released. How did that come about?

That dude was my childhood. That’s the dude we would listen to on MP3 players that barely worked with our Dollar General earbuds while we were riding our bikes. Someone on my team told me he was looking for maybe a country collab. I recorded a vocal on the song and they loved it. I was like, “Does that mean we get to put the song out together?” And here it is.

Later today, we’re going over to the lake to shoot some content for the song to promote it. We’re going to show him how we throw a boat party, redneck style. I’ve never met the man. We’ve been DMing on Instagram a bit here and there, but I’m just excited about the final product.

Your song “Darlin’” is gaining a lot of traction. What is the story behind that?

We wrote that song sitting in a casino, and we had a couple of days to kill out west because we didn’t want to drive back to Nashville. Me, my lighting guy and my guitar player started writing this song and brought it back to Nashville, finished it up with my producer, Alex Maxwell. It’s just become everybody’s heartbreak anthem. I’m grateful that we wrote it that day. I lost a lot of money [that day] but got a song out of it — and that might be better in the long run.

What is the first concert you remember seeing?

I grew up around live music so I was always seeing live performances, but probably my first concert was this thing in Nashville they have every year called WinterJam. They bring all these Christian music artists to Bridgestone Arena. I remember I saw BarlowGirl there. I was a big fan of them back in the day—and I mean, being a young boy who saw three pretty girls who loved Jesus, why wouldn’t you?

What was the first album you fell in love with?

Breaking Benjamin and Phobia. My brother left a CD in my dad’s Jeep and when I was younger I would go out there and tinker with the Jeep and the CD was still in it. It had “The Diary of Jane” on it and that album was great.

What podcast or book have you been into lately?

I don’t keep up with anybody really, but I love Theo Von. He’s setting the bar for that industry. One day, I hope I’ll end up running into that guy, meeting him and getting to tell him myself how much I like his stuff.

Outside of music, what are some of your goals?

I do plan on making my mark. I want to buy 100 acres and start building that family farm. Some people, some artists in town, they grew up on a farm. My family never had a farm, but I want to have that property that my grandkids and great-grandkids someday can come to. I want to establish a generational imprint. I think that’s something we should all focus a little more on, what we are going to leave behind for the next generation — and not just in our family, but in the world.