“Love You Again” Hitmaker Chase Matthew on the Nashville music scene, working with Flo Rida and others

In the span of three years, Tennessee native Chase Matthews has gone from wielding wrenches and pliers to towering guitars, microphones, and massive stages. His song 'Love You Again' is currently at No.11 Bulletin boardon the Country Airplay chart and has 154.9 million official on-demand streams in the US, according to Luminate.

The former ATV engineer 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,” says Matthew Bulletin board. “There are so many great songs that came out of there. Writing isn't something I've done until recently, so to have the opportunity to do it with these two legends… the song came together really quickly, in about 30 minutes.”

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

“Sometimes you can't recreate these things and it's nice to be able to say we 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 Printer's Alley, while Matthew grew up playing drums in his church's youth band. He started writing songs at the age of 12 and releasing covers at the age of 15. He dropped out of high school and balanced his work as an engineer with making music.

Early on, other Nashville-area locals 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 tragic song “County Line” after the breakup, which immediately gained traction on the platform, gaining almost one million views. Matthew followed with his six song EP County linereleased via Upchurch's Holler Boy Records, in association with ONErpm. “County Line” currently has 242.1 million official on-demand streams in the US as of Aug. 29, according to Luminate.

“I wrote that song in my bedroom on a $200 laptop that I bought off Facebook — 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 a part of it along the way. I am grateful for that.”

Matthew released his full album Born for it in 2022 on Holler Boy Records. That same year, he took his major label momentum by joining Warner Music Nashville's roster of artists through a joint venture. Last year, he released the impressive 25 song Come get your memory (via Warner Music Nashville/Chase Matthew Music). This year, he's steadily continued to release music, including a five-track EP Always be mine (with four of the tracks co-written by Matthew). This year, UTA official Matthew also opened shows for Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan, and in 2025 he will join Keith Urban's High and Alive World tour. He also earned his first major music award nomination, in the 2024 People's Choice Country Awards New Artist category.

Bulletin board spoke to Matthew, our country's Rookie of the Month for September, about his early musical experiences, collaborations and goals for the future.

What made Warner Music Nashville your company of choice?

I did what I felt I could do independently at the time and wanted to level up. They jumped on board 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 showed me that they believed in me. I wanted to hear myself on the radio, not an independent station, although that's awesome. I wanted to turn on the radio in New York and hear myself played there. I met with a lot of labels… and they believed in me more than anyone else in town. They didn't try to change anything about me. It's definitely the Nashville artist label, I'd say.

This year you released the EPs We all Grow and Always be mine. Is there another project in the works?

I probably have 300 songs on my phone just begging to be released. I have another album coming out next year. It's going to be some really good songs and I'm very picky about what ends up on this project.

Will there be any collaborations on this album?

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

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

This dude was my childhood. This is the guy we'd listen to on our barely functioning MP3 players with our Dollar General headphones while riding our bikes. Someone from my team told me that they were looking for a partnership in the country. I recorded a vocal on the song and they liked it. I was like, “Does that mean we can put the song out together?” And here it is.

Later today, we're going to the lake to shoot some content for the song to promote it. We'll show him how to throw a boat party, redneck style. I have never met him. We've been Instagramming a bit here and there, but I'm excited about the final product.

Your song “Darlin'” is getting a lot of attention. What is the story behind it?

We wrote this song sitting in a casino and we had a few days to kill out west because we didn't want to drive back to Nashville. Me, my light guy and my guitar player started writing this song and we brought it back to Nashville, I finished it with my producer, Alex Maxwell. It just became everyone's heartbreak anthem. I'm thankful we wrote it that day. I lost a lot of money [that day] but he 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've always seen live shows, but probably my first concert was this concert in Nashville that they call WinterJam every year. They bring all these Christian music artists to the Bridgestone Arena. I remember seeing BarlowGirl there. I was a big fan of them at the time—and I mean, because he was a young boy who saw three beautiful 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 have a fight with the jeep and the CD was still in it. He had “The Diary of Jane” and that album was great.

What podcast or book have you been into lately?

I don't really keep up with anyone, but I love Theo Von. It sets the bar for this industry. One day, I hope to end up meeting this guy, meet him and tell him myself how much I love his stuff.

Outside of music, what are some of your goals?

I intend to make my mark. I want to buy 100 acres and start building this family farm. Some people, some artists in the city, grew up on a farm. My family never owned a farm, but I want to have this property that my grandchildren and great-grandchildren can come to someday. I want to create a pedigree. I think that's something we all need to focus a little bit more on, what we're going to leave behind for the next generation — and not just our family, but the world.