{"id":15916,"date":"2019-06-13T10:00:43","date_gmt":"2019-06-13T16:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/?p=1807930"},"modified":"2019-06-13T10:00:43","modified_gmt":"2019-06-13T16:00:43","slug":"chase-rice-celebrates-first-no-1-eyes-on-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/music-news\/chase-rice-celebrates-first-no-1-eyes-on-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Chase Rice Celebrates First No. 1, \u201cEyes On You\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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by Edward Morris<\/a><\/span> 22m ago<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n

The Tin Roof saloon, just off Nashville\u2019s Music Row, has the quaint charm of an underground coal mine.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s long, claustrophobically narrow and darker than a security guard\u2019s scowl. But had you been there Tuesday afternoon (June 11), as Chase Rice and his two co-writers celebrated the No. 1 success of Rice\u2019s \u201cEyes On You,\u201d you might have thought you\u2019d stumbled onto an overcast street festival.<\/p>\n

As it turns out, the Tin Roof has some sentimental significance for the celebrants. It was the first bar Rice went to after he arrived in Nashville, and it\u2019s only a few doors down from the studio where the chart-topping song was written.<\/p>\n

While guests adjusted to the futility of trying to order a drink in the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd, Rice and \u201cEyes On You\u201d co-writers, Ashley Gorley and Chris DeStefano stood on the tiny stage at the back of the bar, posing for pictures with various members of the song\u2019s support team that had helped \u201cEyes On You\u201d spend two weeks at No. 1.<\/p>\n

ASCAP\u2019s Beth Brinker hosted the event, which was co-sponsored by BMI, the competing performance rights organization. Gorley and DeStefano are ASCAP members; Rice is affiliated with BMI.<\/p>\n

Brinker reminded the partygoers that Rice had already racked up another No. 1 as a songwriter \u2014 Florida Georgia Line\u2019s \u201cCruise.\u201d She explained that DeStefano, a New Jersey native, had studied screen scoring at Berklee College of Music before setting his sights on country music. To date, Brinker continued, DeStefano has written or co-written 17 No. 1 singles.<\/p>\n

Gorley, she pointed out, is ASCAP\u2019s reigning country songwriter of the year \u2014 an honor he\u2019s held six times. She said that \u201cEyes On You\u201d is his 41st No. 1. Brinker also labelled Gorley \u201ca champion for the songwriting community\u201d for his extensive work in lobbying for songwriter-supportive laws and regulations.<\/p>\n

David Preston spoke for BMI and for Rice as a composer. He said he met Rice at a pool party in Key West. \u201cI felt like I was in the presence of greatness,\u201d he said of that first encounter. Noting that Rice had been runner up on the Survivor<\/em> TV series, Preston said, \u201cHe\u2019s come in first on Survivor: Music Row<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Josh Van Valkenburg, senior vice president of Sony\/ATV Music, which handles Rice\u2019s publishing, took the stage to comment, \u201cIt was never a matter of if [Rice would succeed]; it was a matter of when.\u201d Turning to Rice, he proclaimed, \u201cYou\u2019ve written songs that have changed the trajectory of country music.\u201d<\/p>\n

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