“I hope y’all enjoy my new song ‘Whisper.’ My guys and I have put a ton of work and thought into this new music, and I know a bunch of you out there will love it. Having said that, I’m not ignorant. There are a lot of people out there waiting for country music to find a little more depth and meaning.”
Rice wrote the tune with Chris DeStefano and Jon Nite, and if country music is supposed to tell a story, this is the one “Whisper” tells: Her $75 dress is going to take the night off as it hits the floor, her hair is going to paint the pillow case, and she’s going to answer him with nothing but her body.
There is no denying that it’s a steamy song. And every artist needs one that paints a picture of what happens after the bonfire dies down, the moonshine’s all gone and the tailgates are back up.
In Rice’s letter to his fans, he admits that country music deserves more of that depth, and it will come through on his next album.
“I grew up on guys like Garth Brooks and Kenny Chesney. Songs like ‘The Dance’ and ‘There Goes My Life’ spoke to me at that time and still do today. They helped shape me as an artist and as a man,” Rice wrote. “I cannot speak to the state of country music, after all I’m just one small part of it, but I can speak about my music, and I have a strong desire to put my life stories — good or bad, fun or serious, cliche or not-often-said — into my albums.
”Having said this, I also know I can’t please everybody. If you’re a fan of mine, thank you from the bottom of my heart. If you’re not a fan of mine, you most likely haven’t gotten this far in this letter, but I appreciate you, too, because you, too, give me the drive to maybe one day convert you with three chords and the truth, one song or one show. But since it’s coming from me, it’s going to come to you one album at a time.”
