CHASE MATTHEW - Backroads Of My Mind - Warner Music Nashville

Though he certainly had established a huge independent following prior to this past year, Chase Matthew has risen his stock to even greater heights with his GOLD-certified single “Love You Again” and an unapologetic willingness to challenge his modern edged sound into fresh, new territory as evident with recent songs such as “Saltwater Cinderella.”

Following a double shot of two EP releases, Always Be Mine and We All Grow Up, the People’s Choice Country Award nominee for New Artist of 2024 continues his streak of ultra-hot releases with his new single, “Backroads Of My Mind.”

Written by Casey Brown, Zach Beeken, Colton Pack, Garrett Nichols, and Parker Welling, over a haunting moodiness within its instrumentation Chase positions the emotional tugs of his vocal into the missing you pain he’s feeling as he can’t escape the memories of what used to be, cleverly crafting the idea of her shotgun riding ghost driving him to a dead end backroad while mentally torturing him into a stuck place with a nowhere destination.

Bringing us into the cab of his truck during a late-night drive as he tries to distract his mind from the tumbling thoughts of her, he laments in the opening verse that “I got the radio up, I swear that I can hear you,” while using the second half of the song to place her in the driver’s seat where she drags his thoughts through the low-down while navigating him to his destined fate, “You ain't gonna stop 'til I'm all the way broke down.”

Reaching a crescendo moment of his battling internal emotions smashing together in a conflicting recipe of frustration and acceptance, Matthew slides into the chorus with intriguingly clever wordplay and an audible waver in his voice that points the headlights straight at his exhausted, failed effort to get her off his mind.

“You're tearing up the backroads of my mind

Your memory is driving me crazy

Ever since the night we said goodbye

It's all I think about, baby

I see you at every turn, every light

Every inch of outskirt red dirt we ride

You cross my heart like a county line

You'rе tearing up the backroads of my mind”

As “Love You Again” continues to ascend the charts and “Darlin’” strikes impact at country radio, Chase Matthew is cranking on all cylinders, consistently delivering pieces of his next chapter while expanding his dynamically modern sound into distinctively unique bends that meet a refreshing familiarity. “Backroads Of My Mind” certainly fits that bill as it anchors the tail end of an already stellar 2024 while whetting the appetite of his fans in a tease of things still to come.

(Review Written By: Jeffrey Kurtis)