Singer/Songwriter Chris Rice Discovers 'What A Heart Is Beating For'

CBN.com NASHVILLE, TN…MAY 9, 2007... Joining the company of artists such as James Blunt, Keith Urban and Kelly Clarkson last year at mainstream Adult Contemporary radio with his first Top 10 single (“When Did You Fall In Love With Me”), Chris Rice continues to head in a fresh direction with his upcoming studio release, What A Heart Is Beating For, hitting stores July 17th on INO/eb+flo Records.

After more than a decade in the music business that brought Dove Awards, sales success and a loyal fan base, the singer/songwriter took a chance with his last album, Amusing, left the security of his longtime label home, partnered with friend/producer Monroe Jones to become co-owner in the innovative imprint eb+flo and joined forces with INO Records.
 
 “I’m more excited about these songs on the project than ever,” says Rice. “I feel like they’ve taken me as a writer into new territory that allowed me to explore different aspects of my own writing and thinking. There aren’t constraints on it.  There aren’t lines in the coloring book that I have to stay in.  I get to put on the page whatever I want. It’s freedom I can’t describe.  I still love God, but He’s given me a new coloring book.”
 
Well known for such hits as “Deep Enough to Dream,” “Clumsy” and “Untitled Hymn (Come to Jesus),” Rice has built a solid career penning literate, colorful lyrics then bringing them to life with his warm, compelling voice. Rice’s last album found him delving deeper into matters of the heart. What emerged was a surprisingly romantic soul with the ability to write songs that made women sigh and men smile knowingly. If “Amusing” revealed his ability to tap more broadly into the range of human experience, then What a Heart is Beating For takes that even further.
 
“Sneakin’ Into Heaven” is quintessential Chris Rice and is making its way to Christian radio as the first single. The song is musically engaging with an upbeat, impossible to resist melody, yet the lyric is deep and spiritually profound.
 
“The whole song started with the concept of borrowing someone else’s halo,” explains Rice. “I just had this image stuck in my head of borrowing someone else’s halo and then just seeing kind of the universal truth behind that.  None of us are good enough to be there. We all get there by borrowing someone else’s perfection.”
 
The follow-up single to the No. 7 mainstream AC hit that remained on the chart for more than six months will be “Lemonade,” which is perhaps the ultimate optimist anthem. The lyric is bursting with visuals of a beautiful sky and the fruits of a positive attitude. We’ve all heard the adage about making lemonade out of lemons, but Rice turns the cliché into a buoyant song that celebrates the resiliency and joy of the human spirit.
 
“What a Heart is Beating For” was produced by Monroe Jones. The title song is a prime example of their creative chemistry. The track soars and swells as the music underscores the poignancy in Rice’s lyric.
 
“It says just take a deep breath and throw open the door, that’s what the heart is beating for,” Rice says. “You are alive and your heart is beating so you can take these risks. Whether it’s romantically and you are connected to somebody and give your whole self to them or whether it’s seeing someone in need. That’s what your heart is beating for, that’s why you are alive.”
 
Rice continues, “It’s my faith that is compelling me to expand, grow and change.  I’m doing this because of how vital and vibrant and important my faith is in affecting every area of my life and affecting how I live my life on the road.  I’m living it out in a new way. The success of ‘When Did You Fall?’ has set me free to do even more of that kind of writing, that kind of music without any hesitations.  I have no hesitation in my mind, my heart or my gut.”

Courtesy of The Media Collective