Chase Bryant Is Back with a Sonic Stunner Called “Summerville”: 'I Wanted to Have Fun Making a Record Again' (Exclusive)

"I made this record in a little bedroom studio in our house just trying to get back into my rock and roll roots," the country musician tells PEOPLE

Life is nothing short of bliss for Chase Bryant right now.

"I'm down here in south Texas, on the family's hunting land," Bryant, 30, tells PEOPLE over the hum of an apparent engine. "I've got my hunting buddy with me and we're driving around in my uncle's truck, just having a good time."

His "hunting buddy" also goes by the name of Selena Weber.

"There's a picture that Selena put on my desk of me when I was a little bitty kid," Bryant says of the sweet gesture of his wife, a model and entrepreneur that the country music star married in a hilltop ceremony in Round Mountain, Texas in October of 2022. "She always tells me that when I get down on myself, I just need to realize that all I’m trying to do is make that little kid proud."

Bryant says he looks at that picture every single day.

Related: Country Star Chase Bryant Marries Model Selena Weber in Hilltop Texas Ceremony: See the Photos

And it was this picture and these wise words from Weber that partly inspired Bryant to create his new EP Summerville, set for release Jan. 19.

"I wanted to have fun making a record again," Bryant explains of the EP, which is named after his wife’s hometown of Summerville, South Carolina. "So, we went and made that record."

Certainly, Summerville serves as a somewhat stunning 360 degree turn from Bryant’s critically acclaimed debut album, Upbringing, which was released in 2021 and seemed to have quite a darker tone to it. "I always felt like Upbringing was never really given the time of day just because of things that happened internally and so on and so forth," says Bryant, seemingly referring to label changes and such. "Things happen, people go through seasons, and we got caught in that season."

Related: Chase Bryant Revisits the Pain of His Past on 'High, Drunk and Heartbroke' — 'It's My Story'

But on Summerville, there is a brightness that seems to take over sonically, one that seems to resemble the blissful place that Bryant finds himself within now.

"I could never turn the damn lights on [Upbringing], but I finally feel like I turned the lights back on this time around," says Bryant of his new EP which includes his rock-influenced single, "I Still Do." "I made this record in a little bedroom studio in our house and I was just trying to get back into my rock and roll roots. I wanted it to feel like it was just a bunch of kids sitting around, playing rock and roll and having a good time."

Of course, Bryant’s life thus far has been far from all fun and games, as the country music maker has always been open with his personal mental challenges, including a suicide attempt in 2018. "I named this record Summerville because that's Selena's hometown and that was a place where a lot of the healing from those more difficult times happened," says Bryant, who is set to release a total of five EPS over the course of a year. "And so, a lot of those songs on this new EP started there."

Related: Country Star Chase Bryant Opens Up About Surviving 2018 Suicide Attempt: 'The Best Second Chance'

Perhaps one of the most impactful songs on the record just might be "Hope You Do."

"That song was a risk for me because basically, I'm talking to myself as a kid," says Bryant of the sonic stunner he wrote alongside Nate Miles and Andrew Stoelzing. "I'm just trying to tell that kid that I hope you get everything I never did. I hope that life isn't as hard on you as it was on me. It’s just a note to that kid in that picture that sits on my desk now. That's what that is." He pauses. "I don't wish my life turned out any different than it did. I think I used to. I don't now."

It's an impactful lesson Bryant just might share with his own kids someday.

"Oh, Lord… I mean, we shall see," exclaims Bryant when asked if he and Weber plan to expand their family anytime soon. "We talk about it all the time. It’s something that we're really hoping for. It’s really all about God's timing now. Whenever he thinks the time is right for us. It's something we're very much looking forward to."

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