CHASE MARTIN Interview- rejecting Ivy Leagues for country music, on Radio Disney, move to Nashville

“Telling my mom was the hardest part. It wasn’t the hardest decision for me. I wanted to take a year off and work on music.”

Chase Martin knew long before anyone else in the world that she wanted to be a musician – perhaps even before she knew she wanted to be one herself. “I was in the fourth grade and there was a talent show coming to my school,” she says of her first ever performance. However there was one small problem: “I had no talent and I only had three weeks to find one.” Chase had never so much as attempted to play or sing a note in her life, nevertheless she signed herself up to sing and play guitar. “I came home and I told my mom I had signed myself up for the talent show at school and I wanted to sing and play guitar in it … she said ‘Chase you don’t sing and you don’t own a guitar.’” Ever the practical young lady, she responded “Well, I’m going to need one.”

Describing her own sound, she refers to herself as a “Country R&B” artist. By way of explanation, you need to understand Chase’s influences. “When my dad would request songs from me to sing and play, it was always country: Miranda Lambert, George Strait, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn,” she explains. “I personally love all genres of music, with Country Music being a favorite, of course, but my biggest musical influences were artists like Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, Alicia Keys and Mariah Carey. Those were my girls. I love to vocally challenge myself and those women set the bar for that.” Marrying these genres and others has lead to Martin’s signature sound, blending the storytelling of country with the vocal stylings of Pop/R&B.