LEE BRICE

July 24, 2022

At the dawn of the 2010s, a time when mainstream country teemed with buff hunks singing party-hearty anthems, Lee Brice offered a subtler alternative. Also raised on a combination of contemporary rock and post-Garth Brooks country, Brice gravitated toward craft, not bluster. He wasn’t averse to good times — he had a country hit in 2013 called “Parking Lot Party” — but he specialized in heart-on-sleeve ballads like “A Woman Like You,” “Hard to Love,” “I Drive Your Truck,” and “I Don’t Dance,” Top Ten country singles that showcased his supple, weathered voice and skilled song structure. The latter is what first brought Brice attention in Nashville — he penned songs for Jason Aldean, Tim McGraw, and his idol Brooks — but the former is what turned him into a star in the early years of the 2010s. It also helped him stay on the top of the Country Airplay charts into the 2020s, as he racked up such number one hits as “Rumor,” “One of Them Girls,” and the Carly Pearce duet “I Hope You’re Happy Now.”