Chayce Beckham takes healing steps down country road on debut album 'Bad for Me'

Chayce Beckham joins Carrie Underwood in a rare class of "American Idol"-winning country stars who achieved chart-topping success on their debut mainstream releases after their victories.

Yes, "23," one of many of the original songs he sang en route to his "Idol" crown in 2021, hit No. 1 on Billboard's Country Airplay and Mediabase's country radio charts on March 29, one week before his debut album, "Bad for Me," arrives on Friday (via 19 Recordings/Wheelhouse Records/BMG).

The 27-year-old Southern California native's post-"Idol" career does not sound as inspired by the genre's modern traditions that include radio or streaming success.

Classic country's influence

Hearing live fiddles, mandolins, and steel guitars inspires a sense of the spirit that drove artists outside of country's systems and traditions, like Waylon Jennings aiding in fostering the genre's "outlaw" movement in 1975.

And yes, there's a track on his album called "Waylon in '75."

He cites the track's name as an homage to the genre's classic stylings.

There could just as quickly be songs called "Willie in '72," "Cash in '68," or "Merle in '69" on the album, too.

"I didn't feel like ('Bad for Me') needed to be a pop-crossover country album," Beckham continues.

For the recording, he used songwriter Bart Butler — a Texas native known for his work with Jon Pardi — as a producer. He's proud that they created a record that he can, with no skips, listen to from beginning to end.

Creating while emotionally vulnerable

Beckham's slicked-black pompadour and all-black jean outfit are definitely authentic to how he sees himself at this moment in his country career. However, they're also cultural cues meant to conjure the broadest of vibes somewhere between 1960 and 1975 in the genre.

"I've been in some emotionally rough and vulnerable points in my life," Beckham says.

As he continues to speak, his reasoning for couching his art as he does goes past the level typically ascribed to pastiche-driven work that benignly rises to the top. His middle-class approachability is in no way similar to an aggressive trolling of the genre's reach to a lowest common denominator demographic.

"I honestly wasn't healed as a person when I was on 'American Idol,'" Beckham continues.

Yes, two weeks before his "Idol" audition, he was involved in a near-fatal car wreck.

However, his album includes tracks with titles like "Addicted and Clean," "Drink You Off My Mind," "Smokin' Weed and Drinking Whiskey," and "Mama," in which he confesses to his mother having to pick him up from jail and having to support him as an adult — this after she struggled to afford her family a roof over their heads while working as a single, divorced parent during his youth.

"Mama" presents Beckham at his most apologetic and feeling "horrible" for his actions.

"We've gone through so much, but I still respect her — to the point where I couldn't put those feelings into words where a (conversation would suffice). In that song, I wasn't just able to communicate. I, well, we, were able to cry about the past and be grateful for the present," he says.

"Getting comfortable sharing music that talks about my life hurts right now, but I believe that I'm at a place where that will change soon. I'm not at a place where I'll be writing love songs about someone and songs about being a father — it'll take me much longer to get there," Beckham jokes.

'23' and beyond

"23"'s chart-topping success set a precedent for such a soul-baring album.

In a press statement, the ballad is described as being initially written as "a deeply personal depiction of a man's hardships, written during a particularly dark time in his life." Four years later, a song couched in alcohol-soaked heartbreak has become a "lifeline to community and healing" for the artist.

At present, his strongest songwriting process is still based on the day-to-day process of his life. He cites the advice of legendary artist and "American Idol" judge Lionel Richie as informing his acceptance that he's not attempting to reinvent the wheel in the writing room.

"My exact thoughts and feelings are ending up (on paper)," he says. "I'm not trying to create anything beyond feeling relieved that my emotions are off my chest. That's better than feeling like I'm miserably failing at figuring out my life (and its purpose)."

When asked to describe who he'd like to see in the crowd during his spring tour and summer dates with Luke Bryan, he offers an answer that shows how his pain has matured into confidence.

"A lot of people are (at a crossroads) where hearing songs that express the truth of their reality can directly impact their lives," Beckham says. "I'm passionate about (delivering) those songs to people that need to hear them."

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: 'America Idol' winner Chayce Beckham releases debut album 'Bad For Me'