Colt Ford Is Still Grateful for ‘Every Chance’ He Gets in Country Music

Colt Ford’s highly-anticipated new album, ‘Every Chance I Get,’ hits stores today (May 3), and like his previous two releases, it's packed full of southern-style rap tunes. The country rapper from Georgia had no problem compiling the 13-track album, complete with guest vocals from many of his famous friends in music.

"This album is probably the best overall thing I've done yet," Ford tells Taste of Country. "It's kind of like a combination of the first two albums, with a little extra on top. I think I've grown as a songwriter and an artist, and I was able to add some stuff that I've never done before. I hope people are going to like it ... I think they are going to like it."

'Every Chance I Get' features the likes of Tim McGraw, Josh Thompson, Frankie Ballard, Luke Bryan, Trent Tomlinson, Nappy Roots and Nic Cowan, Craig Morgan, Charlie Daniels, Tyler Farr, Danny Boone of Rehab, JB and the Moonshine Band, and Eric Church.

"Everybody on the album with me are people I’m friends with or have always wanted to work with," notes Ford. "If I have a song that I think will fit a particular artist, I'll just call them up or when I see them just say, 'Hey man, I've got a song … what would you think about doing this song with me?' I'll let them check it out. Luckily everyone I've let hear songs have said yes!"

"Truthfully," Ford continues, "I was going to put out a double album when I did [my last album] 'Chicken and Biscuits,' so most of this album was done over a year ago. We recorded like 40 songs and decided not to do the double album. So we did 'Chicken and Biscuits,' and I was going to get on the second part of it and call it 'Second Helpings,' but it just didn't work out. We ended up pushing it back, and I added a few more songs to it. I decided late in the game that I wanted to do some things a little bit different, and then here we are."

The album's first single, 'Country Thang,' features Eric Church belting out the infectious choruses. "Having Eric Church involved with that song is cool because he’s one of my favorite artists," says Ford. "He's super original with a very distinctive voice. You know who it is when you hear him."

‘Country Thang’ was penned by Ford and Nashville writing trio the Peach Pickers, made up of Rhett Akins, Ben Hayslip and Dallas Davidson. "It's just a cool song," Ford says. "It speaks volumes of where I’m from and how I live my life. There’s a lot of folks playing country, and that’s not what I’m doing. This song is real life to me and the guys I wrote it with."

The video for 'Country Thang' stars Davidson singing the choruses, as well as cameo appearances from his fellow Peach Pickers, and James Otto and Ira Dean.

Watch the Colt Ford 'Country Thang' Video

“It's a cool video,” Ford says proudly. “A lot of my videos have been fun and funny, but this one is more of a badass side of me. It's based a little bit off of the ‘Rounders’ movie where there's a high stakes poker game going. I show up and everyone’s playing and it ends up with Dallas and I going back and forth against each other. Dallas goes all in -- even puts his grandfather's knife in, just everything he's got -- and I do the same. I end up beating him and he gets mad, walks off and I end up with all the money from everybody who was at the table. A minute down the road I pick Dallas up and you realize that the other guys have been hustled [laughs] … that we took all their money. I give Dallas his grandfather's knife back and we start to cruise off when we see a homeless veteran guy sitting there on the side of the road. So we take the whole bag of money we just won and give it to him and just kind of ride off into the sunset."

Besides his own music hitting airwaves across the country, Ford is also blazing up the charts as a songwriter of Jason Aldean’s latest single, 'Dirt Road Anthem,' which he co-wrote along with Brantley Gilbert. Ford hopes that his own country raps are as well received by country radio as ‘Dirt Road Anthem’ has proven to be.

"I'm not given nearly as much of a chance as everybody else is on the radio," Ford says. "I wish I was. I feel like I've got songs worthy of being played on the radio with some of the best songwriters and best musicians in town playing on them, but I guess a lot of people don't want to give me a chance. It's frustrating, but there isn't much I can do about it. I wish I could give you a record where I sing like George Strait, because he's one of my favorites, but I can't do that. I just can't give you that kind of record. All I can give is what I've got, and some people just don't want to give that a chance. That's frustrating because I've got a wife and kids at home to feed."

Ford’s fanbase continues to grow in leaps and bounds every year, and he still averages around 200 shows per year. "I'm out there as much, if not more, than anyone in country music, to be honest with you," Ford says. "All you can really ever ask for is an opportunity. The record sales and ticket sales show that it works, so if you give it a chance and it doesn't work in your town or market, then cool! But don't just not give it a chance because you don't like it or think it's cool or not something that you want to listen to ... that's not what it is supposed to be about. It's supposed to be about what the fans want. If the fans like it and you see that they are buying the record in your market then why can't you play the record? What's the problem with that?"

But regardless of radio airplay, Ford is proud of his latest collection of new tunes and feels it offers a little bit of something for everyone. "There are a lot of options and directions we can go with this album," he says. "It's just a fun record. There are songs that are made for country radio and some songs that aren't made for country radio on it, which doesn't mean they aren't good songs; they're just for people who want something a little different."

Colt Ford Fans: We're giving away a special prize pack, including an autographed copy of Colt Ford's new album, a Colt Ford Mossy Oak camo hat and a Colt Ford pink camo women's hat. To enter, follow @tasteofcountry on Twitter and re-tweet our announcement of the giveaway by 11:59PM ET on Friday, May 6. A winner will be chosen at random. Good luck!