Darius Rucker Adds To His Country Collateral With Charleston, SC 1966
posted in: Music News
After enjoying years of success, most rock stars either keep running on the same old treadmill and continually chase the Platinum-plated carrot at the end of the stick, or sit by their guitar-shaped pools sipping margaritas and giving pithy quotes to obsequious documentarians. In 2008, with 22 years of Hootie & The Blowfish in the rearview mirror, singer Darius Rucker refused both of those alternatives, instead transforming himself into a country star. It wasn’t as huge a leap as one might think ”these days, the reigning sound in Nashville isn’t too far from the kind of heartland rock Rucker’s band helped to pioneer. Even so, Rucker’s fledgling country career bloomed with startling speed; his first country album, Learn To Live, went Platinum, spawning three No. 1 singles and making Rucker the first African-American to score a No. 1 country hit since Charley Pride 25 years earlier.
Even for the head Hootie, that’s a lot to live up to, but now Rucker has leaped into the country fray again with Charleston, SC 1966” named for his hometown and birth year”and it looks like he made the right call. The album’s first single, Come Back Song, has already climbed to the No. 2 spot in the country charts, and the rest of the record isn’t exactly lacking in hit potential either, from the driving opening cut This to a honky-tonkin’ duet with Brad Paisley on I Don’t Care.
Of course, part of Rucker’s appeal, even from the earliest Hootie days, has always been his ability to come across like the quintessential guy-next-door type”albeit one capable of blowing down your door with his big, booming voice. That same kind of down-home, unpretentious aw shucks vibe speaks to a whole different audience when it’s coming from underneath a cowboy hat ”okay, Rucker doesn’t actually wear one, it’s just a symbolic chapeau”especially on tunes like Southern State of Mind, where the sweet-natured South Carolinan finds himself apologizing to affronted females for old-fashioned behavior like opening their doors and being polite.
Even in the wake of Learn To Live‘s success, Rucker takes a similarly humble attitude when explaining his approach to the new album. Most artists in his position would probably blather on about how much of a departure their latest record is, and how they’re blazing a bold, new path this time around. Not Rucker. With his typical brand of disarming modesty, he simply assesses “I don’t think we set out to reinvent the wheel or do a new sound. I think this record is more of an expansion of the last record than anything else. It’s like picking up where the last record left off.” With a tour schedule that runs all the way through March of 2011 and includes a string of dates on Brad Paisley’s H20 World Tour, it looks like the stage is set (literally) for Rucker to do plenty more expanding on his country success in the months to come. In the meantime, we’re just hoping that he doesn’t inspire big ideas in the heads of too many other rockers who made their name in the ˜90s; Rucker taking a Nashville turn is one thing, but the world probably isn’t ready for a Green Day bluegrass album.
Darius Rucker Tour Dates:
| 11/4 “ Milwaukee, WI, Riverside Theater SOLD OUT |
11/5 “ Springfield, MO, O’Reilly Family Event Center
11/6 “ Hinckley, MN, Grand Casino Hinckley Event Center
11/12 “ Uncasville, CT, Mohegan Sun Casino
11/13 “ Rochester, NY, Blue Cross Arena
11/14 “ Hampton Beach, NH, Hampton Beach Casino
More at DariusRucker.com
By Jim Allen
Jim Allen has contributed to a wide range of print and online outlets including RollingStone.com, MOJO, Village Voice, Uncut, VH1.com, iTunes, All Music Guide, CMT.com, The Advocate, Prefix, Blurt and many more.