Darius Rucker photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville.
Oct. 2, 2008 — Darius Rucker hoped his first country album would be well-received, but the extent of the response has overwhelmed him. Both the CD and the first single, "Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It," went to No. 1, and he even got a phone call of congratulations from poet and author Maya Angelou.
"I’m still in awe," Darius told Billboard. "She’s a big country music fan, and somebody had gotten her my record. I was just blown away — she’s Maya Angelou, for goodness’ sakes."
Darius is, of course, the lead singer for the pop-rock band Hootie + The Blowfish, and he knew that he would run into plenty of skeptics as he tried to shift into country music. He also knew that since his voice is the sound that most represents Hootie, it would be easy for people to accuse him of just making another pop album.
"I can make a Merle Haggard record and someone’s going to say, ‘It sounds like Hootie,’" he noted. "We told the musicians, ‘If you think you can play it one of two ways — more poppy country or more dirt country — play it more dirt country.’"
With those instructions, he’s hit paydirt, and there’s more on the way. Darius goes on the road in January on Brad Paisley’s tour, and he’s already planning to release a second single from Learn To Live: "It Won’t Be Like This For Long."
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