Darius Rucker: Blowfish, Burgers & Country

Darius Rucker photo by Russ Harrington, courtesy of Capitol Nashville.

March 23, 2009 — Darius Rucker has launched two No. 1 singles with his first country album, but it’s not the first time he tackled a country-themed project. In 2005, the Hootie + The Blowfish singer was featured in a cartoonish Burger King ad that had him in western duds singing a 1920s song, "The Big Rock Candy Mountain."

At the time, Darius left people scratching their heads over that move. Now, it seems as if it were a precursor to the shift in his recording career. Which proves, from his viewpoint, that hindsight is not always 20/20.

"That was something I did after really seeing the vision of how much we were making fun of the whole commercial industry and the ‘Pee-wee's Playhouse’ thing," Darius told Minnesota’s Rochester Post-Bulletin. "I had a lot of fun with that, but the funny thing is, I was talking about making this record for so long, and now people are connecting the two, and they just really have nothing to do with each other."

It’s tough to make that kind of disconnect between Darius’ country career and his Hootie past. He still does some live dates with his former bandmates and regularly sings their song "Let Her Cry" in concert. He now sees himself primarily as a country singer, but he can envision a time when they’ll make another album together. When that time comes, he figures his role in country music can only aid the Blowfish.

"In all honesty, it's been a while since the music industry has really cared about a Hootie + The Blowfish record," he said. "I think the next time we make a record, people are going to care to see what it sounds like because of the success I'm having with my country thing."

Darius just ended a run with Brad Paisley on a country tour, and he’s got another major tour booked for the summer. He’s set to open some of the shows on Rascal Flatts’ Unstoppable Tour.