Darius Rucker

Theresa Galbraith · Post by **Theresa Galbraith** » 12 Sep 2008 4:45 pm

"Don't Think I Don't Think About It" is his new single in Country.
I love it, he's awesome. It sounds country to me.

Oh yeah, it's got steel guitar on it.

Darvin Willhoite · Post by **Darvin Willhoite** » 12 Sep 2008 6:24 pm

Kind of has a country ring to it doesn't it "Hootie"?

(OK, so it wasn't his nickname, that's what he will be associated with for a long time.)

Stephen Gambrell · Post by **Stephen Gambrell** » 12 Sep 2008 8:19 pm

Darius' nickname IS NOT "Hootie." Hootie was a friend of the band when they were starting up, at the University of South Carolina.

Steve Hotra · Post by **Steve Hotra** » 12 Sep 2008 8:21 pm

I like his new song, too.

Brett Day · Post by **Brett Day** » 12 Sep 2008 8:47 pm

Darius is a great singer. I wonder if he uses steel when he's doin' his solo act live.
Brett

Bari Smith · Post by **Bari Smith** » 13 Sep 2008 6:34 am

He's gonna be at the Blindhorse in Greenville SC Monday nite!!!

Jerry Hayes R.I.P. · Post by **Jerry Hayes R.I.P.** » 15 Sep 2008 2:25 am

I like Darius' work also and think he could have a bright future in country music with the right material and promotion. I'd like to see a lot more black acts in country as I know there are a lot of them that really like the music.

Before I retired I ran a warehouse for a municipality and had country music playing when I'd be in the work area. We had many black employees and a lot of times they'd be in the warehouse for one reason or another and you'd be surprised how many of them knew the words to the songs and were familiar with the artist(s)........

I remember a few years ago, there was a black cardiologist who had a CD out who was a pretty good singer. I thought he'd do a lot more but he just faded away quickly. Does anyone remember his name or know what happened to him?......JH in Va.

Jack Harper · Post by **Jack Harper** » 15 Sep 2008 4:53 am

the doc's name was cleve francis.
on a 60 minutes or 20/20, a few yr's back there was a good story about his career's in medicine and music
and he had given himself a goal in the music, that if he does or does not succeed in the trades he would go back to the scalpel.
he had been a terrificly successful cardiologist or heart surgeon or related to broken hearts and fixin' 'em.
his patient's bought his records and got him back. what a deal!

country

Darren James · Post by **Darren James** » 15 Sep 2008 9:58 am

Love Darius. Love Hootie and the Blowfish. Can't wait for the album to come out tomorrow. He's supposed to be on the Grand Ole Opry this weekend.

Danny Bates · Post by **Danny Bates** » 16 Sep 2008 9:51 pm

He played there July 15th. Here's a "Behind The Scenes" video.

I never will forget how good he was at Frank Sinatra's 80th birthday party. He can sing any style of music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkSmZtasC-A&feature=user

Theresa Galbraith · Post by **Theresa Galbraith** » 21 Sep 2008 2:02 pm

Thanks Danny,
I watched Darius making his GOO TV Spot debut last night.
He got 2 standing ovations, and it was so nice to see Paul backing him.

I've got to buy Darius Rucker's new CD this week.

Bo Borland · Post by **Bo Borland** » 21 Sep 2008 4:28 pm

Hootie & the BF sold millions of cd's, amazing since they were little better musically than a third rate garage band... but Darius can sing, he carried the band like Randy Owens carried Alabama.. and he is good for biz. Bring it on !!

Joe Casey · Post by **Joe Casey** » 22 Sep 2008 9:56 am

Truthfully I like him but he can be called a good singer in any field..Has Country music become so weak it has to draw from other fields?..Has the well dried up of tradition?.Certainly Darius may be an exception and actually love Country and he has that voice that many will buy..But there are many who do it because its the now thing and hot at the moment for waning careers...DR has staying power many many are here today and well the hell did they go.

I bought his CD just on hearing one song..Its good I also bought George Straits and its Gooder...

Theresa Galbraith · Post by **Theresa Galbraith** » 22 Sep 2008 11:15 am

Joe,
I'm going by what I heard on the GOO Saturday Night.
Darius is a much better singer than Rodney Atkins, Luke Bryan and I could go on and on.

I just wish him well in the Country Market. He sings great and seems humble.

Alvin Blaine · Post by **Alvin Blaine** » 22 Sep 2008 11:16 pm

Joe Casey wrote:Has Country music become so weak it has to draw from other fields?

Country Music hasn't become "weak", It's always drawn from other fields.
From day one it's taken melodies, lyrics, themes, songs, musicians, and artist from all genres and walks of life and melded them together. That's what Country Music has always been about, and what it should always be about.

Bill Hatcher · Post by **Bill Hatcher** » 23 Sep 2008 4:56 am

Alvin Blaine wrote:
Joe Casey wrote:Has Country music become so weak it has to draw from other fields?
Country Music hasn't become "weak", It's always drawn from other fields.
From day one it's taken melodies, lyrics, themes, songs, musicians, and artist from all genres and walks of life and melded them together. That's what Country Music has always been about, and what it should always be about.

I beg your pardon.....

Country music has become a bunch of non country artists cashing in playing lame 70s sounding rock music, some of them because they can't get any play time on any other format. The music itself is savagely overproduced with thunderous drums that work well with the butt-level concious of most of the listeners these days. It should be called something else.....Your favorite description goes here...

Theresa Galbraith · Post by **Theresa Galbraith** » 23 Sep 2008 5:43 am

Ditto Alvin!

Joe Casey · Post by **Joe Casey** » 23 Sep 2008 5:52 am

Bill ,Thats close to what I wanted to comeback and say...But add: Country music use to draw from within itself,from writers who felt the songs and Singers who lived them.And fans who just plain loved them...People bought the records because they related to the stories,they could understand the lyrics and loved the Artist long enough to allow them to have 25-30 year careers..And they were able to do this without media hypeing music that lasts as long the next release..Today they sell voiceless or Electronic enhanced eye candy...No!!!! Country Music did not draw from all fields..But all fields drew from Country music..Always did..Andy Williams,Dean Martin,Al Martino,Guy Mitchell,Lets not forget Elvis and Jerry Lee.. The key word was crossover: If someone had a hit it was gigantic if it crossed over to other fields..That became producers goals...Now a days theres no need to crossover its all the same..All one has to do is weed through the crapola like a squirrel looking for an accorn amongst the leaves to find something thats good to eat...or listen too..Theres good stuff out there I agree,But.. I guess if you call a Skunk a Cat long enough people will believe it doesn't stink...PT Barnum was a very smart man..

Bill Hatcher · Post by **Bill Hatcher** » 23 Sep 2008 7:37 am

That is great insight Casey.

I guess if you had to put it in a nutshell...Country Music has become an industry that is controlled by people who have no ties to the lineage of what made the music what it was to so many common people. The simplicity of it, the rawness of it, the connection it had.

This all seemed to start going south when rap started to run all the kids out of pop music. The industry moguls started to target this group and said to heck with all the older mature seasoned country artists and their fan base. Once the fan base was destroyed then they ended up with the typical pop culture fan base where the fan attention span for your artist is only a few years as opposed to a lifetime under the old country fan. The record companies just have to keep throwing musical crap against the wall to see what sticks for how long.

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 23 Sep 2008 8:06 am

Whether he was lead singer for H&TBF, or singing "country" solo as Darius, it sounds pretty much the same to me. I liked some of H&TBF stuff, but what Darius is doing now has nearly the same sound.

Am I the only one who notices?

Darren James · Post by **Darren James** » 23 Sep 2008 8:39 am

Donny Hinson wrote:Whether he was lead singer for H&TBF, or singing "country" solo as Darius, it sounds pretty much the same to me. I liked some of H&TBF stuff, but what Darius is doing now has nearly the same sound.

Am I the only one who notices?

Darius has said that he's always written songs with a country flavor to them, and that it was the band that had to put more of a rock spin on the songs.

Chris Scruggs · Post by **Chris Scruggs** » 23 Sep 2008 9:00 am

The very presence of HAWAIIAN steel guitar in Country Music shows its acceptance to draw from outside influence even back in the beginning.

Bob Wills' horn section and Hank Snow's rhumba beat also show how country is not an isolationist music.

Sarah Carter's autoharp and Maybelle's archtop guitar was not traditional country instrumentation in the 1920s, and as far as crossover goes, the father of country music Jimmie Rodgers recorded with the daddy of jazz Louis Armstrong. Faron Young's biggest musical influence as a kid was Dean Martin.

On the flip side of that coin, Charlie Christian's biggest influence on the guitar was Eldon Shamblin, Ringo Starr grew up listening to Hank Williams and Dee Dee Ramone's favorite singer was Reba McIntire.

Music has always been a cross pollination. Country has always been influenced by pop and pop has always been influenced by Country. Unfortunately, pop music used to sound a lot better and I think we'll all agree so did country.

The Country Music businessmen are not what they used to be. People like Owen Bradley, Billy Sherrill and Chet Atkins (country musicians who worked their way up the ladder as first and foremost musicians) were replaced in the '70s and '80s by marketing experts with no musical background who were sent to Nashville from the New York and Los Angeles offices to sell our little hillbilly sound to a bigger and fickle audience. Marketing and promotional tactics became more of a priority than musical quality and you CAN hear the difference.

I don't think this means Country today cannot take in outside influence or welcome crossover artists. I think the overall quality level just needs to be raised all around and a lot of this starts with songwriters. I attended the BMI awards this year where the 50 "best" songs of the year are acknowledged. The hooks to the songs were dreadfully shallow and I heard not a single melody all night.

I'm not a Hootie fan and I'll admit I haven't heard Darius's record, but as far as pop/rock singers crossing over into country go, he will probably do a better job of it than some of the other recent pop music crossovers. Hootie songs had more melody than much of the monotone music in Country today. I'd just like to hear a melody on Country Radio, please.

-Chris Scruggs

Joe Casey · Post by **Joe Casey** » 23 Sep 2008 10:22 am

Heres a crossover star

Its CLAB LEGEMLN

Bill Hatcher · Post by **Bill Hatcher** » 23 Sep 2008 10:25 am

Darren James wrote:
Donny Hinson wrote:Whether he was lead singer for H&TBF, or singing "country" solo as Darius, it sounds pretty much the same to me. I liked some of H&TBF stuff, but what Darius is doing now has nearly the same sound.

Am I the only one who notices?
Darius has said that he's always written songs with a country flavor to them, and that it was the band that had to put more of a rock spin on the songs.

What would you expect him to say now that he is a "country" artist.

Theresa Galbraith · Post by **Theresa Galbraith** » 23 Sep 2008 11:53 am

I heard melody in both songs by Darius on the GOO.
Everytime I turn on the radio, I hear melody.

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Darius Rucker

Darius Rucker

Darius!

the man in black....