Darius Rucker Interview: His Faith, New Tour, 2014 Grammy Awards, and Superbowl Pick!
Country music superstar Darius Rucker has stacked his metaphorical plate to the brim for 2014. Starting January 29th, he will begin his headlining U.S. tour “True Believers” in support of his album of the same name. The tour will also feature The Eli Young Band and David Nail. The tour kicks off in Champaign, Illinois, and runs through the summer of 2014 — according to the dates on his website as of today. Darius had a Grammy nomination for Best Country Solo Performance on his Number 1 hit “Wagon Wheel,” written by Bob Dylan and Ketch Secor (Old Crow Medicine Show). On Sunday evening, Darius won the Grammy, which — as you will read in his humble interview below — likely came as a pleasant surprise for him.
Darius Rucker first burst onto the music scene as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for the Grammy-winning rock band Hootie & The Blowfish. Together since 1986, the band formed at the University Of South Carolina. They released five studio albums and charted six top 40 hits, according to Billboard Hot 100. In 2008, Darius Rucker tried his hand as a solo country artist by signing to Capitol Records. His first album, released that same year, was titled Learn To Live. Its first single, “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It,” made Darius the first African-American to chart a number 1 country song since Charlie Pride in 1983. The song’s success was followed by two more number one singles: “It Won’t Be Like This For Long” and “Alright.” In 2009, he became the first African-American to win the New Artist Award from the Country Music Association. He followed the success with a second album from Capitol Records titled Charleston, SC 1966, which was released in October of 2010. It had a pair of number 1 singles: “Come Back Song” and “This.”
His new country chart-topping single “Radio” is doing phenomenal, and he has what will surely be a very successful tour coming up. Darius talks with Rocking God’s House about a whirlwind 2014:
Rocking God’s House: Are you ready to kick off the new tour?
Darius: Absolutely. We are always ready to go out and perform for our fans. That is the best part of this job. This week has been getting us prepared and in gear. We are performing on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and then we have the Grammys to look forward to.
Rocking God’s House: To some people, the radio is considered a dead technology. How do you feel about that statement having a new hit song titled “Radio”?
Darius: I think the association with saying “radio is dead” is such a crazy thing because you still can’t have a hit unless it is on the radio. You can have a viral song now online, but you can’t really have a career unless you have a connection with radio.
Rocking God’s House: What is your favorite song to perform on the new album True Believers?
Darius: I like playing “Heartbreak Road.” That song rocks so hard. When we go out and play it, we always get a great response.
Rocking God’s House: You mention God a lot in your music. Does faith inspire your songwriting?
Darius: I write and co-write most of my songs, and faith and my relationship with God is very important to me. He has blessed me with everything I write my songs about.
Rocking God’s House: Have you written your Grammy award acceptance speech yet?
Darius: Oh, gosh no, I’m not going to win [laughs]. I haven’t written anything. If I happen to win I will thank everyone who helped me get there; but no I haven’t written anything down.
[At the time of this publication, Darius Rucker won the Grammy for his category. I would like to congratulate Darius, and I hope he had time to write something down!]
Rocking God’s House: Who is your pick for your Super Bowl?
Darius: If the weather is good: Denver. If the wind is rolling pretty bad: Seattle. But I think if they have good weather, I really think it is going to be hard for Seattle to keep up with Denver. Even though Seattle has an amazing defense, Peyton is going to score. It all depends on the weather.
