Few second acts can rival Darius Rucker’s. When the leader of the phenomenally successful pop band Hootie and the Blowfish started writing and recording country songs a decade ago, his goals were incredibly modest.
“I figured I would play my country tunes in the basement with friends here,” Rucker said while calling from his home in Charleston, S.C. “I never expected this to go too far.”
Rucker, 49, had no need to hope for further financial reward. “Cracked Rearview,” the breakthrough Hootie and the Blowfish album, went platinum a staggering 16 times.
“I’m good,” Rucker said. “I could just focus on the music and see where it would go when I started writing country. That’s how it was for me.”
When Capitol Nashville signed Rucker, he was taken aback. “I was shocked,” Rucker said. “The president of Capitol Nashville [Mike Dungan] said, ‘I never liked Hootie and the Blowfish but I always thought the singer would be a good country artist.’ He gave me an opportunity. I really was surprised. I was coming from the pop music world and I’m African American.”
Dungan was prescient. “Learn To Live,” Rucker’s 2008 country debut, was embraced by country fans. Rucker became the first African American recording artist to hit the top of the Hot Country Songs chart since Charlie Pride in 1983 courtesy of the catchy “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It.”
“I was blown away,” Rucker said. “I never expected to have things go my way.”
Two more No. 1 singles followed: “It Won’t Be Like This For Long” and “Alright.” Rucker breathed rarefied air. “Not many people have this kind of success in two genres,” Rucker said. “I’ve lived a charmed life.”
His followup, 2010’s “Charleston SC 1966” sold more than 400,000 copies and, like its predecessor, includes agreeable up-tempo tunes and poignant ballads.
2013’s “True Believers” went gold, partly due to the success of “Wagon Wheel.” His version of the Bob Dylan song went to the top of the Hot Country Songs chart.
“It’s crazy how huge ‘Wagon Wheel’ was,” Rucker said. “It’s a well written song I have fun with.”
“Southern Style,” which was released in March, is full of warm, earnest and reflective songs.
“I’m just writing what moves me at that time,” Rucker said. “My songs are all reflections of where I’m at. I’m just so grateful people like them. I just love writing country songs.”
That was evident back with Hootie and the Blowfish. If the band went with country elements instead of rock, “Let Her Cry” and “I Only Want to Be With You” would have been filed under a different genre.
“There’s no doubt about that,” Rucker said. “Those songs could have gone another way but that wasn’t Hootie and the Blowfish.”
Rucker, who will perform Saturday, Oct. 24, at the Mohegan Sun Arena, quietly rejoins his pals in Hootie and the Blowfish for a couple of concerts every summer in Charleston.
“They’re still amazing together,” Dillon Fence singer-songwriter Greg Humphreys said. “We just played with them this summer and I was blown away. They could get right back together now and ride a wave.”
Well, Rucker reveals that Hootie and the Blowfish are planning a full-blown reunion. “We’re writing songs for one more Hootie and the Blowfish album and one more Hootie and the Blowfish tour,” Rucker said. “We played to about 12,000 people for a show at home last summer. People still love the band. I would love to do it again. I would expect a Hootie and the Blowfish album next year or in 2017 with a full tour.”
That’s so, even though Rucker will lose some of his solo momentum. “That might be true but I don’t care,” Rucker said. “I just care about the music. The guys in that band are my friends. People may not know that we just stopped because our drummer [Jim Sonefeld] had it with touring. He didn’t want to tour anymore and we all said let’s take a break. We have a long history. There’s never been any of that [acrimonious] stuff. We’re lucky.”
Hootie and the Blowfish formed in 1986 at the University of South Carolina, where each of the band members went to school. Hootie and the Blowfish shared frat party bills with the Dave Matthews Band a generation ago. “We opened for them in Virginia and they opened for us in Carolina,” Rucker said. “Can you believe that two bands that went so far started together? I know how lucky we are. I think Dillon Fence is the greatest band in the world and for whatever reason they didn’t sell millions of albums. It’s so unpredictable. Maybe Dillon Fence can tour with us when we get back together since Hootie and the Blowfish is up next.”
However, Rucker will focus on the remainder of his tour prior to finishing off an album with his Hootie bandmates. “I’m in a great position,” Rucker said. “I get to have it all. This is all pretty wild.”
DARIUS RUCKER appears Saturday, Oct. 24, at the Mohegan Sun Arena, 1 Mohegan Sun Blvd., Uncasville. David Nail and CAM will open. Tickets are $39 and $59. Showtime is 7:30 p.m. For more information, 888-226-7711, mohegansun.com.
