At the 2023 “CMT Music Awards”, Darius Rucker was asked about going country in 2008, and why he did it.
Basically, he’d been talking about it for years, and then Hootie & the Blowfish broke up. I remember having dinner with Darius in Denver, Colorado one night and he told us that he always loved country music. Growing in Charleston, South Carolina…country music was a part of his life…as well music in general. He said Hootie & The Blow Fish had always had country rock and blues sound to him…and he even tried to talk them in playing country music with him. They just weren’t on board with that.
He said, “we had a meeting and said we weren’t going to tour anymore. So I knew it was time for me to go to Nashville and see if I could do it.”
He says there were a lot of haters at first…but he was just glad someone was paying him to make a record and hoped he could keep it up. His first single “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It” did very well though, and the rest is history.
In case you want to read more of the interview. Here’s the interview.
Hootie eventually reunited in 2018, and they still play shows occasionally. They’re actually headlining an event later this month in Cancún, Mexico called “HootieFest“.
The Gin Blossoms, Goo Goo Dolls, Barenaked Ladies, and Collective Soul have also signed on for it.
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