Growing up in South Carolina my entire life, Hootie & the Blowfish, and Darius Rucker in particular, is less than a god, but more than a man… from Columbia to the low country.
Of course, it makes sense considering the singer was born and raised in Charleston, SC, and went to school at the University of South Carolina in Columbia.
Not to mention, Hootie & the Blowfish was on top of the pop world in the ’90s to early 2000s, and Darius has seen a ton of success as a country singer.
Nevertheless, when he makes an appearance in Columbia for a concert, the city practically shuts down for the entire day in anticipation.
Last night, he made yet another appearance to Columbia, alongside Nelly, for a free concert for University of South Carolina students to celebrate the women’s basketball team winning the National Championship.
In front of thousands of plastered drunk college students, he sang his hit cover of “Wagon Wheel,” but decided to add his own twist.
When it got to the part of the song where he sings “But he’s a headin’ west from the Cumberland Gap, to Johnson City, Tennessee,” he switched it up and got the whole arena to chant:
“F*ck Tennessee.”
To show their hatred of their SEC foe, the Tennessee Volunteers.
Gotta love it.
Coach Beamer was enjoying it:
But something tells me his buddy Morgan Wallen ain’t gonna take too kindly to that.
Those are fightin’ words…
Darius Rucker Almost Didn’t Cut “Come Back Song”
It goes without saying, but there’s just nobody that can complete with Chris Stapleton.
And while he’s written dozens of songs for other artists throughout his career, if you can get your ears on an old demo, or in some cases an old live performance, you’re gonna find yourself thinking, “yep, Chris does it better.”
Whether it’s Luke Bryan’s “Drink A Beer,” Josh Turner’s “Another Try,” or Tim McGraw’s 2007 song “Whiskey & You,” (which Stapleton later recorded himself), it’s just impossible to touch that man’s voice. You can’t do it.
Even Darius Rucker knows it…
Darius Rucker’s hit single “Come Back Song” topped the charts in 2010, but according to an interview with Radio.com, it almost never happened.
Written by Rucker, along with Chris Stapleton and Casey Beathard, Chris’ demo was so good that Darius wasn’t even going to record it.
Producer Frank Rogers finally convinced him:
“The last day of recording he goes, ‘hey man, why don’t you want to record the song? I think it’s great song, I think it’s a hit.’
I was like, ‘man, have you heard the demo?! I could never sing it like that! He kills that song. I could never open my mouth and sing it like that because it’s too great.'”
Long story short: he did record it, it became a big hit and the rest is history… but it’s not hard to see why he didn’t want to.
And for Chris, this was one of the songs that put a few extra zeros in his bank account.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to write a few hits for some people… it’s allowed me to make a living doing what I did a long time for free, but this is the song that I wrote with, and for, Darius Rucker.”
And the Darius Rucker version:
