“There’s two times of year for me: Football season, and waiting for football season.”
― Darius Rucker
“I’m pretty sure I’m gonna stick with country until I ride off in the sunset.”
― Darius Rucker
“It’s about the music, not the color of the person playing the music.”
― Darius Rucker
“Whether you are on stage or playing golf, all it takes is one person to throw everything off.”
― Darius Rucker
“What I love about each album is the opportunity to expand on what we’ve done in the past – to push myself and the band creatively, vocally, and lyrically.”
― Darius Rucker
“With ‘Wagon Wheel,’ I loved the visual it painted, and it’s a song I can truly say I look forward to performing every night.”
― Darius Rucker
“I’m black because I was born this way. I’m proud of it. Thank God I am who I am.”
― Darius Rucker
“Everybody wants to have a good time, especially at a concert. That’s why everybody goes.”
― Darius Rucker
“I’ve known Tiger since he was 18. Tiger is a great guy. I am so happy for him right now.”
― Darius Rucker
“We raised almost 2 million dollars at the last golf tournament that can be used for minority scholarships and Junior Golf programs. The payoff for the work we do is so much more valuable than the work we actually do for it.”
― Darius Rucker
“I just wanted to go out and make a record that I’ve always wanted to make since I was a kid.”
― Darius Rucker
“Ice Cube is doing so great. He went from being this hardcore gangster rapper to this actor now. He’s doing children’s movies and all this stuff – he’s rocking it.”
― Darius Rucker
“I’m lucky my wife is a strong woman. She’s one of the stronger people I’ve ever met. It’s hard for me to be away, but I know my home life is fine because my wife is there.”
― Darius Rucker
“Ray Charles has always been a big part of my life.”
― Darius Rucker
“When I was in high school, I read all of Neil Simon’s plays.”
― Darius Rucker
“We got to do a few things with President Clinton. To be invited to Washington again to play with Ashanti and all those other cool people there in front of President Bush and the rest of the world feels awesome. I’m really looking forward to going.”
― Darius Rucker
“When I was growing up, I always knew that if I ever got anything, I was going to give back as much as I can. I learned that all you have to be willing to do is give your time.”
― Darius Rucker
“We went to church every Sunday. When I was a kid, the only time I sang was around my family.”
― Darius Rucker
“Remember the Stax label and how if you liked one record, you liked all the others as well? You don’t talk to a lot of people who tell you how much they love their record label. I don’t care how many records they sell.”
― Darius Rucker
“It was important to me to find a label that wouldn’t back out after a first single. Everyone’s so used to hearing me with Hootie, they’re going to be skeptical.”
― Darius Rucker
“I have major respect for Kenny Chesney and Carrie Underwood and Sugarland. They are wonderful. They’re superstars in the music business.”
― Darius Rucker
“I’m a kid who grew up in an all African-American neighborhood and got into schools and aspired to just be me, and didn’t worry about labels or anything. Just wanted to be a success at what I did.”
― Darius Rucker
“I think people who go out and tell you how much they’re gonna change things are the people who end up being just another whatever. I’m never trying to change anything. That’s not for me.”
― Darius Rucker
“My family lives a pretty normal life.”
― Darius Rucker
“I expect to make a career out of country music.”
― Darius Rucker
“I work hard to let my wife know how much I love her. I try to do that every day.”
― Darius Rucker
“It’s hard to be married to me, and it was a lot harder when I was younger!”
― Darius Rucker
“Arnold Palmer is my favorite, just getting to know him and all of the film on him and his game. He was the first real superstar in golf. You had Bobby Jones and all of those guys, but Arnold Palmer was bigger than life.”
― Darius Rucker
“I believe that one of the reasons I get to play golf all over the world is because of the barriers that Lee Elder broke down. I just think he’s amazing.”
― Darius Rucker
“The thing that really gets me about the game is I’ve never played two rounds that were anywhere close to being the same – ever. Even with the same golf course and setup, nothing is ever the same. I love that about golf.”
― Darius Rucker
“Marriage is not easy. You have to decide to work. That’s what it really comes down to: two people deciding to stay together or not.”
― Darius Rucker
“Romantic stuff is not something I really remember.”
― Darius Rucker
“Golf is the greatest but most maddening sport there is.”
― Darius Rucker
“I used to love watching ‘Hee Haw’ on TV when I was a kid. My brothers and sisters weren’t happy about it, but I just loved the music.”
― Darius Rucker
“I had an AM radio and listened to Al Green, Kenny Rogers, Stevie Wonder, Charley Pride and Cheap Trick – sometimes in the same hour on the same station!”
― Darius Rucker
“If it wasn’t for Kenny Rogers, I don’t think I would be in country music. He was that guy when I was a kid – his music and ‘Hee Haw’ made me perk my ears up and made me say, ‘What is this? I want to hear more of that.’ He was that catalyst for me to start this whole run in country music.”
― Darius Rucker
“It seems that with other kind of music, they are looking for the next big thing, but with country music, they might be looking for that, but they also want to have that warm blanket that helped them through that relationship or that singer they have always loved.”
― Darius Rucker
“When you’re doing a Motley Crue tribute record, you can ask anyone to do it, and they’re not going to say no.”
― Darius Rucker
“One of the things that I’m dying to do is to sing the hook on a big rap song.”
― Darius Rucker
“I always tell people, the first time I heard ‘She Talks To Angels,’ those lyrics did something to me.”
― Darius Rucker
“At the end of the day, I’m a fan of great stories and great songs.”
― Darius Rucker
“I’m always trying to find myself little holes where I can do some songwriting.”
― Darius Rucker
“I love Christmas. I love the music… I love everything about Christmas. I’m a big fan.”
― Darius Rucker
“I always say, no matter what happens to me as a black man in country music, I can handle it if Charley Pride could handle all the stuff he went through.”
― Darius Rucker
“The music I like or the football teams I like or the food I eat has nothing to do with me being black.”
― Darius Rucker
“If you hear a song and you like it, you like it.”
― Darius Rucker
“One of the great reasons to be in Nashville is, you get guys like Shane McAnally to write songs with.”
― Darius Rucker
“When I’m singing a song, I’m in that song, and I’m thinking about what emotions I should bring to the song. Voicing a character was very similar. It was high energy, and I had to really think about the emotion of what was going on in the scene.”
― Darius Rucker
“I’ll take the kids to school after breakfast. I love doing that – love being a dad.”
― Darius Rucker
“I’ve played golf since I was fourteen. I like how no two rounds are ever the same. And I get to be out in nature… and hang out with my buddies.”
― Darius Rucker
“I love Hootie & the Blowfish and what we do, but that’s not my main focus anymore.”
― Darius Rucker
“I’m used to being the only black guy. I’ve seriously walked onstage, looked out in the audience, 15,000 people – and I’m the only one in the place. It’s no big deal. My whole career’s been like that.”
― Darius Rucker
“Hearing Radney Foster was big for me, like hearing Al Green or R.E.M. for the first time.”
― Darius Rucker
“The other guys in Hootie were into rock. I brought the country influence.”
― Darius Rucker
“Getting people to come play my ‘Darius and Friends Show’ was so easy because it’s for St. Jude, and that’s a great thing.”
― Darius Rucker
“I grew up in South Carolina. A lot of what I remember back in the day is AM radio. When I was a kid, you could hear Stevie Wonder and Buck Owens on the same station. All the walls and lines between music were taken down for me.”
― Darius Rucker
“I’m going to make country records back to back for a while – until country radio doesn’t want me anymore or until I get my own theater in Branson – one of the two.”
― Darius Rucker
“Ric Flair was such a huge part of my childhood and teen years. He’s an icon.”
― Darius Rucker
“I’ve got some great stuff in my sports memorabilia collection. But my favorite thing by far is the robe. I actually have a Ric Flair robe with ‘the Nature Boy’ on the back. That’s awesome. When I look at it, it brings back so many memories of my childhood and my teen years.”
― Darius Rucker
“I was an 8-year-old who loved wrestling and watched it religiously every Saturday at one o’clock.”
― Darius Rucker
“For me, the Mount Rushmore of greats would be Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Hulk Hogan, Bruno Sammartino or Lou Thesz. You can do either one of them in that fourth spot. But I think Ric Flair is the greatest of all time. He’s the greatest I’ve ever seen… on the mic and in the ring.”
― Darius Rucker
“Music education was always big for me. Ever since I was a young kid, I always said it was the reason I went to school sometimes and knowing if I didn’t do well in class that my mom wasn’t gonna let me sing in school or sing at that concert.”
― Darius Rucker
“School was very important to me ,and music was what kept me coming back.”
― Darius Rucker
“It’s hokey, but I love sitting in an inner tube and taking it easy on a lazy river ride. I can sit there all day.”
― Darius Rucker
“I’m such a lover of golf, and I’ve been at the Masters a couple times, and I’ve been so blessed to get to play there.”
― Darius Rucker
“There’s nothing like sitting and watching the Masters on TV.”
― Darius Rucker
“I’ve gotten to play so many of the great courses around the country and overseas. Sometimes it pays to be the golf guy. People always want to take me to the golf course. I love it.”
― Darius Rucker
“If my music career was my golf game, I’d be playing for about 26 people tonight somewhere.”
― Darius Rucker
“My kids don’t care about anything. I’m just Dad to them. They don’t get excited about anything.”
― Darius Rucker
“There’s a lot of stuff I thought I’d do in the world, but I never thought I’d have a street named after me in my hometown. It’s a great feeling.”
― Darius Rucker
“I think I made records, since early on, that people wanted to listen to.”
― Darius Rucker
“The worst thing for me when I go to a concert is a whole bunch of ballads. You get bored.”
― Darius Rucker
“If I did a show and didn’t do Hootie songs, I would be ripping people off.”
― Darius Rucker
“You always wanna make the best record you ever made, and if I feel like I didn’t do that, I wouldn’t put it out.”
― Darius Rucker
“People looked at me as a carpetbagger coming over from pop to country. But it helped because it got me in the room.”
― Darius Rucker
“I’m always up at 7:30, usually earlier. Having three kids will do that.”
― Darius Rucker
“I’ve always listened to country music. I wanted Hootie to become a country band at first, but I was outvoted.”
― Darius Rucker
“I’d work with Charles Kelley anytime. I’d go do a ‘Pancho and Lefty’ record with Charles. He is class, man.”
― Darius Rucker
“Billy Graham isn’t about politics – Billy Graham is about God.”
― Darius Rucker
“Everything that I do on stage comes from seeing the Black Crowes in ’95 in Charlotte. For ‘Let Her Cry,’ I was just trying to write ‘She Talks to Angels.’”
― Darius Rucker
“I’m a big Black Crowes guy. I think they are one of America’s greatest rock & roll bands ever.”
― Darius Rucker
“I think the people who are sitting in their living room doing those, ‘Let’s take country music back’ blogs and all that stuff, that’s crazy to me. No one’s saying that about rock & roll, and no one sounded like the Beatles since 1960. No one says that about R&B, and no one sounded like the Commodores since 1970.”
― Darius Rucker
“People go, ‘Oh, you’re another guy who crossed over to country.’ I say, name another one. Name one other pop singer who’s done what I’ve done as a country singer. There isn’t one.”
― Darius Rucker
“I pay almost no attention to the charts.”
― Darius Rucker
“I love Bob Dylan. ‘Blood on the Tracks’ is one of my top five records.”
― Darius Rucker
“I got turned onto the ‘Pat Garrett’ soundtrack when I worked retail back in the day.”
― Darius Rucker
“One of my pet peeves is when people think that pop guys go country when they can’t make it in pop anymore.”
― Darius Rucker
“There are so many people who would like to see me not make it in Nashville. But that’s good motivation.”
― Darius Rucker
“Every time I make a record, it’s make-or-break time. I hope I always have that mentality – that’s what keeps me fired up.”
― Darius Rucker
“No doubt about it, country is a much more family-friendly business than pop.”
― Darius Rucker
“We work so hard to stay true to country music. People can say they don’t like it, but they can’t say it’s not country.”
― Darius Rucker
“The first year I started liking the Dolphins was Super Bowl VI, which they lost to the Cowboys. I was 5. My whole family was pulling for the Cowboys, so I rooted for the Dolphins. They lost, and I cried.”
― Darius Rucker
“I played every position, from right tackle to quarterback and everything in between.”
― Darius Rucker
“I think I could take a job as an NFL scout.”
― Darius Rucker
“I live for the NFL. I watch so much of it.”
― Darius Rucker
“It’s always a positive when radio is playing your music and fans are responding.”
― Darius Rucker
“Every time I have a song that does well, that’s a great feeling to have.”
― Darius Rucker
“You’re always proud that people still want to hear what you’re doing.”
― Darius Rucker
“I’ve been a Robert Randolph fan forever, since 2001. I just thought he was so cool; you don’t see a black kid playing the slide the way he plays. No one plays like Robert.”
― Darius Rucker
“I love jam bands, but I still like a three-and-a-half-minute rock song.”
― Darius Rucker
“Everybody’s got problems, and if you’re gonna leave somebody because they have problems, you’re gonna be alone for a long time.”
― Darius Rucker
“Great music will always rise to the top if you give it a chance.”
― Darius Rucker
“A lot of times, I don’t want to listen to my stuff, because I’m thinking maybe I didn’t do my best.”
― Darius Rucker
“That’s one of my pet peeves. People always want to put something into a category – this one or that one. You know, a great song is a great song.”
― Darius Rucker
“For me, ’52nd Street’ is quintessential Billy Joel. I bought that record as a kid and listened to it so much.”
― Darius Rucker
“I remember my brother was always a jerk to me. One time, he bought Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Smash Hits,’ and he gave it to me because he didn’t like it, thinking it was a punishment.”
― Darius Rucker
“As a kid, I was big into Al Green, Gladys Knight and the Pips, but as I got older, I started listening to all sorts of music, including country.”
― Darius Rucker
“With rock, you can write about anything. There are rock songs I still don’t know what they’re singing about, but you want to get up and dance.”
― Darius Rucker
“I’d be lying to say I’ve not experienced a lot of racism in my life; it’s very much alive. I don’t let it bother me. I couldn’t be the singer I am if I didn’t let it go.”
― Darius Rucker
“I love making music, and I love touring. I love that I get to wake up and play music. I don’t like being away from my wife and kids.”
― Darius Rucker
“I can’t live without my family, golf, and football.”
― Darius Rucker
“I’m not a studio rat. I do find sitting around playing the same song 12 times kind of tedious. I like to get in and get out.”
― Darius Rucker
“I’m going to do whatever I want as long as it’s country. I mean, I’m not much on naysayers, so I’ll just do whatever. If I like it, I’ll do it.”
― Darius Rucker
“I make records so I can go on tour. There’s nothing else. I love to go out and play for people.”
― Darius Rucker
“When you hear people scream because they’re about to hear a song that has been a part of their life, there’s nothing like that.”
― Darius Rucker
“I plan to make records as long as people wanna keep listening to them.”
― Darius Rucker
“Country music’s so about the nuclear family and living the southern lifestyle and everything.”
― Darius Rucker
“I remember riding around with my friends with ‘Ain’t Even Done with the Night’ cranked up and my windows down. Those were great days.”
― Darius Rucker
“To have John Mellencamp compliment my songwriting? That was unreal.”
― Darius Rucker
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