Rucker finds absurd success on country charts

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – After 15 years of actuality accustomed as "Hootie" from Hootie & the Blowfish, Darius Rucker was bent off bouncer afresh while blockage into a Baltimore hotel.

"It's the aforementioned auberge I break in all the time, and there's a new agent aback there and she's attractive at me and staring at me and I'm assured `Hey, aren't you Hootie' or `Aren't you the guy from Hootie and the Blowfish.' And she looked at me and said, `Aren't you Darius Rucker the country singer.'

"It absolutely took me back," said Rucker, who at 43 looks about the aforementioned as he did belting out "Only Wanna Be With You" or "Let Her Cry" in the mid-'90s.

Rucker is accepting acclimated to actuality alleged a country singer. He's had a brace of No. 1 country singles from his CD "Learn to Live" — "Don't Anticipate I Don't Anticipate About It" and "It Won't Be Like This For Long" — and his latest, "Alright," is in the top 10.

Country Music Television will air a special, "Invitation Only: Darius Rucker," at 11 p.m. EDT Friday.

Rucker said he's absolutely abashed by his country music success.

"There was never a full-page ad in Billboard annual adage `The new Darius Rucker anthology is advancing out. Darius has gone country, and here's his aboriginal single.' There wasn't any of that. It was me in the car with a associate active about to 85 radio stations."

Rucker's assuming is alike added absurd because the adamantine time atramentous singers accept arise the country charts. His "Don't Anticipate I Don't Anticipate About It" was the aboriginal No. 1 hit by a atramentous artisan back Ray Charles' "Seven Spanish Angels" affiliation with Willie Nelson topped the archive in 1985.

"I'm not activity to change what happened in the accomplished or anything," said the Charleston, S.C., native. "I'd like to anticipate the acumen it happened for me is the songs.

"I anticipation actuality in Hootie was activity to aching a lot, but it got me in the door," he continued. "Everyone saw me because of Hootie. At the radio stations, they sat me bottomward and got to apperceive me and listened to my songs. And I got in because I was in Hootie & the Blowfish."

After affairs 16 actor copes of their 1994 big-label debut, "Cracked Rear View," Hootie & the Blowfish never came abutting to analogous their aboriginal heights. They appear four added flat albums, their last, 2005's "Looking for Lucky," peaking at No. 47 on the Billboard 200.

The group's abatement seemed anchored back Rucker portrayed a singing cowboy in a 2005 Burger King commercial.

Still, Rucker says the bandage will almanac and bout afresh as some point. Right now, though, he's focused on his country career — a about-face that acquainted accustomed to him. He'd consistently admired the brand and anticipation a lot of Hootie & the Blowfish songs could be country songs.

When he got a accord with Capitol Records Nashville, he began co-writing with some of Nashville's top tunesmiths and alive with ambassador Frank Rogers, best accepted for allowance ability albums by Brad Paisley and Trace Adkins. Paisley, Alison Krauss and Vince Gill all accomplish bedfellow appearances on the CD.

Rucker fretted: "I anticipation if it didn't assignment I was activity to be the better antic in music."

His added affair was that "Learn to Live" was advancing out at the aforementioned time as country offerings by Jessica Simpson and Jewel.

"I was abashed of actuality lumped in with that — aloof addition pop guy authoritative a country record. I didn't feel it was that way at all," he said.

And neither did listeners. Rucker has become a basic on country radio and a fan favorite. He toured with Paisley and Rascal Flatts and performed on the capital date of the Country Music Association anniversary this summer. "Learn to Live" topped the country albums blueprint aftermost year.

"He didn't try to do '80s bedrock on the country format," offered Julie Stevens, affairs administrator at KRTY-FM in San Jose, Calif. "Everybody thinks that country music is absolutely absolute and that we get mad back they cantankerous over, but we absolutely don't. We aloof appetite them to accord us a country song."