Speaker 1: Carola. She's a queen of talking. Here he was, so
Speaker 1: she's on the inside. She got the stoop and the
Speaker 1: laws to on the laws side. No one can do
Speaker 1: win Cli Carala, Carola, No one can do win Cli
Speaker 1: d Carala. It's time for Caroline. Hey, y'all, welcome to
Speaker 1: Hyper Caroline Hobby. I'm your host, Caroline Hobby, and I
Speaker 1: am so excited that you're here with me. This is
Speaker 1: my first podcast. In my first episode. Before I get
Speaker 1: into the interview, I want to give you a quick
Speaker 1: background onto who I am. I am a Texas native
Speaker 1: born and raised. Moved to Nashville when I was nineteen
Speaker 1: to become a country music star. I got hooked up
Speaker 1: with two awesome girls, Jennifer Wayne and Taylor Lynn, and
Speaker 1: we formed a trio called Stealing Angels. I was in
Speaker 1: that trio for about seven years. We toured the country
Speaker 1: on a tour bus. We had two songs and the
Speaker 1: top fifty on the charts on the country charts, and
Speaker 1: we even got to play Madison Square Garden open up
Speaker 1: for Timocraw, Rascal Flats, Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert. It was
Speaker 1: such a wild ride it eventually fell apart, which was
Speaker 1: really sad and disheartening and kind of broke my heart
Speaker 1: a little bit. But just like when one thing falls apart,
Speaker 1: another thing comes together. And Jen and I got asked
Speaker 1: to do the Amazing Race, which is a reality show
Speaker 1: which takes you around the world. It was so fun
Speaker 1: in such an incredible experience. We got fourth place on
Speaker 1: season twenty two, and then if that wasn't cool enough
Speaker 1: just to race once, we got asked back to race
Speaker 1: again on the All Star season and we ended up
Speaker 1: coming in second place. We lost the whole race by
Speaker 1: four seconds. Those were really expensive seconds because you win
Speaker 1: a million dollars if you win, but the experience was priceless.
Speaker 1: Because of Amazing Races. We got to go to like
Speaker 1: twenty different countries, which is just crazy. And when I
Speaker 1: finished that, when I finished the second time racing on
Speaker 1: Amazing Race, I came back to Nashville and I was like,
Speaker 1: what do I really love? And I realized I love
Speaker 1: getting to know people, and I love getting to know
Speaker 1: people's stories and figuring out their drive and how people
Speaker 1: stay inspired. Because this industry, this entertainment industry, is crazy
Speaker 1: and it's it can break your heart and it can
Speaker 1: tear you down. And you have to really have a vision,
Speaker 1: and you have to have a focus, and you have
Speaker 1: to have a drive. And it's not for the week,
Speaker 1: for sure, it's not for the faint of heart. And
Speaker 1: so I definitely was curious about how people stay motivated.
Speaker 1: And I've collected a ton of interesting friends after living
Speaker 1: in Nashville for over ten years, and I'm like, you
Speaker 1: know what, I'm going to interview these people and I'm
Speaker 1: gonna get to know what's going on in their brains
Speaker 1: and see why they wake up every morning and get
Speaker 1: hyper about their career and get hyper about their dreams.
Speaker 1: So that is why hyper Caroline Hobby was born. And
Speaker 1: I hope that you enjoy hearing from all the incredible people,
Speaker 1: because it has been a blast so far getting to
Speaker 1: talk to some of the coolest people I know in Nashville.
Speaker 1: The first person that we're interviewing is Darius Rucker. What
Speaker 1: He's from Hootie and the Blowfish. He sold thirty million
Speaker 1: albums with Hooting and the Blowfish. And if that wasn't
Speaker 1: crazy enough and cool enough, he then started all the
Speaker 1: way back over in country music and climbed his way
Speaker 1: back from the just the starting ground all the way
Speaker 1: to the top of the charts and country music. He
Speaker 1: didn't take any freebees, he didn't come in as a superstar.
Speaker 1: He started off like any other Nubian country music and
Speaker 1: worked his way all the way up to the top.
Speaker 1: And his story is incredible, it's inspiring. He's probably one
Speaker 1: of the most hard working, driven men I've ever met.
Speaker 1: He's hilarious and it was a super big privilege to
Speaker 1: get to interview him. So please welcome Darius Rucker to
Speaker 1: Hyper Caroline Hobby. Hi, Darius Rucker, I'm fabulous. How are
Speaker 1: you doing? Are you joining this snow? I'm not a
Speaker 1: big snow guy, but you know it's okay, Well you don't.
Speaker 1: You don't live in Nashville. No, I don't live in
Speaker 1: Nashville and Charleston. We never get snow. So you know,
Speaker 1: when I came here yesterday and it was crazy, I
Speaker 1: stopped as I woke up. I think you brought it
Speaker 1: with you because it started yesterday. You know, you know,
Speaker 1: I gotta bring something. You don't want to come to
Speaker 1: Nashville after the ending. That's very true. Yeah, absolutely, Okay,
Speaker 1: So you started off and I was like in nineteen
Speaker 1: six is when this whole thing started for you. I
Speaker 1: was sophomore in college and met this guy who, uh
Speaker 1: was a guitar player, and he asked me if he
Speaker 1: heard me singing in you heard me saying a Billy
Speaker 1: Joel song? And you always sing in the shower? I
Speaker 1: used to. I don't. I don't think I do much anymore,
Speaker 1: but I used to all the time. Yeah, because this
Speaker 1: was like we had community showers, you know. It wasn't
Speaker 1: like like you know now they have all these new,
Speaker 1: these great showers in these dorms, but ours was just
Speaker 1: four six shower heads in one open room. When one
Speaker 1: over the room. Yeah, and I have a shower in
Speaker 1: the afternoon and no one was in there and I'm
Speaker 1: sinking and I walk out and he go, man, was
Speaker 1: that you? I was like yeah, He's like, wow, you
Speaker 1: know I play guitar and that, and I said, uh, really,
Speaker 1: I was like, you know, he said, once you come
Speaker 1: out lastly, be doing the same songs. And I did.
Speaker 1: And every since. Did you have intentions to be a singer?
Speaker 1: I always want to be. That's all I ever wanted
Speaker 1: to four. That's all I ever wanted to be. Really. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, but you get older and you realize that's
Speaker 1: never gonna happen, and you gotta get a real job.
Speaker 1: Are you going to do the real job thing? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I want. I wanted to work in, you know, sports,
Speaker 1: something to sports, either radio or televisions or something. We
Speaker 1: have a great voice for it, and I still I
Speaker 1: still want to have a sports talk show someday. I
Speaker 1: want to do that someday. What's your sport? Tire? I
Speaker 1: like them, I like, oh, you know the three majors
Speaker 1: we have here, But football, I live for it. It's
Speaker 1: sometimes it's really why I get out of bed and
Speaker 1: in the morning because football is on that day. Were
Speaker 1: you stoked about the Super Bowl? I wish it had
Speaker 1: been a better game? I was. I was. I'm always
Speaker 1: stoked about Super Bowl because it's the it's the championship
Speaker 1: of my favorite league. But then around two minutes left
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter, I get really sad because I
Speaker 1: realized there's no more football until like September August, and
Speaker 1: and that's always a sad time for me. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: I barely even knew who was playing the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: Only one team really played. Okay, I want to start
Speaker 1: off with some rapid fire. Okay, ready, are your morning
Speaker 1: or night person? Morning. What I've become. I used to
Speaker 1: be a night person. But in my but you can hang,
Speaker 1: I can hang, but I get up. I'm up every
Speaker 1: morning at six six, no matter what I do, and
Speaker 1: I played all four. You don't getting kids at school
Speaker 1: or whatever. But I'm a I'm a morning person. So
Speaker 1: you're just not really a sleep person. Not lately. No,
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't. I don't need eight, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: You don't need eight. No, what can you function on?
Speaker 1: I'm going on about I'm seriously going on about nine
Speaker 1: hours in the last four days right now. So does
Speaker 1: that make you like irritable? I don't think so. You're
Speaker 1: always so pleasant. I try to be when I get
Speaker 1: tired to get irritable, not you. Yeah, when I get tired,
Speaker 1: I just get ut quiet when I get tired, I think. Okay, okay,
Speaker 1: so morning. If you had to be the pet cat
Speaker 1: to any celebrity, who would it be and why? Um?
Speaker 1: If I had to be a cat for any celebrity,
Speaker 1: I would be a cat for for Paul McCartney. Okay,
Speaker 1: So I can hang out with him, your number one. Oh,
Speaker 1: he's my but he's one of the few things on
Speaker 1: my bucket. List is to sit and have a beer
Speaker 1: with part He's my absolutely Al Green is my absolute idolt.
Speaker 1: Al Green is the guy who made me want to sing. Really,
Speaker 1: you know, but I've been lucky fortunate enough to actually
Speaker 1: hang out with at a couple of times. Is that great?
Speaker 1: He's just a great human being and the hope you had.
Speaker 1: Absolutely he was great to be a nice and and
Speaker 1: it was awesome. And but you know, Paul's a close second.
Speaker 1: I just you know, I love Okay, Okay, so he'd
Speaker 1: be his cat. You can stroke me. I'm rubbing up
Speaker 1: against his leg. Okay. Any tattoos or piercings? And three tattoos?
Speaker 1: Two tattoos I got too. I'm getting a third one.
Speaker 1: What are you gonna get? I want to find somebody too?
Speaker 1: And I start cheesy, but and Elvis writing, which is
Speaker 1: from uh, from a lord of the rings? I want
Speaker 1: my three kids names. I love that. Where do you
Speaker 1: want to put it? Probably? And do you have another one?
Speaker 1: I got ah? I thought it was a piece flag
Speaker 1: and uh, this this is flag. I have my arm.
Speaker 1: It's red, golden green, and uh and in the corner
Speaker 1: where the stars are I put a piece sign and
Speaker 1: one day to get out of the shower and my
Speaker 1: wife goes this, I thought you said you got the
Speaker 1: peace flag. I said that. I just no, you didn't
Speaker 1: you get the Mercedes's flag. And I looked at I
Speaker 1: realized they didn't put the line down the middle. So
Speaker 1: I do have the Mercedes bens for do you drive Mercedes?
Speaker 1: She does, Okay, you get free Mercedes if you put
Speaker 1: it on your arms. Agree. I agree, that's amazing. Okay,
Speaker 1: what do you consider your greatest achievement? Oh, my grace
Speaker 1: achievements and my kids really yeah, I mean, you know
Speaker 1: Carrie who's in college now, I'm so proud of her.
Speaker 1: She struggled through a lot of hard times in school
Speaker 1: and now she's blossomed into such a wonderful, beautiful woman
Speaker 1: being in college and just enjoying herself. And my other
Speaker 1: you know, Danny and Jack are just such a great
Speaker 1: It's that they're definitely my my that's the best thing
Speaker 1: I've ever done. Awesome. Did you always know you wanted
Speaker 1: kids to Absolutely? Was it hard to have kids touring?
Speaker 1: It wasn't hard. I mean it wasn't. It was hard
Speaker 1: with carry to be honest with you, because who do
Speaker 1: you be tourd so different country guys that like, I'd
Speaker 1: go for six months and I'd go for Seriously, I'd
Speaker 1: go for a month while I'm coming home and then
Speaker 1: you come home and you know, you're home for three
Speaker 1: days and then you're back out for three weeks. You know,
Speaker 1: we don't do that in country, thank goodness. But it's tough.
Speaker 1: Then now it's just great. I mean, you know, I
Speaker 1: played tour in the summer and on the weekends, and
Speaker 1: you know, the kids want to go my son's and
Speaker 1: you know, you know, it was with me the whole time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's come out and they come out with me. So
Speaker 1: that's always fun. Okay, So country touring is a little
Speaker 1: more family. Absolutely, absolutely no doubt about that. Yeah, okay, okay,
Speaker 1: So you met in the shower with your band? Were
Speaker 1: they actually in the shower with you know? I was
Speaker 1: just me and he said he. I came out of
Speaker 1: the bathroom and he was his door just happened to
Speaker 1: be right by the shower, and I came out of
Speaker 1: the bathroom. He was standing in this door and yeah,
Speaker 1: that's when he said, Yo, were you are you singing? Man? Yeah? Wait?
Speaker 1: So then you all wrote together are like a unit?
Speaker 1: You always right together. We're ben Yeah. We we always
Speaker 1: you know, we do pretty much everything. Yeah, yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 1: And in nineteen was a nice to night. Four here
Speaker 1: comes cracked you. Yeah, did you see that coming? Still
Speaker 1: do believe it? Sixteen million albums, Still don't believe it.
Speaker 1: I mean, that has to be in the highest selling
Speaker 1: albums of all times. It's it's up there. We uh,
Speaker 1: you know, we had been a band for nine years,
Speaker 1: eight years, eight nine years. We've been a band before
Speaker 1: we got a record deal, and and we had seen
Speaker 1: it going from being you know, the biggest band in
Speaker 1: my dorm room, to being the biggest band in our dorm,
Speaker 1: to being the biggest band in our college. They allege, yeah,
Speaker 1: you play frat parties all the time in the clubs
Speaker 1: and everything and all that stuff. And then you know,
Speaker 1: then the biggest band in Colombia, then the biggest ban
Speaker 1: of South Carolina, and then we were the biggest band
Speaker 1: in the Southeast that didn't have a record deal. And
Speaker 1: so we'd watched our careers climb. So we got a
Speaker 1: record deal. We just thought, you know, okay, this is
Speaker 1: just another step in our career. But then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, but David Letterman show happened, and we we
Speaker 1: went to bed that night, We went to bed being
Speaker 1: hooting the both fish and the next day we woke
Speaker 1: up about to be one of the biggest bands in
Speaker 1: the world. Was crazy. How did that feel? How do
Speaker 1: you handle that? Were you ready for it? Oh? I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't think we had to be. We didn't. We
Speaker 1: were lucky. We had four guys who were so close
Speaker 1: and so on each other, so on top of each
Speaker 1: other that nobody could get a big at or get
Speaker 1: you know, I mean we we remember when a Dean
Speaker 1: put on a black T shirt for the first time.
Speaker 1: I think he took five hours of us just killing them.
Speaker 1: Oh you're rocked, or now, oh you know you're cool
Speaker 1: black T shirt where you're golf and that because and
Speaker 1: so there was no time. And for us, we want
Speaker 1: the road so much, there was no time. We we
Speaker 1: didn't see the record sales going crazy. We saw our
Speaker 1: record at number one every week in the billboard, but
Speaker 1: we didn't see it. I mean, the money was going
Speaker 1: in the bank and we were just in the road.
Speaker 1: All we knew was these shows a getting bigger and
Speaker 1: this is all you know, That's all we knew. And
Speaker 1: that's that was great. So off that record you had
Speaker 1: hold my hand, only want to be with you. I
Speaker 1: gotta say that was my theme song. I let her
Speaker 1: cry in time for those four singles. Those four singles,
Speaker 1: huge songs, Yeah, big records, right, I mean yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean a couple of those songs are probably and you
Speaker 1: know they are an American songbook, you know, to be
Speaker 1: around for a while. And and uh, you know, I
Speaker 1: was a great feeling watching those and and we came
Speaker 1: along at such a perfect time. It was timing more
Speaker 1: than I don't do you think that's timing. Yeah, the
Speaker 1: record was good, but it wasn't sixty yes, you know,
Speaker 1: and and uh and you know, grunge was big, and
Speaker 1: you know, record sales were dipping and nobody was you know,
Speaker 1: and drunge was out and everybody was tired of being
Speaker 1: sad and piste off. And we came out and said
Speaker 1: old my hand, and the world said, okay, so what
Speaker 1: inspired you to write that? Sony drummer actually brought that one.
Speaker 1: He wrote that one. That's that's a good story here here. Uh.
Speaker 1: We were we our first drummer was leaving and we
Speaker 1: were auditioning in drummers and Sony came by the house
Speaker 1: and uh, he played with us auditions and then he said,
Speaker 1: I got the song on what you guys do here
Speaker 1: because I want to start doing the original music and
Speaker 1: he played all my hand. We were like, really, Dropper,
Speaker 1: that's amazing. Okay, So you guys going to do five
Speaker 1: studio albums. I don't know who you did, but five
Speaker 1: songs about right? I really don't. Okay, after that happens,
Speaker 1: you guys going to tour forever. Then you're like, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna just pull a Houdini and go country because I'm
Speaker 1: such a badass, Like why not just start from the
Speaker 1: bottom again. In Radney Foster, Dney Foster, he came out
Speaker 1: with his first solo record called Dario Texas nineteen and
Speaker 1: I'll never I'll never forget the first time I heard
Speaker 1: that record. The first time I that record, I said, Man,
Speaker 1: I want saying country someday because I thought the record
Speaker 1: was so great. And I mean I had been a
Speaker 1: fan growing up. I was a big Kenny Rogers guy,
Speaker 1: and you know, the opery was all you know, we
Speaker 1: listened to it on the week, you know, because it
Speaker 1: was for me. It was a lot of music and
Speaker 1: I always wanted to hear a lot of music and
Speaker 1: you could find you know, I was a M radio guy.
Speaker 1: That's who old lam. I was an AM radio. I
Speaker 1: just love it. And and you I know all the
Speaker 1: history of the opera too, Yeah I do. I know
Speaker 1: I studied some of that stuff. But uh, then I
Speaker 1: just and then we toured every year and one day, Sony,
Speaker 1: our drummers, said, I just don't want to toever you.
Speaker 1: I don't want to be a touring band like that anymore.
Speaker 1: And so yeah, you got tired of it. And and
Speaker 1: so for us from I was like, Okay, I guess
Speaker 1: I'm gonna try to make a record country record. What's
Speaker 1: the rest of the band fine with it? Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean we weren't gonna play, you know, we were taking time. Also, Yeah,
Speaker 1: everybody go do whatever you wanna do. You're like, I'm
Speaker 1: still ready to do this. Yeah I was. I'd always
Speaker 1: felt and like i't even said it to my accounting
Speaker 1: a few times. I I've always said, I don't think
Speaker 1: my career is over. You know, I don't think we're done.
Speaker 1: I don't think I'm done. And and uh, you know
Speaker 1: McGee being a great manager, they are, they got me
Speaker 1: a record deal with Capital because I say it all
Speaker 1: the time, I wouldn't given me a record deal because
Speaker 1: who's gonna give the black lead singer of a once
Speaker 1: huge band who's now they're still doing great. You know,
Speaker 1: they're still doing great touring business. But you know, nobody's
Speaker 1: putting their records on the radio anymore, and any new
Speaker 1: records on the radio anymore. You know, they they've had
Speaker 1: that run. And why would you give the black lead
Speaker 1: singer of that band of deal in country music when
Speaker 1: there hasn't been a black man with a hit and
Speaker 1: country music in twenty five years. But you said it, yeah,
Speaker 1: I said, but they gave me a deal. I still
Speaker 1: and I still say thank you to Mike Dungan all
Speaker 1: the time because he he said he went into UH
Speaker 1: the day the night he decided to give me a deal.
Speaker 1: He went into his offices and he pulled his all
Speaker 1: his vps and his main staff and and he they
Speaker 1: all sat in the room and he said, I want
Speaker 1: you guys to know that I'm gonna I think I
Speaker 1: want to sign it. There. Strucker and one of the
Speaker 1: guys that and everybody in that room told him it
Speaker 1: was the worst idea you've ever had, But it feels
Speaker 1: like a great idea. It wasn't the end, but I
Speaker 1: think on this and I understood why the it's it's
Speaker 1: it's amazing because even when I started a radio tour
Speaker 1: and stuff, I had guys who are now my friends,
Speaker 1: really said I thought I'd never played you because I
Speaker 1: just didn't think my audience would accept an African American
Speaker 1: country scer. So had you written country songs before he
Speaker 1: started the country promises? Listen to someone the Hooty Records
Speaker 1: and all those country songs and on I brought all
Speaker 1: those songs in, you know, yeah, so, but when you
Speaker 1: started the country process, had you started the songwriting process?
Speaker 1: So this was just like I came in and yeah,
Speaker 1: And did you get hooked up in the community with
Speaker 1: the writers or have you found people you loved try with.
Speaker 1: I love writing with so many other guys, your rivers, Ruther,
Speaker 1: for Tim James, actually Gorley, you know, Kristin Bog. I'm
Speaker 1: leaving session's started name names because there's there's probably thirty
Speaker 1: guys in town that could call me anytime and say
Speaker 1: let's write now. I will make I'll clear my schedule
Speaker 1: to go work with them because I says, great guys
Speaker 1: and great writers. So you agreed to start back at
Speaker 1: the bottom. Yeah, that was actually that was my idea.
Speaker 1: How have you just like the biggest star on Earth
Speaker 1: held so sixteen million records and now you're going to
Speaker 1: start back at the bottom and country music. I had
Speaker 1: to prove yourself. Actually went into the office for my
Speaker 1: first meeting and I told them I want to do
Speaker 1: a radio tour, which shocked them. They didn't think I
Speaker 1: would because you know, because you know, you just said,
Speaker 1: didn't think I would getting a car and drive around
Speaker 1: the four radio stations a day work and it's current work.
Speaker 1: And I said, I want to be And I even
Speaker 1: told the guys that booked me, and I said, look,
Speaker 1: I want to be a baby man. I don't I
Speaker 1: don't want you guys to go out and say, you know,
Speaker 1: you should headline or where he'd be in the middle
Speaker 1: because of who you both said. No, I said, I'll
Speaker 1: take baby mad money and first and my first tour
Speaker 1: was first three. My first tour was I was first,
Speaker 1: it was Dirk, then Brad, Yeah, you were first thirty minutes,
Speaker 1: thirty minutes. Absolutely, I wanted to do that. I wanted
Speaker 1: to do I wanted Nashville to see that I wasn't
Speaker 1: coming in here as a store. I was coming in
Speaker 1: here as the new guy, and I was gonna work
Speaker 1: my way up. I wasn't expecting them to give me anything.
Speaker 1: I was gonna earn everything I got. And where does
Speaker 1: that mentality come from? Growing up where I did. I
Speaker 1: grew up with nothing, you know, and I don't want
Speaker 1: anybody give me anything because when you work for it's
Speaker 1: it's not better. So you want to So yeah, I
Speaker 1: want to touch me to know that. First of all,
Speaker 1: I want to know this wasn't a one off, and
Speaker 1: I wasn't coming in just took carpet bag and have
Speaker 1: a couple of hits and go back to pop. And
Speaker 1: you know, I wanted to come here and be part
Speaker 1: of country music, and so I felt the way to
Speaker 1: do that was to start from the bottom. I mean
Speaker 1: going to bottom and humble yourself and and lose money.
Speaker 1: Because I wasn't gonna fire from fire my crew. I
Speaker 1: was gonna keep the same cruise. So I was gonna
Speaker 1: have to lose money to do this. But it was like,
Speaker 1: let's work at us, work from the bottom up, and
Speaker 1: in the long run, I think it'll be better. And you,
Speaker 1: like I said earlier, you know the grand old offers
Speaker 1: so well you got accepted. How is that one of
Speaker 1: the things when I got here, I told I told
Speaker 1: my management, I said, I really I want to play
Speaker 1: the opera as much as I can't. Guess who do
Speaker 1: we try to play operate? We asked several times and
Speaker 1: said no because we were rock banded. We understood that,
Speaker 1: and but we really want and we never got to
Speaker 1: play it. And so I really told him I want
Speaker 1: to play the opera as much as I can. And
Speaker 1: that day I'll never forget that day. I was, you know,
Speaker 1: you go once, just another day at the opera for me,
Speaker 1: which I love. It's always surreal out there and I
Speaker 1: love it. And you know, they before I walked out,
Speaker 1: they set up we're gonna have a question and answer
Speaker 1: period after you you know, in the middle of your
Speaker 1: said no, and I thought it myself, I've never seen that.
Speaker 1: That's never happened. I think middle of the yeah, I
Speaker 1: was like, that's never had it. But if you guys
Speaker 1: want to do it, cool. So I get out there
Speaker 1: and the lady gets up and asked me a question
Speaker 1: and ask it and then another lady asked me a
Speaker 1: question to answer it, and then Brad Paisley stands up,
Speaker 1: and I thought I thought it was a practical joke
Speaker 1: because I thought I was like a dizzy old me
Speaker 1: because I think I might be one up on him,
Speaker 1: and I think you and I'm really said, I'm thinking
Speaker 1: this is gonna be funny. That's what I'm thinking. I'm
Speaker 1: about to get God. And when he said, uh, hopkin
Speaker 1: emotional right now? When he said do you want to
Speaker 1: be a part of the Grand Old Army? That was huge?
Speaker 1: So what were the waves of emotions? It was? It
Speaker 1: was like how crazy? Yeah, and and and and he
Speaker 1: at the time and still now he was probably my
Speaker 1: best friend in the business. Really yeah, you know, and
Speaker 1: we talked all the time and text all time. And
Speaker 1: it was one of those things where if they had
Speaker 1: asked me who I wanted to do that, it would
Speaker 1: have been Brad Paisley. And for him to be doing
Speaker 1: that and for me to becoming a member of the
Speaker 1: opera that was just huge for me. That was huge.
Speaker 1: It was such a great day. Could you believe at
Speaker 1: that moment what you had accomplished your work ethic and
Speaker 1: your determination, like you started over in a genre, you
Speaker 1: conquered rock, you started over in a genre, and now
Speaker 1: you're accepted into the most prestigious club and country music. Yeah,
Speaker 1: pretty crazy. That's unbelievable. It was, it was, and it
Speaker 1: still is, and it's it's one of those things where
Speaker 1: you know, as I always tell my kids, you know,
Speaker 1: you gotta work for it, and and and that's that's
Speaker 1: that's just a great example of because I think some
Speaker 1: people if they'd come, if they were me and they'd
Speaker 1: come over the country, they would come over with a
Speaker 1: different attitude, like, you know, I've already proved myself, so
Speaker 1: pretty many records, you know, come on, you know, you
Speaker 1: guys just need to let me in play, you know.
Speaker 1: But that wasn't who it was because these people didn't
Speaker 1: have to play me. I mean, I could have come
Speaker 1: and put out two records and not had a top twenty.
Speaker 1: You had three number ones right off, three number ones
Speaker 1: of the first record that was crazy number one can
Speaker 1: you see? One was don't I don't think about it
Speaker 1: for long, and the other one was all right yeah,
Speaker 1: and then you also a history of the making history
Speaker 1: that was on there too, and that was the top
Speaker 1: five was the number three, So you basically had four
Speaker 1: number ones. You came in, started the bottom, got four
Speaker 1: number ones. Were you like, holy shit? Yes, I'm still
Speaker 1: like holy shit. You know me seriously, for me, it's
Speaker 1: when don't think about the number one. It was like,
Speaker 1: are you because that's just not what I just didn't
Speaker 1: That wasn't what my thinking. I was thinking. I was
Speaker 1: really thinking, you know, let's get this. If we can
Speaker 1: get this into the top twenty, maybe the top ten,
Speaker 1: don't let me make another record, And you know, that's great.
Speaker 1: I got somebody paying for my records. I don't have
Speaker 1: to make it myself. That's that's awesome. And that's what
Speaker 1: I'm thinking. And then all of a sudden gets to
Speaker 1: number one, and I'm like, you know, you're you're freaking out.
Speaker 1: And then it's a two week number one and you're,
Speaker 1: oh my goodness. And then you know, then the other
Speaker 1: songs keep going up the charts and all everything starts happening,
Speaker 1: and then you know, I get the get the Rascal
Speaker 1: Flats tour and then and going out and doing that
Speaker 1: and get it was it was. It was a fun run.
Speaker 1: So you had three number ones? What drives you? What
Speaker 1: is your motto? Where does this come from, Like you said,
Speaker 1: you're where you're from hardware. I feel like, what is
Speaker 1: your did you just have a con vision board and
Speaker 1: you're like, I'm going to accomplish this. Um, I don't
Speaker 1: even not a vision board. It's more like it's more like,
Speaker 1: once I decided I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna If
Speaker 1: I don't, just won't stop it because I didn't work
Speaker 1: for it. Okay, you know, if I don't get something,
Speaker 1: if it's not gonna because I didn't work as hard
Speaker 1: as I could to get, it's gonna be just because
Speaker 1: I couldn't get it. But you gave everything, get everything.
Speaker 1: I will. Uh. It took a toll on my life,
Speaker 1: took a toll on the home life because I was
Speaker 1: I was working so much and we don't live here,
Speaker 1: but I had to be here all the time, you know,
Speaker 1: always coming to Nashville, always doing this, and it was
Speaker 1: it was hard work. But you know now it's so
Speaker 1: worth it. Do you have to do music? I don't
Speaker 1: think so anymore. I did for a long time in
Speaker 1: my life, but I'm getting up there now. You know,
Speaker 1: it's Charles Kelly said the most perfect thing. It was.
Speaker 1: It was years ago a couple of years ago and
Speaker 1: when George Street announced that he was gonna retire, and
Speaker 1: Charles and I are sitting around to having a beer
Speaker 1: and he says, Darren, you'ler, what's got in the format?
Speaker 1: I don't think him can't be am. I'm onling, Tim McGraw,
Speaker 1: I'm holding you look younger than everybody was gout in
Speaker 1: the format. And that was funny. That was funny. That's
Speaker 1: kind of nice. You're the patriarch of country music. I
Speaker 1: don't know what that on the grand on the old
Speaker 1: dude in the corner when really there? So after you
Speaker 1: after you hit you in the making, now you've done.
Speaker 1: Is this your fourth year under fourth country, So you've
Speaker 1: almost had as long of a country career as you
Speaker 1: have rockerd Did you ever think that would happen? No? No,
Speaker 1: My goal was to get to let me make to
Speaker 1: the second record after after I got my record deal.
Speaker 1: That's really what I told myself. Let's go work up
Speaker 1: it off and let me make another record because I
Speaker 1: loved that. It was fun. I met Frank Rogers, I
Speaker 1: loved working with them. Things were great, you know, Yeah,
Speaker 1: and so it was it was when it all started,
Speaker 1: when when I told myself earlier, and I was gonna
Speaker 1: get into the number. I didn't want to get into
Speaker 1: the number of this game because when you're when you're
Speaker 1: watching charts of everything, that sucks because they moved so
Speaker 1: slow and you're watching the charts. So I told myself,
Speaker 1: we're gonna get into that, and we didn't. I didn't.
Speaker 1: And and so when I mean people that you could
Speaker 1: have to come up with me and go, you know,
Speaker 1: you got a top ten record again, I was like, cool,
Speaker 1: I didn't know, you know, And I don't think I
Speaker 1: ever saw a number one. It was always somebody calling me, going,
Speaker 1: we number one this week? Cool? Do you set your
Speaker 1: expectations at zero? You work hard, but do you have
Speaker 1: or do you set your expectations? I think something if
Speaker 1: it's a difference that I think in this situation, I
Speaker 1: set my expectation expectations so low because if you looked
Speaker 1: at the picture, it just seemed like to to to
Speaker 1: want seven eight number ones and say I'm want to
Speaker 1: do this and have four number one records that would
Speaker 1: have that just didn't seem to be really feasible. Ye,
Speaker 1: the way this landscape of the whole the whole plane was,
Speaker 1: it just didn't seem like feasible. So I just wanted
Speaker 1: to be a small part of the community. Like you said,
Speaker 1: get somebody to pay for my records. That's all I
Speaker 1: wanted on a team. Yeah, absolutely, I want somebody playing
Speaker 1: my records and and you know, and turn into more net.
Speaker 1: So what's the difference between rock, the rock genre and country?
Speaker 1: What's the one thing about rock? M you can you
Speaker 1: can say anything you know. Rock and pop you can
Speaker 1: say anything you want. Doesn't have to make sense. What
Speaker 1: do you mean, who let Dogs Out? What does that mean?
Speaker 1: My point? Exactly? Huge song? Who let the Dogs Out?
Speaker 1: The number one song? Huge song meant nothing, didn't no meaning?
Speaker 1: And country music and cuntry music, you always have to
Speaker 1: have your song has to have a story. It has
Speaker 1: to mean something. I mean, I listened to even the
Speaker 1: songs that you think are just you know, throw away songs.
Speaker 1: There are songs that are or nothing because they're they're
Speaker 1: so popular whatever. If you listen to the words, the
Speaker 1: words is so great and the story is so great,
Speaker 1: and they're talking about something and I love that. And
Speaker 1: and you always hear about the fan loyalty, and I'll
Speaker 1: tell you that's true. Yeah, it's it's it's it's unbelievable
Speaker 1: loyal country music. I always say, pop and rock is
Speaker 1: always looking for the big the next big thing, and
Speaker 1: country music wants the next big thing. But they also
Speaker 1: want that blanket that's on their bed, that's been keeping
Speaker 1: him warm for three years. You know, who are your
Speaker 1: greatest the biggest idol? Every time I opened my mouth,
Speaker 1: I'm trying to be Raddy Foster. No, trying to be
Speaker 1: You haven't readen a few songs together. He's we've done
Speaker 1: some shows together. He's a friend, and he's that, he's
Speaker 1: a he's said, he's When you talk about meeting the
Speaker 1: guy at him being the way you wanted to be,
Speaker 1: Raddy Foster was the way I wanted to be. He
Speaker 1: want him. He was the nicest human being, so so humble,
Speaker 1: And the first time we met, I told the story.
Speaker 1: I told him the story and uh, he I want
Speaker 1: to see him play when he was in Foster and
Speaker 1: Lloyd in this club and uh I showed up late
Speaker 1: because I was working for selling records and I had
Speaker 1: to close the store down. I showed up and I
Speaker 1: missed my three songs, three or four songs, and I
Speaker 1: get there and of course you don't bars packed. I'm
Speaker 1: the only black at the bar, and you know, to
Speaker 1: make my way up to the front. I'm I mean,
Speaker 1: I get there late, and I make my way up
Speaker 1: to the front because it's Foster and Lloyd Knight missing
Speaker 1: it and I'm up there. And so after about ten songs,
Speaker 1: I'm starting a little buzz, you know, and I'm start
Speaker 1: yelling you play. You can come crying to me. You
Speaker 1: know that. You know they're ignoring me, And so they
Speaker 1: go away, and they do, they do. They're coming back
Speaker 1: from the encore. And when I come away from the encore, sure,
Speaker 1: there's that jerk again in the front row. You know
Speaker 1: why you can come crying to me. So Radney, being
Speaker 1: a nice guy he has, looked over at me, said
Speaker 1: hey man, I think he came in kind of late,
Speaker 1: because you know, we played that earlier the show. And
Speaker 1: I looked at him and say, hey man, I'm the
Speaker 1: only black dude in this place and you made it.
Speaker 1: Tell me you can't play the one song I'm asking
Speaker 1: you to play. And Bill looked at him, goes he
Speaker 1: is and they played it again. They did, yeah, and uh,
Speaker 1: I told him that story, and he couldn't he couldn't
Speaker 1: believe that was me, Like, that was you? He said,
Speaker 1: I've told that story a million times. I didn't know
Speaker 1: that was you. That was me? Yeah, he had known
Speaker 1: that was me. Well, we know we had met. I
Speaker 1: had made it. I mean who he had made it
Speaker 1: at this time. We just store a club band at
Speaker 1: the time. Yeah, we're clumbing it when I when all
Speaker 1: that went down, and so he was like, wow, I
Speaker 1: can't believe that was you. I've told that story a
Speaker 1: million times. It's like, dude, that was me. Full circle circle.
Speaker 1: That comes back around absolutely, And that's kind of interesting
Speaker 1: that Radney Foster is the one you picked because he's
Speaker 1: more obscure. It's not like mainstream country. I think that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think the people I love, I mean, I don't
Speaker 1: mind I like me not. I don't mind that. Then
Speaker 1: I like mainstream country. But the guys that I love,
Speaker 1: I love. I love it Nancy Griffith, I love Dwight Yoakum.
Speaker 1: I love Radney Foster and Lloyd you know those Doc
Speaker 1: Watson country records, like the Portrait and stuff like that,
Speaker 1: those are the records that I love. I just when
Speaker 1: I was just engulfed in that stuff, I wasn't listening
Speaker 1: to a lot of country because I was listening to
Speaker 1: all those records. You're a lyric, yeah, always. What do
Speaker 1: you like to write about? Oh? I like to write
Speaker 1: about everything. You know. It seems like in the first
Speaker 1: record it was I was always writing about life, you know,
Speaker 1: my life and what was going on. And you know,
Speaker 1: later on did you start then you write about stuff
Speaker 1: that happened before or where you are now. But I
Speaker 1: just I'm just like the rite, the long, the lyric
Speaker 1: is good. I like to write it. And then you cut.
Speaker 1: Then outside song that was yeah, which I had always
Speaker 1: love like I had to, but I never thought about
Speaker 1: cutting it. How did you How did that come about? Oh,
Speaker 1: this is a cool story. I was my oldest daughter, Carrie.
Speaker 1: She was at a high school talent show and so
Speaker 1: I want to see it. And I was in the
Speaker 1: middle of making my record, and I went to see
Speaker 1: it and I'm sitting there and uh, the faculty band
Speaker 1: I'm talking about two janitors and like four teachers get
Speaker 1: up their band and they started playing Wagon Wheel and
Speaker 1: they playing it really country with drums and everything. And
Speaker 1: I'm sitting there and going I never heard wagon like that.
Speaker 1: I always thought it was such a bluegrass song. I'd
Speaker 1: never heard of country and they're playing it. In the
Speaker 1: middle of the second verse, I'm texting my texting Frank Rogers,
Speaker 1: my producer, going do you remember that wagon Will song?
Speaker 1: Was like, yeah, you know, I don't think we should
Speaker 1: cut a lot of people cut it, dude, as they
Speaker 1: were cutting it, and we cut it, and that that
Speaker 1: thing to goal. And when we put Lady A on
Speaker 1: it is when I when we first kind of went cool,
Speaker 1: great last song on the record, it would be awesome,
Speaker 1: never thought I'd be a single, and then we put
Speaker 1: Lady A on it and they just went to a
Speaker 1: new level. Okay, So was that one of your biggest songs?
Speaker 1: That was a big song I've hadn't catch a music Yeah, yeah, okay, Um,
Speaker 1: what else? You've been married to the same woman, Beth,
Speaker 1: She's beautiful. You have given me some marriage advice. Do
Speaker 1: you have any marriage advice? Like? How because she's been
Speaker 1: through the whole hooting the bush and says she's been
Speaker 1: We've been gathering seventeen years. How what is the secret? Um?
Speaker 1: You can't. First, of course, love is a secret, is
Speaker 1: one of the secrets. But you have to make time
Speaker 1: for each other. And I mean when from us. So
Speaker 1: you know, it is when you we're on the road
Speaker 1: so much, and now when you have a kids, it's
Speaker 1: not like you can just pack them on the road
Speaker 1: with me, and when their kids got school and everything,
Speaker 1: so we've gotta make time for each other. I think
Speaker 1: our secret is we've both just decided that we're gonna
Speaker 1: stay together. I mean, I'm sure if you ask both
Speaker 1: of us, we could say, yeah, we've both given each
Speaker 1: other reasons we could leave. Well, we could, you know,
Speaker 1: but we've decided to stay together. And it's a commitment,
Speaker 1: and we work. We're working on marriage. It's not easy
Speaker 1: by any stretching imagination. People who don't work on the read.
Speaker 1: You have to work on your marriage like anything else. Absolutely, yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 1: And I think that's and and I think for me,
Speaker 1: it took me a while to get that comming dude,
Speaker 1: you know, and I thought I'm providing them everything is good.
Speaker 1: You know. We have a great life, you know, And
Speaker 1: and no, we have to make it a great life.
Speaker 1: Less I would be great just because we can live
Speaker 1: whereveryone and go whe everyone. It's gotta be great because
Speaker 1: I want to talk to you, you know, I'm little
Speaker 1: similar beach and have a conversation. I'm gonna sit the
Speaker 1: back porch and have a conversation. And that's those are
Speaker 1: the things that are that that keep it together. I
Speaker 1: love that. So I'm looking at your watch. You get
Speaker 1: my husband and a thousand horses first off, Graham, and
Speaker 1: you have a little Goodman bros. The most important member
Speaker 1: of the band. Yes, Like the last Nighter tour when
Speaker 1: they toured the all last year, Darius is like, here's
Speaker 1: the band, a thousand horses and here's the one you
Speaker 1: actually have such a You bought him some shoes. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he wears those things with so much pride because they're
Speaker 1: they're beautiful. Yeah. I have this great company called Old
Speaker 1: Old Store out in California that makes head handmakes these
Speaker 1: and I remember we were hanging out with the horses.
Speaker 1: This one they just got. You know. I love them too. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: That's why I was so disappointed when the toy in
Speaker 1: it last year because I knew we had been on
Speaker 1: tour phones two years together and you know, there were
Speaker 1: boys and you know, and I'm so proud of I'm
Speaker 1: so proud of them, so proud of doing great. I
Speaker 1: love those guys. They are yeah, yeah, And it was
Speaker 1: this thing where I started, and I started with great.
Speaker 1: I started it with Graham, the first guy in the
Speaker 1: band who mentioned my boots. I gave him a pair,
Speaker 1: and so Graham was the first guy who said, uh,
Speaker 1: hey man, I love you boots. You what sizes you wear?
Speaker 1: And he told me, and I don't think you thought
Speaker 1: it was serious. And then the next of my song,
Speaker 1: I want them there, man, here's your boots. And that's
Speaker 1: now a ritual with me, really with Dan and Jay,
Speaker 1: the first one of those guys that go, hey, man,
Speaker 1: I love your boots. They're gonna get a pair of boots.
Speaker 1: That's awesome, that's amazing. Okay, I'm gonna wrap it up
Speaker 1: because I know you got to go do the Grand
Speaker 1: of Office. But I like to end each episode with
Speaker 1: a little segment called leave your Light, So like, leave
Speaker 1: me some inspiration, um, leave you some huh. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm looking I'm looking around at the world and everything
Speaker 1: has happened. I was talking about this last night. So many,
Speaker 1: so many disasters and so many bad things happened, and
Speaker 1: you know, I just I think the more you can
Speaker 1: be nice or be good to one person at a time,
Speaker 1: the better the world is going to be. And there's
Speaker 1: so many people go through life, go through a day
Speaker 1: and not once doing something nice for somebody else. And
Speaker 1: I think every day trying to do one good thing.
Speaker 1: If it's just you know, if it's just shake off
Speaker 1: somebody's hand, or pat somebody in the back, or you know,
Speaker 1: as somebody, you know you have a good day to day,
Speaker 1: do something nice for somebody every day at least once.
Speaker 1: I love that. Well, you actually have reputation to be
Speaker 1: one of the nicest man in country music. Thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you, Thank you, Darius, She's a queen. Thank you
Speaker 1: guys so much for tuning in to Hyper Caroline Hobby.
Speaker 1: I hope you love tearing from Darius Rucker. His story
Speaker 1: is so inspiring and he's such a hard worker. He's
Speaker 1: done so many amazing things, but he's definitely busted his
Speaker 1: ass doing it. And I hope that his story has
Speaker 1: put some inspiration in your life and gotten you hyper
Speaker 1: about your own dreams, and I hope you get out
Speaker 1: there and chase them. Our next guest next week is
Speaker 1: Fancy and he is hilarious, fantastic, fabulous, fearless, everything you
Speaker 1: can imagine from someone named Fancy and we laughed our
Speaker 1: asses off. It is probably one of the funniest interviews
Speaker 1: I've ever done. We almost got eaten alive by a spider.
Speaker 1: You don't want to miss it. Tune in next Wednesday
Speaker 1: for Who Is Fancy? And tune in every Wednesday from
Speaker 1: here on out to the end of time because I
Speaker 1: will be having a new podcast every Wednesday. And don't
Speaker 1: forget to subscribe to hyper Killing Hobby by y'all. M
Speaker 1: m hm