Grammy Award winner and Muti-Platinum singer, songwriter and guitarist of American rock band Hootie & the Blowfish and Country music artist. Darius Rucker has quite the success in rock, R&B and country genre. We had the chance to sit down and talk with him about the challenges of changing genres.

Darius explains, “The biggest change was in the thought process, Hootie was a band, so we made all the decisions together. We would be like ‘Let’s vote,’ and all that stuff. It’s really four guys. And when you come out here by yourself, every decision was mine. It was different and crazy at first. Pretty overwhelming, but once I started having fun with it, and things started going well, and I got my record deal, it was pretty easy to get right into that role. I mean, I love it and I still love playing with Hootie, but I love doing this.”

Darius has accomplished more than just about anybody that I know, other than Charlie Pride, as far as being a black male in the business and having success in another band, he has been able to achieve more than most could possibly imagine. Darius tells us, “It’s been a crazy run to come over here, coming to Nashville and do something I was really just going to do with my buddies in my basement. Then I get a record deal and have all the success. It’s been crazy, because if you look at all the road blocks that were up there, coming over from another genre, which is always a road block, coming over as the African-American kid, that could be a roadblock too, but it all just worked out. It was the songs and the people knew that I really loved country music. I wasn’t here trying to carpetbag or anything. It was music I really loved, and it just all worked.”

We asked Darius what a normal day for him looked like when he is on the road touring and he said, “A normal day, I usually wake up at the golf course, play a round of golf, come back and work out, do some interviews or whatever, take a nap, get up, and it’s show time. That’s a normal day right there!” When performing live, we asked if there was any songs that he liked performing more than others. He said, “For me, it’s always a song that the crowd wants to hear the most. And when you’re playing the hits, people just get so excited. I’m not one of those guys who doesn’t like playing the hits. I love playing my hits, I still love all those Hootie songs I play. So for me, it’s all about playing what they want to hear. You can have fun in between those songs, but I always make sure I play the ones they want.”

Darius has released his seventh studio album and fifth solo country album, “When Was the Last Time” back in Oct 2017, which has the song “For The First Time,” as well as “If I Told You.” “If I Told You” from his latest album was the big hit single and it debuted at No.1 on Country Music charts. Darius said, “I did an old Drivin’ N’ Cryin’ song called “Straight to Hell,” where Luke Bryan, Charles Kelly and Jason Aldean all performed.” Darius recently released the video for his latest single and video “Straight to Hell,” which features Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean and Charles Kelly in the video.

Darius is involved in many, many projects. One of those is a charity event to raise funds for St. Jude’s. He tells us, “Brooks & Dunn came out and played along with Luke Combs, Michael Ray and Dan + Shay. It was a big, big night. We had a good time and it’s always great to raise money for St. Jude’s like that. It’s always fun to be able to do that, then go have a golf tournament the next day and raise some good money for a great organization.” Darius has also teamed up with the Wounded Warrior’s Foundation and gave some veterans the keys to a free house which he says, “It is always a great thing that I get to do every now and then with another great organization. That was really cool to see how excited they were and to just be a part of that.”

As if we couldn’t love Darius Rucker anymore, he got to be on Undercover Boss and tells us about that experience and says, “It was fun, it was long, like eight or nine days we did that. I mean every day, it was like three hours in the chair and put that makeup on. But it was fun just getting to go into places where nobody knew who I was and trying to find some singers that really inspired me and moved me.”

Even with all his experience, you wouldn’t think that Darius would get nervous playing at the Grand Ole Opry, but he says, “I played there so many times and still, you get up there, and it’s nerve-racking because of the people that played there before you. And even the people who were playing that night. It’s always a great bill, but it’s still pretty nerve-racking getting up on that stage. Getting in that circle is pretty awesome!”

Don’t miss Darius Rucker and Lady Antebellum on their co-headlining the “Summer Plays On Tour” which will be at the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre in Tampa, FL on September 28th.