Hootie who? Blowfish lead vocalist goes country

By Jerry Fink

Wednesday, April 22, 2009 | 2 a.m.

You and I know him as the lead singer of Hootie and the Blowfish.

But at this moment on the other end of the phone, Darius Rucker is just an excited sports fan. He just witnessed an upset at the Family Circle Cup tennis tournament.

“I just saw Venus Williams lose to Sabine Lisicki,” Rucker says from courtside. Williams was the No. 2 seed; Lisicki, No. 16. “This is only a couple of miles from my house,” in his hometown of Charleston, S.C.

With that out of the way, Rucker gets down to talking about his latest career curve — as a country star.

He performs Friday at the Silverton, but not with Hootie and the Blowfish, which had become a New Year’s Eve fixture at the resort.

Hootie, formed by four friends from the University of South Carolina, reached No. 1 with its first two albums, “Cracked Rear View” and “Fairweather Johnson,” and had such hit singles as “Hold My Hand,” “Let Her Cry,” “Only Wanna Be With You,” “Time” and “I Go Blind.”

But the 42-year-old singer put the Blowfish on the shelf last year to explore his country roots.

He signed with Capitol Records Nashville and released a solo album, “Learn to Live,” which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard country chart. The album’s first two singles, “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It” and “It Won’t Be Like This for Long,” also reached No. 1 — a first for a black artist since Ray Charles (“Seven Spanish Angels,” his duet with Willie Nelson, in 1985) and for a black solo artist since Charley Pride (“Night Games” and “Why Baby Why” in 1983).

It seemed natural for Rucker.

“Where I grew up in the ’70s, you could hear Stevie Wonder and Buck Owens on the same station,” Rucker says. Charleston was a melting pot of music, “and country was a big part of it. I’m glad I grew up that way.”

He decided to pursue country when Hootie and the Blowfish were taking a break. “I knew then it was about time to do it,” Rucker says.

Hootie and the Blowfish haven’t broken up, Rucker says. “We’ve done six charity concerts in the past two weeks.” (The band is well known for its charity shows and golf tournament.) Despite some early reports, the band may record and tour in the future, he says.

But for now Hootie is a country singer. Rucker will tour this summer with Rascal Flatts, which has the current No. 1 album and country song.

“The great thing about country music is that it runs the gamut,” Rucker says. “You have country guys like Brad Paisley and George Strait making traditional albums and Rascal Flatts and Carrie Underwood making pop and Billy Currington doing country soul.”

Rucker says he’s equally at home with the full range of country sounds.

“I’m a little bit of it all,” he says.