Darius Rucker Was Told By Some Radio Stations Their ‘Audience Would Never Accept A Black Country Singer’ When He Was Starting Out In Genre
10.08.2023 - 17:43
/ etcanada.com
Darius Rucker didn’t think he’d have much success as a Black person starting out in country music all those years ago.
The musician — who is set to release his first solo album in six years, Carolyn’s Boy, in October — chatted to ET Canada’s Jed Tavernier while in Niagara Falls performing at Fallsview Casino.
As Tavernier questioned whether it was “scary” for him as a person of colour branching into country after Hootie & the Blowfish, Rucker responded: “I wasn’t worried about it ’cause I just want to make records, you know? I mean, I wasn’t sitting around going, ‘Oh my God, you know, I’m going to be the Black guy in country.'”
READ MORE: Darius Rucker Freaks Out Fans By Pretending To Be A Wax Sculpture At Madame Tussauds
Rucker admitted, “To be honest with you, I didn’t think I would have much success. And when I started doing the radio stations and stuff, you know, I had people say to me, to my face, you know, ‘My audience would never accept a Black country singer.’
“That’s something that I was like, ‘Okay, just play the record, let’s see?’ And then they did. And ‘Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It’ went to number one. But… there was nobody that looked like me in country music, and so I didn’t expect to be the one to break down the wall.
“But, you know, here we are. And I love seeing Kane [Brown] and, you know, all those guys over there [who are having] all this great success. You know, that’s great to see and I’m proud that I was part of that.”
READ MORE: Who Is Jelly Roll? Everything To Know About Country Music’s Hottest New Phenom
Rucker said of what advice he would give to anyone wanting to follow in his footsteps, “My advice is don’t be as worried as you used to be, you know, because you see all the