Music

In the opening chapters of Darius Rucker’s new memoir, Life’s Too Short, out earlier this week via Dey Street Books, the three-time-Grammy-winning lead singer of Hootie & the Blowfish and successful country solo artist details a near-death experience in the late 1990s, when actor Woody Harrelson saved him from drowning near Harrelson’s home in Hawaii.

“I hear Woody from Cheers, simple, direct, a little goofy,” Rucker writes in his book, recalling the actor saying, “’Die? S–t. Not on my watch.’” (They later traveled to Willie Nelson’s Hawaii home to play golf with Nelson and Kris Kristofferson).

Elsewhere in the first pages of the book, he recounts the time a roadie who had spent time working with well-known rock bands took a look at what Rucker describes as “the mountain range of the snowy-peaked white powder we’d laid out on the table in front of us,” with the roadie saying, “I’ve been around a lot of bands and nobody comes close to you guys, not close.’”

From stories of celebrity pals to tales of intense drug use, Rucker’s memoir makes it clear that the South Carolina native with the distinct, honeyed voice is holding nothing back.

“I wanted to open the book that way to break the ice, to let people know this was going to be a book about real s–t that happened in my life,’” Rucker tells Billboard.

Rucker opens up about his life story, as the youngest of five children being raised by a single mother in Charleston, South Carolina. He describes growing up in a working-class household and first realizing his vocal gift at age six, while performing Al Green songs in his living room for his mother and her friends.

In 1986, while attending the University of South Carolina, Rucker teamed with Mark Bryan, Brantley Smith and Dean Felber, forming the band Hootie & the Blowfish (Smith soon left the group and was replaced by Jim “Soni” Sonefeld). They garnered a following as a regional act, performing in dive bars and frat houses. The band’s 1993 homespun EP, Kootchypop, included “Hold My Hand” and “Only Wanna Be With You” — songs that would later be included on the group’s Atlantic Records major label debut, 1994’s Cracked Rear View.

That debut LP went on to become one of the defining albums of the 1990s, being certified 21 times platinum by the RIAA and spawning three Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hits (“Only Wanna Be With You,” “Hold My Hand” and ‘Let Her Cry”) in less than a year. The band’s acoustic-driven, pop-laced songs upended the melancholy grunge rock sound that had dominated music culture in the early-mid 1990s, but also drew intense vitriol from critics.

Still, the band found champions within the industry from day one — including David Crosby, who lent background vocals to “Hold My Hand.”

“We’re this little pop-rock band from South Carolina and as soon as we got to Los Angeles to write a record, a friend of our A&R guy said, ‘I want to get David Crosby to sing on the record,’” Rucker recalls of the recording. “I was like, ‘Yeah, right. Nobody knows who the hell we are.’ But sure enough, one day she walked in with David Crosby and he was awesome. He was exactly what we needed at the time. It was just great to be with him and when he started singing on the record, it was just amazing.”

Rucker says in writing Life’s Too Short with author Alan Eisenstock, he aimed for the book to seem like he was sitting down with the reader at a favorite bar, swapping stories over a few drinks. He began working on the book nearly two years ago, though he says various companies had brought up the idea to him for years.

“I always said I wouldn’t do it until my kids were old enough to read it,” Rucker says, referring to his three adult children. “If I was going to do it, I was going to tell the truth, so I felt I’d know when it was time.”

Rucker’s memoir pulls back the curtain on a life that has been filled with lofty career highs, but also relational hardships. He explores his complex relationship with his older brother Ricky, as well as the impact of Ricky’s death after falling and hitting his head while intoxicated. Rucker also addresses his estranged relationship with his father, who was largely absent from Rucker’s life, and writes about the 1992 death of his mother Carolyn, who died of a heart attack before Hootie & the Blowfish ever made it to the big leagues. Carolyn is the namesake of Rucker’s 2023 country album Carolyn’s Boy.

“That was tough to take, because we were playing these s–tholes,” Rucker recalls. “I wish she’d gotten to see us play the bigger stuff, but I know she did. That was tough to write. Everything I put in there, it’s like, ‘Should I put it in or should I not?’ I wouldn’t say it was great to relive it again, but it was healthy to live it again and see it now that it was a long time ago. It was therapy and it was hard, but I’m glad I did.”

Throughout the book, Rucker traces his life’s story through the lens of 23 songs that pulled him in and left an indelible imprint over the years, punctuating the memories and milestones with songs including The Black Crowes’ “She Talks to Angels,” KISS’ “Detroit Rock City,” Al Green’s “For the Good Times” and Lady A’s “Need You Now.”

Rucker explores the swift rise of Hootie & the Blowfish, starting with their life-changing 1994 performance of “Hold My Hand” on The David Letterman Show (in 2015, the band bookended that experience by performing on one of the show’s final episodes, 21 years after their initial debut). He also describes the arc of the Hootie & the Blowfish members’ relationships with each other as the years passed and they matured into various stages of life, detailing the band’s hiatus in 2008 and their reunion in 2019 for the Group Therapy Tour, commemorating the 25th anniversary of Cracked Rear View.

“Mark [Bryan] and I had one moment, 39 years ago, and since then, there’s never been a bad argument,” Rucker recalls. “There’s never been a fight, never been any of that stuff. We just don’t do that. We have too much respect for each other, and that’s why we can not play together for five years, 15 years, and then get back together and play again. We have so much respect for each other.”

When Hootie & the Blowfish went on hiatus, Rucker used the time to pursue his lifelong love of country music. In the book, Rucker writes that he was well aware of the obstacles as a Black artist pursuing a career in country music — even with his pop star bona fides. “The country music world will never accept a Black country singer…happened exactly once, Charley Pride. He made it big…but that was 25 years ago. Sorry Darius, it can’t happen,” he wrote about the thinking at the time.

“People think I’m kidding, but I really didn’t expect any success,” he tells Billboard. “I just wanted to come here [to Nashville] and do a couple of records, even if I had to do it myself.”

He didn’t have to make the record by himself — his then-manager, Doc McGhee, landed Rucker a deal with one of the biggest country music labels, Capitol Records Nashville, led by then-chairman/CEO Mike Dungan. In the book, Rucker writes that Dungan called 13 “tastemakers” in Nashville, noting that all but one — producer/songwriter Frank Rogers — told him that the prospect of signing Rucker was unlikely to be a successful venture. Dungan signed Rucker anyway, while Rogers has been a mainstay writer-producer with Rucker since his 2008 country debut Learn to Live. Rogers also produced Rucker’s first single to country radio, “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It.”

“To get Mike to believe in me and back me the way he did, and Capitol, it was a game-changer,” Rucker says. “Mike truly championed me when a lot of people were telling him it would never happen. Frank championed me. It’s very sweet to look back on that and know that a lot of people were saying ‘It’s never going to work’ — but here we are, 16 years later.”

When promoting “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It” to country radio, Rucker put in the work, too, spending six weeks on a radio tour, and personally visiting more than 100 stations.

It was during a radio station visit in Tampa, Florida in October 2008, that Rucker was told that “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It” became his first No. 1 country radio hit. With that, Rucker also became the first Black solo artist to earn a No. 1 on the Country Airplay chart since Charley Pride rose to the top spot with “Night Games” in 1983. The song spent two weeks at No. 1.

“It paid off. It worked. I remember I cried when I found out,” Rucker recalls.

Now, 16 years later, Rucker has earned nine Country Airplay No. 1s, including the three-week 2009 chart-topper “It Won’t Be Like This For Long.” His remake of Old Crow Medicine Show’s “Wagon Wheel” was certified Diamond by the RIAA and spent two weeks atop the Country Airplay chart in 2013.

For Rucker, one of the most defining moments of his country music career was when Brad Paisley invited him to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry on Oct. 2, 2012, and he was inducted two weeks later.

“I had played the Opry every chance I got for six or seven years,” Rucker recalls. “It was important to me and I loved it. But getting to be a member of the Opry — that’s really where I thought, ‘Okay, I’m in. I’m part of country music.’”

Given how music serves as a vessel guiding the chapters of the book, Rucker says he and his team considered recording a companion album, with Rucker performing the songs listed throughout the book, but that they ultimately decided against it. Still, he says, “I’ve thought about doing a covers record, just a whole bunch of songs that I love. That’s probably something I’ll do down the line.”

More than anything, Rucker hopes readers take away from his journey “that it’s a real story, and it’s a story of American triumph.”