Billboard caught up with the country star Darius Rucker, who is about to release a new album titled Southern Style, to talk about balancing family and career and his Southern pride.
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Most country stars record in Nashville, which is filled with great studios and session players. Why do you do it at home in Charleston?
I like living a normal life, dropping off and picking up my kids at school and all that stuff, while also spending a little time doing some vocals on a record. So we just hang out at my house when we record. You still come up with something great, but it’s not like when we’re having five sessions a day and trying to knock it out. It’s pretty laid-back. And it definitely affects my vocals because I’m always so much happier and so much more relaxed.
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You often sing about your family life, which not many artists were doing in country when you crossed over from pop. What difference has that made for you?
I live a pretty normal life, besides the fact that daddy has to go sing for people on the weekends. That’s the way I want it. I get asked, “Why don’t you do this? Why don’t you do that?” We’ve turned down some great things. I want to play the music and raise the kids. There was a time when it wasn’t that way. But I’m 48 now. I’ve been blessed to be in the music business on a national scale for 20 years.
This isn’t your first album to reference Southern identity. When did that find an important place in your music?
I don’t know when it happened. It was just like all of a sudden, not every song, but one out of every 10 songs had the word “south” or “Charleston” or “Carolina” in it. A lot of people I write with know my pride in where I’m from.
Has singing country altered your vocal approach through the years?
I don’t know how it has changed it, because I never think that way. I try to keep my approach pretty simple and straightforward. I just sing what I feel — I never think I’m doing anything that different. Then you listen back and you go, “That doesn’t really sound like [Hootie & The Blowfish‘s 1994 smash single] ‘Hold My Hand.’ ” But, you know, I’m just singing.
This story originally appeared in the April 4th issue of Billboard.