Darius Rucker: Down to Earth Onstage Presence
Having to work to win over doubters, Rucker drove across the southeastern U.S. in his own car, appearing on dozens of radio shows to try and get his name out to the world as a country musician and gain legitimacy so he could move further in his musical career.
"I would do three or four stations a day, " recalls Darius. "It was a Monday to Friday job."
In 2009, Rucker won the Artist trophy at the CMA awards, proving that his hard work at gaining an authentic reputation had paid off and he hoped that having the award under his belt would further solidify his good standing reputation as a country artist and show that he was there to stay.
Touring less as a solo country artist than a pop artist as part of a group in Hootie and the Blowfish, Rucker traveled less and was home more in Charleston, SC with his family: his wife and three children. Rucker nowadays plants his roots firmly with his family, as his strong family values stem in large part from growing up with an absent father.
"The second I hit the Charleston city line or the second I land at the airport, Im daddy," ha says.
This performance above of "History in the Making" is one of Rucker's more somber songs and thus his performance style is a little more subdued, but he still connects with the audience because most everyone can relate with taking chances and how those chances make up our future.
In almost every one of his live performances, Rucker can be found sporting a hat of some sort, usually a baseball cap, lending to his relaxed nature and the tendency that country musicians have to dress in an everyday style in order to seem more accesible to their audience. Plus, the lyrics of most country songs, and Rucker is no exception, tell of everyday life so it only makes sense that the style of dress should match.
Another hallmark of Rucker's on stage presence are his jeans. Rugged and simple, jeans seem to be a common choice among country artists to help them seem like "just another person" who is relatable rather than a larger than life star.
Rucker also moves around the stage during his performances, interacting with his band and doing little dance moves, making each performance seem genuine and lets the audience see that he is just up there performing and makes his concerts seem less rehearsed.
This performance, as can be seen in the video, is performed on a large stage arena in Texas infront of a large audience, probably a concert that required the purchase of a ticket. In addition to big arena shows, Rucker also participates in many smaller shows, sometimes even for benefit shows , where he makes no profit off the performance. An example of this type of musical performance of Rucker's is given in the next video- first however, here is a billboard chart showing Rucker's song, "History in the Making" occupying the # 3 spot.
This performance is a much more intimate one between Rucker and his audience. As can be seen when watching the video, a number of times Rucker adresses the audience during the song, but not a part of the song lyrics: "true story." This show was a benefit concert done at a New York City bookstore, with a very small audience relative to Rucker's normal shows, which allowed him even more freedom to interact with the audience.
Here, Rucker is again sporting his baseball cap and jeans, and another detail to note is his Livestrong bracelet. So many people wear Livestrong bracelets these days to support Lance Armstrong, and by Rucker wearing one during a performance, he seems even more relatable.
Some of Rucker's fan base followed him from his days with Hootie and the blowfish, but a large majority of his fans today became loyal to him as a country artist first and foremost.
Despite being one of the only successful African American country singer's, Rucker's fan base remains predominantly white: Rucker says,
"Once an African-American kid told me, 'Man, I love country music. I came out of the closet when I heard your record,' " Rucker recalls. "I laughed. If I'm doing that for three kids, that's cool."
As an artist, Darius Rucker sings to an audience that's had some ups and downs in life, but can make sense of it all by being happy where they are and with the one they love. He sings of lost love and lost family- sad topics, but emphasizes how life keeps on going and all things good and bad lead to an outcome that one day you will be able to justify.
These days, Rucker tends to tour with other artists, most recently with Lady antebellum. He has performed all over the U.S., but when not formally on tour, he tends to stick to the South Eastern U.S. when giving sporadic concerts. Coming up are:
- Nov 27: North Charleston Performing Arts Center- North Charleston, South Carolina
- Dec 1- Jacksonville Fl
His ticket prices are very affordable, for example, the Charleston concert on the 27th of November has tickets still available on ticket master ranging from $30-$115.
Some Post Concert Fan Comments:
- "Throughout the show he was very appreciative of all of us Northern fans who stayed out in the rain with him. It was just a terrific time (save for one over-zealous security guard who wouldn't let anyone close enough to get an autograph even though Darius was there with pen in hand and ready). I would go see it a hundred times over again."
- "Favorite moment: When he came back for an encore and sang History in the Making.
(second best were the NE sports team logos up during Southern State of Mind" - "The event was very good. Excellent stage presence, good material, and very good supporting musicians
Favorite moment: Playing his old stuff from the Hootie days"
"High energy, high quality, crowd-pleasing show. Excellent band backed up Darius, who performed his current country songs as well as older hits (his own and others such as Space Cowboy and Purple Rain)."
Rucker sings about the south. He may appeal to a nationwide audience, but he makes his souther roots clear- lending to his country persona. An example of this can be seen in his song "Southern State of Mind" which is very explicitly illustrating his love of the south and how he identifies with the south more than other regions.
Citations:
- Helling, Steve. People Magazine. (2010). Vol. 74 issue 19. (Pp. 107-109) Southern Comfort.
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYFewP---ZY&feature=related
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj2fon945Hg
- Johnson, Brett. Essence (Time inc.) (2010) Vol. 41 issue 7. (86) Can these artists get some love?
- http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0E00491ED801761B?artistid=1774914&majorcatid=10001&minorcatid=2
Kelsi’s post was both nicely written and flowed well. The content was not repetitive in relation to her first post. It also aided and added on to the first post well. As I said previously, I do not know a lot about Darius Rucker apart from his top hits, so her descriptions of his performance persona were helpful to me in understanding Darius Rucker as both a performer and person. I liked how Kelsi posted the videos prior to talking about them. This really helped my understanding of Rucker and the points she was making. The videos were also plentiful, which was great. Another thing that Kelsi did that I really liked was the addition of the top songs. This showed Darius Rucker’s success really well. All in all I really liked the flow and content of Kelsi’s post.
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