Back to Rockville: Review: Darius Rucker

Photos by SUSAN PFANNMULLER/Special to The Star

Darius Rucker's final live performance of 2009 added an emphatic exclamation mark to one of the most surprising music stories of the year.

More than 2000 fans witnessed Sunday's celebratory outing by the former front man of Hootie & the Blowfish at the Midland theater. "Cracked Rear View," the rock band's 1994 major label debut, was one of the best-selling albums of the 1990s. Tastes change quickly in the fickle world of pop music, however, and the band quickly ran out of steam.   Rucker and his band mates might very well have been struggling to drum up unrewarding gigs on the oldies circuit today. It didn't work out that way.

Rucker released Learn To Live, a mainstream country album, in 2008. The gambit worked. His rich voice and sentimental sensibility are ideally suited to the format. Learn To Live topped the country music album chart and Rucker was awarded the Country Music Association's "New Artist of the Year" honor last month. Very few artists have been able to successfully make the transition from rock to country. It's also notable that Rucker is country music's first African-American star since Charlie Pride peaked in the 1970s.

"2009 has been an amazingly great year for me," Rucker admitted.

Country music fans may have embraced Rucker, but he certainly doesn't feel obliged to play by the old rules. Sunday's outing more closely resembled a Jimmy Buffet concert than a George Strait show. Although his fine five-piece band offered occasional flourishes on fiddle and mandolin, they hewed primarily to bluesy roots rock. Stripped of their studio sheen, Rucker's new material was refreshingly raucous.

"All I Want," Rucker's most conventional country song, more closely resembled the Rolling Stones' "Dead Flowers" than anything that would be welcome on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry. Recent hits including "Alright" and "Don't Think I Don't Think About It" made few concessions to country. Only during the new original "Candy Cane Christmas"- Rucker called it "one of those old-time Christmas songs"- did the sound veer from its rock-based approach.

Any question about whether most of the near-capacity audience were new or old Rucker fans were answered when Rucker sang the first line of "Let Her Cry," a favorite from his days with Hootie & the Blowfish. As with the other Hootie hits Rucker performed, the song was greeted with rapturous screams.   Revived by nuanced arrangements that rendered them fresh and and entirely engaging, the old songs merited the enthusiastic response. The continuity between old and new material was seamless. "Only Wanna Be With You," the biggest Hootie hit, shares the same sweet emotional undercurrent of recent songs like "Learn To Love."

The only Rucker song that fell flat was the formulaic "It Won't Be Like This For Long." While it's a a strong entry in the sappy sub-genre of country songs about the quick passage of time, it didn't fit in with the otherwise rowdy show.

"Thank you so much for letting me into the country music family," Rucker said.

By way of acknowledging any country music diehards in the audience, Rucker filled out his ninety-minute performance with outside material. He put his stamp on odd but heartfelt covers of Toby Keith's "God Love Her" and Jamey Johnson's "In Color." Renditions of Hank Williams Jr.'s "Family Tradition" and David Allan Coe's "You Never Even Called Me By My Name" seemed more suited to Rucker's genial demeanor.   The night's biggest surprise, however, was a triumphant version of Prince's "Purple Rain."

"History In the Making" is one of Rucker's most memorable compositions.   Ostensibly a love song about a "chance worth taking," the sentiment also applies to Rucker's unlikely achievement.

Whitney Duncan: She opened the show. The young hopeful was introduced as "one of the most beautiful women in country music."   While she resembles a younger version of Faith Hill, Duncan also possesses a strong voice and a handful of memorable songs.

| Bill Brownlee, Special to The Star