To have John Mellencamp compliment my songwriting? That was unreal.
— Darius Rucker
I plan to make records as long as people wanna keep listening to them.
I'm going to do whatever I want as long as it's country. I mean, I'm not much on naysayers, so I'll just do whatever. If I like it, I'll do it.
I love making music, and I love touring. I love that I get to wake up and play music. I don't like being away from my wife and kids.
As a kid, I was big into Al Green, Gladys Knight and the Pips, but as I got older, I started listening to all sorts of music, including country.
That's one of my pet peeves. People always want to put something into a category - this one or that one. You know, a great song is a great song.
Everybody's got problems, and if you're gonna leave somebody because they have problems, you're gonna be alone for a long time.
You're always proud that people still want to hear what you're doing.
Everybody wants to have a good time, especially at a concert. That's why everybody goes.
I played every position, from right tackle to quarterback and everything in between.
No doubt about it, country is a much more family-friendly business than pop.
One of my pet peeves is when people think that pop guys go country when they can't make it in pop anymore.
I pay almost no attention to the charts.
I'm a big Black Crowes guy. I think they are one of America's greatest rock & roll bands ever.
I'd work with Charles Kelley anytime. I'd go do a 'Pancho and Lefty' record with Charles. He is class, man.
People looked at me as a carpetbagger coming over from pop to country. But it helped because it got me in the room.
The worst thing for me when I go to a concert is a whole bunch of ballads. You get bored.
I remember riding around with my friends with 'Ain't Even Done with the Night' cranked up and my windows down. Those were great days.
When you hear people scream because they're about to hear a song that has been a part of their life, there's nothing like that.
I'm not a studio rat. I do find sitting around playing the same song 12 times kind of tedious. I like to get in and get out.
I'd be lying to say I've not experienced a lot of racism in my life; it's very much alive. I don't let it bother me. I couldn't be the singer I am if I didn't let it go.
I remember my brother was always a jerk to me. One time, he bought Jimi Hendrix's 'Smash Hits,' and he gave it to me because he didn't like it, thinking it was a punishment.
A lot of times, I don't want to listen to my stuff, because I'm thinking maybe I didn't do my best.
I love jam bands, but I still like a three-and-a-half-minute rock song.
Every time I have a song that does well, that's a great feeling to have.
I live for the NFL. I watch so much of it.
The first year I started liking the Dolphins was Super Bowl VI, which they lost to the Cowboys. I was 5. My whole family was pulling for the Cowboys, so I rooted for the Dolphins. They lost, and I cried.
Every time I make a record, it's make-or-break time. I hope I always have that mentality - that's what keeps me fired up.
I got turned onto the 'Pat Garrett' soundtrack when I worked retail back in the day.
People go, 'Oh, you're another guy who crossed over to country.' I say, name another one. Name one other pop singer who's done what I've done as a country singer. There isn't one.
Everything that I do on stage comes from seeing the Black Crowes in '95 in Charlotte. For 'Let Her Cry,' I was just trying to write 'She Talks to Angels.'
I've always listened to country music. I wanted Hootie to become a country band at first, but I was outvoted.
You always wanna make the best record you ever made, and if I feel like I didn't do that, I wouldn't put it out.
I think I made records, since early on, that people wanted to listen to.
Country music's so about the nuclear family and living the southern lifestyle and everything.
I make records so I can go on tour. There's nothing else. I love to go out and play for people.
I can't live without my family, golf, and football.
With rock, you can write about anything. There are rock songs I still don't know what they're singing about, but you want to get up and dance.
For me, '52nd Street' is quintessential Billy Joel. I bought that record as a kid and listened to it so much.
Great music will always rise to the top if you give it a chance.
I've been a Robert Randolph fan forever, since 2001. I just thought he was so cool; you don't see a black kid playing the slide the way he plays. No one plays like Robert.
It's always a positive when radio is playing your music and fans are responding.
I think I could take a job as an NFL scout.
We work so hard to stay true to country music. People can say they don't like it, but they can't say it's not country.
There are so many people who would like to see me not make it in Nashville. But that's good motivation.
I love Bob Dylan. 'Blood on the Tracks' is one of my top five records.
I think the people who are sitting in their living room doing those, 'Let's take country music back' blogs and all that stuff, that's crazy to me. No one's saying that about rock & roll, and no one sounded like the Beatles since 1960. No one says that about R&B, and no one sounded like the Commodores since 1970.
Billy Graham isn't about politics - Billy Graham is about God.
I'm always up at 7:30, usually earlier. Having three kids will do that.
If I did a show and didn't do Hootie songs, I would be ripping people off.
