{"id":15089,"date":"2019-05-12T23:00:12","date_gmt":"2019-05-13T05:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/?p=1806452"},"modified":"2019-05-12T23:00:12","modified_gmt":"2019-05-13T05:00:12","slug":"five-videos-that-reinforce-darius-ruckers-country-image","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/music-news\/five-videos-that-reinforce-darius-ruckers-country-image\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Videos That Reinforce Darius Rucker\u2019s Country Image"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:ao:image:cmt.com:661460?width=1200&amp;height=675&amp;.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"byline\">by <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/author\/morrise\/\" title=\"Posts by Edward Morris\" rel=\"author\">Edward Morris<\/a><\/span> <span class=\"date\">6m ago<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n<p>More than a few heads on Music Row were wagging in disbelief when Capitol Records Nashville signed Darius Rucker to a solo contract in 2008.<\/p>\n<p>No one doubted his talents as a performer. His lead singing for the wildly successful Hootie &amp; the Blowfish had long since proved he could deliver the goods. But a country singer? Wasn\u2019t that a stretch?<\/p>\n<p>TV actors, movie stars and over-the-hill rock acts had been flocking to Nashville since the <em>Urban Cowboy<\/em> craze of the early \u201980s, each convinced that anyone could sing country music. It was so simple. But the cannonade of reality soon reduced most of them to footnotes and sent them packing. Would it be any better for Rucker? Well, yes \u2014 a whole lot better.<\/p>\n<p>As Rucker celebrates his 53rd birthday today (May 13), he can look back on a country career that includes one platinum and two gold albums, nine No. 1 singles, tours with Lady Antebellum and Brad Paisley, a Grammy and membership in the Grand Ole Opry. No cultural tourism here.<\/p>\n<p>Rucker\u2019s assimilation into country music has been facilitated greatly by music videos saturated with such country imagery as acoustic guitars, rural scenery, battered old cars and trucks, guys in Levi\u2019s, girls in Daisy Dukes and plenty of drinking. Whatever the array of props, Rucker seems completely at home with them.<\/p>\n<p>Here are five of his best videos:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"listicle-container\">\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\">2008: \u201cDon\u2019t Think I Don\u2019t Think About It\u201d<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>Director: Wayne Isham Writers: Darius Rucker, Clay Mills In this, his first country-pitched video, Rucker stands in a broad field, mountains in the background, while strumming a guitar and singing about the emotional fallout of impulsive actions. Acting out that theme is a young man who\u2019s speeding away from his girlfriend down a country road in an old car \u2014 all the while wondering if he\u2019s done the right thing and imagining her seated provocatively beside him. Could it get any countrier?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\">2010: \u201cThis\u201d<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>Director: Trey Fanjoy Writers: Rucker, Frank Rogers, Kara DioGuardi The song is a thematic twin to Garth Brooks\u2019 \u201cUnanswered Prayers.\u201d But the video imparts a few comic twists to the otherwise serious lyrics. Once again, Rucker stands apart from the action he\u2019s describing. This time, he\u2019s jamming with his band on the stage of the empty Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, the fabled home of the Grand Ole Opry. The narrative opens with a boy getting turned down by the girl he\u2019s hot for and driving away heartbroken. His drive takes him past a \u201cHelp Wanted\u201d sign, which leads him to taking a job he\u2019s soon fired from. One unplanned consequence after another finally leads him to an elevator encounter that turns his life into domestic bliss. Rucker beams with delight as he tells the story.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\">2013: \u201cWagon Wheel\u201d<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>Director: Jim Wright Writers: Bob Dylan, Ketch Secor In this epic, Rucker is the center of the action, not just a commentator on it. He dreams that he\u2019s a wandering minstrel, walking and thumbing his way south to rendezvous with his sweetheart. Along the way, he comes across various members of the Duck Dynasty clan, as well as Charles Kelley of Lady Antebellum. Lots of good banjo picking keeps the mood light and hopeful. The recording of this song earned Rucker a Grammy for best solo country performance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\">2017: \u201cFor the First Time\u201d<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>Director: Jim Wright Writers: Rucker, Derek George, Scooter Carusoe A paean to racking up new experiences. Rucker reverts to his usual role here as observer\/commentator, chronicling the evolution of a young couple\u2019s relationship from first meeting to courtship to home ownership to parenthood. Smooth and neatly packaged.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\">2018: \u201cStraight to Hell\u201d<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>Director: TK McKamy Writer: Kevin Kinney Rucker enlists Charles Kelley, Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan as his buddies in this Old West costume drama, which, anachronistically, appears to be taking place during Prohibition (1920-1933). But no matter. When you\u2019re playing \u201cdress up\u201d and having a roaring good time at it, anything goes. Rucker usually looks cheerful in his videos, but in this one, he seems absolutely giddy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cStraight to Hell\u201d is nominated for collaborative video of the year at the 2019 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/cmt-music-awards\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">CMT Music Awards<\/a>. Voting for your favorites in each category continues through June 4 at 11:59 p.m. ET via <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/cmt-music-awards\/vote\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">CMT.com<\/a>. The final nominees will be announced the morning of the show on June 5 and voting will continue through the show on CMT.com and via Twitter. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/artists\/little-big-town\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Little Big Town<\/a> will host the event live from Nashville June 5 at 8 p.m. ET on CMT.<\/p>\n<p>On May 30, Rucker rejoins Hootie &amp; the Blowfish for the Group Therapy Tour that opens in Virginia Beach and runs through six October dates in England.<\/p>\n<div class=\"author\">\n<div class=\"description\">Edward Morris is a veteran of country music journalism. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and is a frequent contributor to CMT.com.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/1806452\/five-videos-that-reinforce-darius-ruckers-country-image\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: CMT News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Edward Morris 6m ago More than a few heads on Music Row were wagging in disbelief when Capitol Records Nashville signed Darius Rucker to a solo contract in 2008. No one doubted his talents as a performer. His lead singing for the wildly successful Hootie &amp; the Blowfish had long since proved he could [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15089","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-11 17:32:15","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KRKY Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15089\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}