When his voice first graced radio airwaves it led to GQ Magazine naming him one of their Men of the Year noting “we catch ourselves humming his melodies on the subway … only then do we realize that his name … is no longer just a proper noun. It’s a symbol now.” With such an illustrious, groundbreaking and symbolic career, Darius Rucker is constantly reinventing and striving for ways fans can have new experiences at his shows, however in doing so it had a surprising outcome that left him asking, “when was the last time I did something for the first time?” That simple question led to his latest release, a song he wrote with Derek George and Travis Hill, “For The First Time,” available today and impacting Country radio on Monday, July 24.
“As a songwriter, sometimes the smallest idea can elicit a feeling and then you have this daunting task of trying to relay that emotion and energy into a three-minute song,” shares the man the Associated Press says “shows he can leave a distinctive mark on 21st-century country music.” “When we wrote ‘For The First Time,’ we each had to dig deep for that moment – for me it was ‘you say you’ve never danced to a dashboard singin’ REM under summer stars.’ After that it was all over.”
“For The First Time” is the follow-up to his most recent No. 1 single, “If I Told You,” the first off his long-awaited as-yet-untitled fifth Capitol Records Nashville album, slated for release later this year with Producer Ross Copperman at the helm. It will be yet another signature moment in the multiplatinum career of one of music’s most beloved figures. Rucker has never been busier while working on his new album with a slate of television appearances this spring and summer including a CMT Crossroads episode with John Mellencamp, an appearance in Adam Sandler’s Netflix original, Sandy Wexler, and his own episode of Celebrity Undercover Boss on CBS.
For more information about new music, appearances and tour dates, please visit www.dariusrucker.com.
About Darius Rucker Rucker first attained multi-Platinum status in the music industry as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of GRAMMY award-winning Hootie & the Blowfish. Since re-introducing himself to the world as a country artist, he has released four consecutive albums to top the Billboard Country albums chart and earned a whole new legion of fans. In 2014, Rucker won his third career GRAMMY award for Best Solo Country Performance for his 4x Platinum selling cover of Old Crow Medicine Show’s “Wagon Wheel,” off his album, True Believers. Rucker’s first two country albums, Learn To Live and Charleston, SC 1966 produced five No. 1 singles including “Come Back Song,” “This,” “Alright,” “It Won’t Be Like This For Long” and “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It.” Southern Style, his fourth studio country album, features his seventh No. 1 single “Homegrown Honey,” co-written by Rucker, label mate Charles Kelley of Lady Antebellum and Nathan Chapman. Rucker’s last single, “If I Told You,” is his eighth No. 1 on country radio and the first cut from his forthcoming fifth album for Capitol Nashville.
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