It’s been just over a month since the release of Darius Rucker’s memoir, Life’s Too Short, and the project has allowed fans to see into his life, career, and success like never before.
LISTEN NOW: Darius Rucker on his near-death experience, new song, and biggest successes
Joining Audacy’s Rob + Holly for a conversation on the Friday Night Takeover, Darius shared the book is one that’s near and dear to his heart as it tells the most cherished and life-changing stories he’s been waiting to tell for a while. “They’ve been asking me to write it [a memoir] for a long time and I always said if I ever wrote it, I would tell the truth and wait until my kids were adults,” he shared. “They’re adults now and Harper [Publishing] came to me and they were persistent and finally I said, ‘Yeah.’ I’m glad I wrote it now.”
One of the most jaw-dropping stories told by Darius in the book is in the opening when he shares his friend and actor, Woody Harrelson, saved him after Rucker got caught in a current while swimming to a small island with Harrelson in Hawaii.
“I remember that day and I was ready to die,” Rucker said recalling the experience. “When I told him to let me go, I was serious. I was done, I just wanted to go. Not on his watch, is what he said and I’m still here because of Woody Harrelson.”
While Darius credits any life lived after that near-death experience to Harrelson heroic actions, he also takes time to pay great credit to retired late-night host, David Letterman, who helped Darius’ band, Hootie and the Blowfish, get their start.
“I don’t know if he knows the book is out,” Rucker said when asked of Letterman’s reaction. “But he knows if I’m going to write a book, he’s going to be in it... Dave Letterman made our careers. If David didn’t call us and say, 'Come play my show,' I’m not here talkin’ to you guys right now,” he said before detailing just how much growth the band saw after appearing on the show in 1994.
“We were on three [or] four radio stations… all in the Carolinas, one in Atlanta [before going on David Letterman,] That Monday, after Letterman, we were the most-added band [to radio] the next week, every day.”
Hootie and the Blowfish has maintained that success for 30 years now and Darius has even experienced great success as a solo artists in the Country realm. Finding a balance between his solo career and time with the band has been crucial for Rucker, and while his time on stage with each is very different he knows there’s always bound to be some cross over.
“We do a couple of my Country songs in the Hootie set and I do three Hootie songs in my [solo] set,” he shared. Balance doesn’t only come at his shows, he’s often working on things for both off the stage as well. For example, as Rucker readies to hit the road with Hootie and the Blowfish for an upcoming 30th reunion tour, he’s also celebrating the transformation of a track from his latest solo album, Carolyn’s Boy, into a duet.
Rucker recently enlisted help from fellow Country artist Jennifer Nettles to give one of the solo tracks, “Never Been Over,” some magical duet treatment. He expressed his immense gratitude for Nettles agreeing to join him, admitting it would have been hard to find someone better for the part had she declined. “Ever since I heard ‘Stay,’ I said, ‘I don’t know who this is, but I want to sing with her,’" Rucker recalled of the first time he remembers hearing Nettles’ voice. “She just killed that song,” he said of her talent showcased on “Never Been Over.” “She just took it to a whole new level.”
For more on Darius new song with Nettles, his memoir, and experiences with Hootie and the Blowfish, check out his entire conversation with Audacy’s Rob + Holly above.