Steven Tyler of Aerosmith tried it. Bret Michaels of Poison did too. So have quite a few others. But no matter how huge a rock star they were, a move to country proved too difficult to pull off for those legends – which makes the move that Hootie & The Blowfish lead singer Darius Rucker made to Nashville – and his massive success there – all the more impressive. Add to that the fact that Darius is Black – and Black singers were incredibly rare in country music – the move seemed crazy to almost everyone that wasn’t Darius Rucker.

So what brought about such a seemingly random change? Darius wasn’t just a rock singer. He’d put out a solo R&B album, “Back To Then” – and being born and raised in South Carolina was surrounded by country music while he was growing up – so for Darius, country music seemed natural, though others were having trouble seeing it. “When I very first started, there was a lot of naysayers and everything, but once ‘Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It’ hit, I think acceptance started.” So what was the trigger that sent a bonafide rock star to the country side of things? “The moment I knew it was time was when we had a meeting and we said we weren’t going to tour… anymore like that, so I knew it was time to go to Nashville and see if I could do it,” he said.

“Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It” was Rucker’s first solo country single, in May 2008. It eventually reached the number one spot in September of that year. At the 2009 Country Music Association Awards, Rucker earned New Artist of the Year at age 43. “I didn’t expect the success I got, but I’m really glad it happened,” Rucker said.

Darius continues to live with a foot in both genres; he still plays with Hootie & The Blowfish, and he has an upcoming CMT Crossroads episode with Georgia rockers The Black Crowes – and just released a new single to country radio, “Fires Don’t Start Themselves.”

Source: FoxNews