DARIUS RUCKER'S NEW COUNTRY ALBUM: LEARN TO LIVE

On my way out to Phoenix last weekend I stopped at Best Buy and picked up Darius Rucker’s first solo country album titled, Learn To Live. I’ve been hearing the debut song, "Don’t Think I Don’t think About It" on the radio for a few months now and really liked it.

Being that I had nothing but time to kill on the way to Phoenix, I listened to the album 3 or 4 times and was quite impressed with the album. As the lead singer for Hootie and The Blowfish, Darius has always had a voice to their music as it’s changed over the years. However, as a solo artist on his country album I was extremely impressed and am already looking forward to hearing his next album.

Darius will be joining Brad Paisley for the "Paisley Party Tour” in early 2009 along with Dierks Bentely and Canadian’s Crystal Shawanda. As far a Hootie and The Blowfish are concerned, they are on hiatus for an indefinite amount of time. According to a recent interview Darius said, “We’re taking a break…people [in the band] just wanted to take time off. We’ll play together someday. We just don’t know when.” Most of the other band members also have separate solo recording contracts outside of Hootie and The Blowfish.

With that said, I’m happy that I got to see them perform the last two years that the Anaheim House of Blues. Unfortunately, there are no California stops scheduled for the remainder of the “Paisley Party Tour.”
I got my copy of Learn To Live for $7.99 at Best Buy, which is now $9.99. It's still a great but for the 12 tracks on the album.