Multi-platinum artist Darius Rucker is paying homage to his late mother Carolyn with his first solo album in six years, Carolyn’s Boy, out now.
The 14-song tribute to his mother features his current single “Fires Don’t Start Themselves,” the No. 1 hit “Beers And Sunshine,” and more, including a collaboration with rising trio Chapel Hart as well as Rucker’s powerful take on the Rihanna ballad “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Rucker spoke with Music Mayhem about memories that he’ll always cherish with his mom, writing with HARDY and Ed Sheeran, and more.
Cherished Memories With His Mom
Rucker’s mother Carolyn never got to see his success, passing away before his career took off. Although he has dedicated a couple records to her over the years, there was a specific moment that inspired him to name this particular album, Carolyn’s Boy.
While he was in the studio working on this project, Rucker was in “a bad mental place.” As he tried to work through those feelings, he reflected on the earliest version of his identity.
“I said at one point to myself that at the end of the day, I’m just my mama’s boy. And right then I said, I’m naming it Carolyn’s Boy, because when I said that, such a calm came over me.” He had returned to his core truth. “In my heart that’s really what I am. I hope I’m just the person she tried to raise me to be.”
Reflecting on memories with his mom, he recalls her tremendous singing voice, declaring that she was “light years better” than him.
“Our living room and our kitchen connected by a door and she would be in the kitchen cooking or doing the dishes or something and she was always singing and I would just go and sit in the living room because she didn’t know I was there and she would still be belting it out and I would just listen to her sing,” Darius Rucker recalls. “I still think about that all the time because especially if I have a bad night, I think about how could you have a bad night when your mom had that voice?”
How Darius Rucker Chose The Songs For Carolyn’s Boy
Although the album title pays homage to his mother, he didn’t set out to find tribute songs, just the best songs. Penning 11 tracks on the album, Rucker continues to write about his life. “A lot of growing up has happened in the last six years to write about,” he explains. “This record’s got a lot of personal songs on it. A lot of moments where I think I let my guard down.”
As a solo artist, Rucker takes a different approach to making records than when he was lead singer of Hootie & the Blowfish.
“If you listen to ‘Cracked Rear View,’ we knew those songs were going to be the singles and that’s what they put out front. But when I’m making my own records, I don’t feel that way.” he explains. With his solo projects, Rucker creates a journey for the listener of upbeat tunes and ballads, where they can listen and enjoy it, “just sitting there with your friends and not get bored because there are eight ballads in a row.”
Covering Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up”
When Rucker was looking for a big ballad for the album, his manager suggested Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up” from the cinematic masterpiece Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
“I listened to it and I went, ‘oh my God.’ Truly went, ‘oh my God.’ And we called up Dan Huff, who I had never worked with before and asked him to produce that and a couple of other tracks.” As soon as he finished recording it, he knew it needed to be on the album. ”It sounded so different from anything else I had… We had taken it and made it our own and I just love that song. That’s a song I still listen to.”
Writing “3am In Carolina” With HARDY
HARDY and co-writer Ross Copperman brought the idea for “3am in Carolina” to Rucker, who then put his own life experiences into the song.
“It’s something that’s happened so many times in people’s lives where, when I’ve been in California and you call your girlfriend back home and you just want to go see her or your ex-girlfriend or whatever and you just want to go see her. And the alcohol’s talking a lot, but that song is so real,” says Rucker. ”That’s one of my favorite songs on the record.”
Writing “Sara” With Ed Sheeran
Rucker met Ed Sheeran when the British singer-songwriter came to the U.S. with Taylor Swift about 15 years ago and Rucker has wanted to write with him ever since. He finally decided to fly to England to make it happen, which culminated in a song about Rucker’s fifth grade girlfriend, “Sara.”
“In the middle of writing the first song we were looking for a line for the bridge or something. He said to me, ‘Darius, who was your first love?’ I said, ‘My fifth grade girlfriend, Sara.’ And so it didn’t work in that first song and we kept talking about it. We’d just be sitting around or having a beer or something and he’d ask me a question about her and I answered the question. We’d go on, and then finally we had written four or five songs and I thought we were done. We were about to go to the pub and he says to me, ‘I got one more idea’ and it was ‘Sara.’”
Rucker says he hasn’t seen Sara in 30 years, since he was about 10 years old.
“I’d love to see her because you remember that feeling. You remember what it was like. I still remember her face and I would love to see her, but not anything but to see my friend,” he says. “I loved how we took it and didn’t make it a love song.” When they wrote the line “I’m just looking for a friend,” Rucker says he thought it might be the biggest song he’s ever had. “It was perfect. You can hear his influence all over that song. He’s one of the best songwriters I’ve ever sat down with.”
“I Still Make Records”
In an era of singles, Rucker is intentional about creating pieces of art with an album.
“I still make records [and] I was that kid who loved to get the record and look at the sleeve and listen to the whole record from front to back a few times before you just start listening to the songs here and there, because I just love them… figured that’s why people made ’em that way so you could listen to ’em that way. And so I still do that.”
Carolyn’s Boy Track List
1. Beers And Sunshine (Darius Rucker, JT Harding, Josh Osborne, Ross Copperman)
2. In This Together (Darius Rucker, Derek George, Bobby Hamrick, Joy Williams)
3. Never Been Over (Darius Rucker, Lee Thomas Miller, John Osborne)
4. Fires Don’t Start Themselves (Ben Hayslip, Jacob Rice, Dan Isbell)
5. Ol’ Church Hymn feat. Chapel Hart (Darius Rucker, Greylan James, Ben Hayslip, Josh Miller)
6. 7 Days (Darius Rucker, Ross Copperman, Ashley Gorley, Charles Kelley)
7. Same Beer Different Problem (Darius Rucker, Tofer Brown, Sarah Buxton, Brad Tursi)
8. Sara (Darius Rucker, Joel Crouse, Kyle Rife, Ed Sheeran)
9. Have A Good Time (Darius Rucker, Monty Criswell, Derek George, Bobby Hamrick)
10. Sure Would Have Loved Her (Darius Rucker, Wyatt Durrette, Levi Lowrey)
11. Southern Comfort (Chris LaCorte, Matt Rogers, Josh Osborne)
12. 3am in Carolina (Darius Rucker, Ross Copperman, Michael Hardy)
13. Lift Me Up (Temilade Openiyi, Robyn Fenty, Ryan Coogler, Ludwig Goransson)
14. Stargazing (Darius Rucker, Brinley Addington, Jess Cayne, Matt Morrisey)
