The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Hootie frontman set to play sold-out show at Kuss Auditorium

Both of Darius Rucker's country albums – 2008's "Learn to Live" and 2010's "Charleston, SC 1966" – hit No. 1 on the country chart.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Taste of Cincinnati expected  to draw 500,000 people
5/23/12
Local ingredients key for bartender
5/16/12
How well do you know Kings Island?
5/13/12
Time cover shows mom breastfeeding 3-year-old
5/11/12
Local heroes bring a touch of realism to 'Avengers' Cleveland set
5/2/12
> More headlines

By Andrew McGinn, Staff Writer 4:34 PM Thursday, January 12, 2012

SPRINGFIELD — There are those albums that are so famous, so iconic, you don’t even need to say who made it to know.

Albums like “Dark Side of the Moon,” the “Saturday Night Fever” soundtrack, “Led Zeppelin II” — OK, that’s an extra easy one — “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” “Abbey Road,” “Bat Out of Hell” and “Born in the U.S.A.”

What else do they have in common?

They were all outsold by Hootie and the Blowfish’s “Cracked Rear View,” the 12th best-selling album of all time.

Now, just add a pinch of pedal steel to Hootie’s rootsy acoustic pop and you pretty much have Darius Rucker’s two solo country albums.

Almost overnight a few years ago, the Hootie frontman became one of the biggest things in country music.

As a result, there’s not a ticket to be had — not even for the three Blowfish — for Rucker’s show Thursday night at Kuss Auditorium. (Mallary Hope is the opening act.)

It sold out in two days back in November.

About the only thing you can do is call the box office at (937) 328-3874 to be put on a waiting list — and hope that 1,500 people are hospitalized next week after eating undercooked pufferfish.

However, if you were lucky enough to score tickets, you know what’s in store.

Both of Rucker’s country albums — 2008’s “Learn to Live” and 2010’s “Charleston, SC 1966” — hit No. 1 on the country chart.

Not only that, but there have been five No. 1 singles between those two albums — “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It,” “It Won’t Be Like This for Long,” “Alright,” “Come Back Song” and “This.”

Rucker also was named new artist of the year at the 2009 CMA Awards, which is kinda funny, considering he already has a Grammy from 1995 officially calling Hootie and the Blowfish the music industry’s best new artist.

Contact this reporter at amcginn@coxohio.com.

Share this article