ABC If you’ve had it with COVID-19 — and who hasn’t? — Darius Rucker‘s latest hit may well be the antidote. “Beers and Sunshine” is the Hootie and the Blowfish front man’s reaction to the coronavirus.
“We’d probably been locked down for a couple of months,” Darius recalls, “and everybody was stir crazy, and we were talking about just how everybody wanted to just get out and do something. And we knew there’s gonna be a whole bunch of songs, a bunch of ballads, and a bunch of really serious songs about what’s going on.”
“But, just the way we are and the way I am I guess, we wanted to write something that was fun and upbeat,” he continues. “And when we got that line, “The only b.s. I need is beers and sunshine,” I knew we had our song.”
In fact, “Beers and Sunshine” may be the first country song to be written and recorded entirely via Zoom.
“[Producer and co-writer] Ross [Copperman] figured out a way that he just called all the guys that we usually use, and they all had set-ups at their house and the whole song was recorded over the computer. I did my vocal at my house,” Darius laughs. “Yeah, it was crazy.”
Previously, Darius thought he already has his next album figured out.
“Oh, yeah, I thought I had it mapped out, I did…” he reveals. “And that song, when it came along, just threw a wrench into everything because we knew that had to be the first single.”
As “Beers and Sunshine” nears the top of the country chart, we’re still waiting for details on the follow-up to 2017’s When Was the Last Time. Of course, in 2019, Darius also released the Hootie reunion record, Imperfect Circle.
By Stephen Hubbard
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