Darius Rucker will release his new album, Carolyn’s Boy, next Friday (October 6th); his first since 2017’s “When Was The Last Time.” He co-wrote 10 of the 14 tracks on the album with such prominent songwriters as Ed Sheeran, HARDY, John Osborne, Ross Copperman, Josh Osborne, Lady A’s Charles Kelley and many more.
He named the new album after his mother, a nurse at Medical University of South Carolina and who raised him with his three sisters and two brothers. “I wanted to name the record Carolyn’s Boy because Mom never got to see any of my success,” Darius explained during a recent “TODAY” interview. “She died before any of this happened, so it’s just another homage to the greatest woman I’ve ever known.”
Coming up with the title for an album is often difficult for artists, but for Darius, the title came to him in the studio as sort of an epiphany when he was having a bad day.
“She was my biggest supporter. You know, she was always in my corner, you know, back when I was a real young kid trying to get in the rock and roll and country and being told that wasn’t the music I was supposed to be listening to, she was my biggest supporter; my biggest ‘leave him alone person. Let him listen to what he wants to listen to,’” says Darius of his mom who passed away in 1992. “I remember when I told her I was dropping out of college to play in Hootie, and I thought she was going to kill me. I really thought she was going to kill me. And she didn’t. She said, ‘If that’s what you need to do…’ you know, because she always believed that I was going to make it probably a lot more than I did. And it was funny because I was in the studio having, and the only way I can explain it is, I was just having a bad day, a bad mental health day. And I sat down at one point, I just said to myself that really, at the end of the day, I’m just my Mama’s boy, and that was the day that’s when I decided to name it Carolyn’s boy. And that was an epiphany for me, and that helped a lot.”
Darius tells us Carolyn’sBoy is probably his most personal album to date. “It’s probably the most personal I’ve ever written. So many things have been going on in the world and in my life in the past six years that I just kept writing songs about what was going on,” he says. “And once I decided to name it Carolyn’s Boy, the personal songs seemed to rise to the top of the heap. And so, (this is a) pretty personal record, but, you know, I love that. I love telling the truth.”
Carolyn’s Boy Track List:
- Beers And Sunshine (Darius Rucker, JT Harding, Josh Osborne, Ross Copperman)
- In This Together (Darius Rucker, Derek George, Bobby Hamrick, Joy Williams)
- Never Been Over (Darius Rucker, Lee Thomas Miller, John Osborne)
- Fires Don’t Start Themselves (Ben Hayslip, Jacob Rice, Dan Isbell)
- Ol’ Church Hymn feat. Chapel Hart (Darius Rucker, Greylan James, Ben Hayslip, Josh Miller)
- 7 Days (Darius Rucker, Ross Copperman, Ashley Gorley, Charles Kelley)
- Same Beer Different Problem (Darius Rucker, Topher Brown, Sarah Buxton, Brad Tursi)
- Sara (Darius Rucker, Joel Crouse, Kyle Rife, Ed Sheeran)
- Have A Good Time (Darius Rucker, Monty Criswell, Derek George, Bobby Hamrick)
- Sure Would Have Loved Her (Darius Rucker, Wyatt Durrette, Levi Lowrey)
- Southern Comfort (Chris LaCorte, Matt Rogers, Josh Osborne)
- 3am in Carolina (Darius Rucker, Ross Copperman, Michael Hardy)
- Lift Me Up (Temilade Openiyi, Robyn Fenty, Ryan Coogler, Ludwig Goransson)
- Stargazing (Darius Rucker, Brinley Addington, Jess Cayne, Matt Morrisey)
Audio / Darius Rucker explains why he named his new album, Carolyn’s Boy.
DownloadDarius Rucker (just Carolyn’s Boy) OC: …helped a lot. :53
“She was my biggest supporter. You know, she was always in my corner, you know, back when I was a real young kid trying to get in the rock and roll and country and being told that wasn’t the music I was supposed to be listening to, she was my biggest supporter; my biggest ‘leave him alone person. Let him listen to what he wants to listen to.’ I remember when I told her I was dropping out of college to play in Hootie, and I thought she was going to kill me. I really thought she was going to kill me. And she didn’t. She said, ‘If that’s what you need to do…’ you know, because she always believed that I was going to make it probably a lot more than I did. And it was funny because I was in the studio having, and the only way I can explain it is, I was just having a bad day, a bad mental health day. And I sat down at one point, I just said to myself that really, at the end of the day, I’m just my Mama’s boy, and that was the day that’s when I decided to name it Carolyn’s boy. And that was an epiphany for me, and that helped a lot.”
Audio / Darius Rucker says Carolyn’s Boy is a pretty personal record for him.
DownloadDarius Rucker (Carolyn’s Boy personal album) OC: …the truth. :24
“It’s probably the most personal I’ve ever written. So many things have been going on in the world and in my life in the past six years that I just kept writing songs about what was going on. And once I decided to name it Carolyn’s Boy, the personal songs seemed to rise to the top of the heap. And so, (this is a) pretty personal record, but, you know, I love that. I love telling the truth.”
