A Great Hootie Memory
Recalling a conversation with Darius Rucker
Fred: The first major tour we did was with Hootie and The Blowfish. We go way back with those guys. When they blew up, they took us on tour, specifically on the West coast so that we would be seen by people who handed out record contracts. They were very generous to us.
Hootie was getting ready to do soundcheck at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles. The show was already sold out.
I walked up to Darius and said, "Hey, man. Look at this." I gestured to the big, beautiful amphitheater. "This is pretty cool. What happened?"
He said, "I have no idea what the hell happened. Last thing I remember, I was in Columbia singing 'Let Her Cry' to a bunch of frat guys in a bar." He was genuine in that moment. "I have no idea what the hell happened."
What a great memory for you guys!! I'm not a musician, but I totally understand that feeling you just described. You walk up one day and say, you look around and where it all has come to and say "what the hell happened?!" but you're smiling the whole time. :-)
I saw CM on that tour in Seattle and have been a fan ever since. I'll never forget Fred climbing the huge speaker scaffolding!