A little bit country not enough for a Hootie alumnus; he goes all out

When Darius Rucker, the lead singer of popular South Carolina rock act Hootie and the Blowfish, started looking for producers for a country album, Capitol Records told him that they would send him three people.

The first one was Nashville producer and Florence, S.C., native Frank Rogers.

And he was the only one Rucker needed to see.

"I was on tour with Hootie and (Frank) was going to come write with me to see if we got along, and he came out and we sat down and talked, and he asked me what kind of song I wanted, what kind of record I wanted to make," Rucker said. "I told him I wanted to make a record, a real country record. We started writing and we wrote ‘All I Want' from the record."

The "record" is the debut country album from Rucker, Learn To Live.

Although some country fans initially were wary of the effort, Rucker said that he has deep roots in country music and that the crossover was inevitable.

"I grew up listening to AM radio, listening to Conway Twitty and Buck Owens," he said. "I knew I wasn't capable of making a down and dirty country record, like a Jamey Johnson record, but I didn't want to make a straight pop country record, either. I wanted to meet somewhere in the middle, do a little bit of both and have fun with it."

Rogers said he realized that Rucker was serious about the endeavor from their very first meeting.

"The first time I sat down with him, I threw out an idea for a song. Darius said, ‘Man, that sounds like Rascal Flatts.' He wanted to keep it more on the traditional side. He's not just a pop guy coming to Nashville."

Rogers certainly isn't a fly-by-night producer. He has 15 Country Music Association award nominations as well as Academy of Country Music awards for Album of the Year, Vocal Event of the Year and Single of the Year. Rogers has produced 23 No. 1 hits. He has worked with several top country-music stars, including Brad Paisley and Pamplico-area native Josh Turner, and he has produced No. 1 albums with both of them.

Rogers has written and worked alongside the best in the business, and when he heard that Capitol Records was thinking of signing Darius Rucker for a country album, he said it seemed perfectly natural to him.

"If you ever watch Hootie live, they'll do all their hits and then a David Allen Coe or Hank Williams song," he said.

Although some were a bit skeptical of Rucker's entrance into country music, Rogers said it wasn't that far of a stretch.

"I think he's always loved country. I think he noticed that what he does is what country music does today," he said.

Rogers and Rucker came from such a similar background with a similar path that if they hadn't met, it would have been a bit absurd. Both men achieved the fame by which they now make their living at a young age.

Rogers, at 25, produced Brad Paisley's debut album Who Needs Pictures, which was nominated for four American Country Music awards and for TNN/Country Weekly awards and certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Rucker, barely out of his 20s, won a Grammy for Best New Artist in 1996 with Hootie and The Blowfish.

Success came early in life for the two men who grew up less than 150 miles from one another -- Rogers in the Pee Dee and Rucker in Charleston, S.C..

Rucker said that it was his first time working with a producer from South Carolina and said that he felt it might have played a factor in his decision to work with Rogers on Learn To Live.

"Edwin McCain and Cravin' Melon are (South Carolina artists) who are friends of ours," Rucker said, "but I've never worked so much with another person from South Carolina. That's probably why I didn't want to meet anybody else.

"Frank'll tell you there were points when we were recording when I would say, ‘Frank, am I crazy or are we really doing something special?' I mean, we listened back to the songs and I'd say, ‘Man, tell me because I'm the artist and I can get wrapped up in this. Am I crazy or are we doing something special?' He looked at me and said, ‘No, dude, this is something special,'" he said.

Learn To Live has generated three hit singles since its release in September 2008. It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Albums chart and at No. 5 on the overall Billboard 200, selling 60,000 copies in its first week.

Rogers said that recording with Rucker was an enjoyable experience in every aspect.

"He was a fun record to make. The entire process was enjoyable: writing songs, becoming friends. I think being from the same area, the same era and same interests helped, though," he said.

Rucker said that song-writing was a natural outgrowth of an already developing relationship.

There's "never a problem writing with Frank. We could get together and write a song right now. He's just a hell of a songwriter. I realized from the first day of recording that I was right because he gets me. He knows how to get what he wants from me without being a jerk, without making me feel bad," Rucker said. "I've had a lot of success with this record, but the greatest thing that's come out of this has been my friendship with Frank and his family.

"It's really awesome to have met somebody I feel like I've known my whole life."