Darius Rucker – Carolyn’s Boy | 365 Days Of Inspiring Media

Capitol Records Nashville / UMG Recordings

Release Date: October 6th 2023

Reviewed by: Joshua Andre

Darius Rucker– Carolyn’s Boy (Amazon mp3/iTunes)

Track Listing:

Beers And Sunshine
In This Together
Never Been Over
Fires Don’t Start Themselves
Ol’ Church Hymn (feat. Chapel Hart)
7 Days
Same Beer Different Problem
Sara
Have A Good Time
Sure Would Have Loved Her
Southern Comfort
3am In California
Lift Me Up
Stargazing

Darius Rucker, a veteran of country music, has been around for a long, long time. Originally the frontman for rock band Hootie & The Blowfish way back in the 1990’s (and he still is!), Darius forged his own solo career in the 2000’s- this time as a country artist. At the time, Darius wasn’t an artist that I instantly gravitated towards. Even now, his style of country music isn’t that engaging as other artists that I have been impacted by over the years. I dunno, there’s just something about Darius that screams ‘blah’ and generic and nondescript and… just someone who releases music that meanders along. Nothing against him, but his music doesn’t connect with me all that well on a soul level. It’s possible that I have some sort of preconceived ideas about Darius’s music, and maybe I need to revisit his music just to shed some of those assumptions. But as it stands, particularly as I have listened to Darius’s song “Times Like This”; there’s something that just doesn’t gel with Darius Rucker. And because I had some preconceived ideas of what Darius sounded like, and as he recently released his brand new album Carolyn’s Boy… I thought ‘why not? I’ll review his album, and maybe I’ll be blown away!’. And so… as this year is still the year of me branching out and reviewing albums that may not necessarily resonate with me straight away; how does Darius’s album rate against other standout albums this year such as albums from Matthew West, Needtobreathe, Phil Wickham, Casting Crowns, Megan Moroney, Alana Springsteen, Dennis Quaid or Ed Sheeran? The answer? Well, Darius’s music is an acquired taste, and there are still moments of ‘blah’ and ‘meh’ within the bloated 14-track album. But there are moments of brilliance, or moving and inspiring melodies and what-have-you; and so let’s quickly dive into probably one of the most misunderstood albums of 2023.

Let’s start out with the song that grabbed me first. “Ol’ Church Hymn”, a country/gospel/hymn-like single that features country group Chapel Hart on guest vocals, released near the end of 2022. And it has definitely piqued my attention and quite possibly changed my opinion on Darius’s music moving forward. A quasi-worship song that has me worshipping Jesus (but could also be about singing to Darius’s lover/partner!), Darius’s new song doesn’t reinvent the wheel on worship music or country music. But it is inspiring, powerful, incredibly hopeful and revitalising. Chapel Hart are an exciting and vibrant new up-and-coming band, and their inclusion on Darius’s new song only enhances it all the more. A melody that however doesn’t hold a candle to iconic worship songs like “10,000 Reasons”, “In Christ Alone”, “Living Hope” and “Here I Am To Worship”; Darius Rucker’s “Ol’ Church Hymn” is nonetheless engaging and inspiring- more akin to Josh Groban’s “River” in theme. And as vague as the song is (one could think that Darius is comparing his relationship with his partner to his relationship with God… or Darius could even be singing about God Himself!); “Ol’ Church Hymn” is different and will create healthy discussion between all kinds of people. A song that isn’t musically creative, but thematically quite unique, Darius has done a super job, and Chapel Hart and brilliant as well. I don’t know if I will actively listen to Darius’s albums going forward or even going backwards. But that’s hardly the point. A good song is a good song is a good song, no matter who is singing it.

Darius: You have to hear their voices on this song. Like so many people, I was blown away when I saw Chapel Hart’s original response to ‘Jolene’. I was recording ‘Ol’ Church Hymn’ at the time and instantly had this vision of it becoming a duet once I heard their voices. I’m so thankful they said yes to singing on it with me, and I can’t wait to see the huge career they’re going to have.

Chapel Hart’s Devynn Hart: He really took a chance on us. He saw some of our stuff online and he was like ‘I love what you ladies are doing. I have an idea and I want to hear you guys on this song.’

Sadly though, aside from “Ol’ Church Hymn”, the rets of Carolyn’s Boy is more of the… ‘meh’ and ‘blah’ that I gleaned from “Times Like These”. The album opener “Beers And Sunshine” is a party/country song literally about beers and sunshine (something you could imagine and envision Florida Georgia Line singing and probably succeeding in!); while the equally musically unimpressive and lyrically mediocre ‘uplifter’ “In this Together” is actually painful to listen to. The lyrics are just plain lazy, and though the sentiment is there- in that we all have to unite and be in this life together, the vagueness is excruciating and at times unbearable. “Never Been Over”, a moving and emotional ballad, speaks about Darius’s tumultuous relationships with his now ex-wife and is a highlight on a album that has its ups and downs; while the cringey melody “Fires Don’t Start Themselves” is as awkward as ever, as Darius sings a song about making love to his partner that is a melody that is incredibly skippable. “7 Days” is an earnest and reflective melody about the persona not being able to get over his ex, but it’s not really executed well and not that memorable; while once again Darius sinks to a new low in the beer drinking song “Same Beer Different Problem” which is… well, the less said about this melody, the better.

“Sara”, an honest and hard-hitting melody that speaks about Darius’s first love Sara and about how he longs to reconnect with her as a friend all of these years later, is a song co-written by Ed Sheeran, and encourages us to try to stay in connect with our own friends so that they don’t end up like ‘Sara’ and in need of reconnecting, or us lamenting on a broken friendship (and maybe that’s why it resonates with me so much and most of all compared to the rest of the songs on Carolyn’s Boy– because Ed co-wrote it!); while Darius never fails to give us another face palming moment in the ‘wish-I-never-hear-it’ party song “Have A Good Time” where Darius tries way, way too hard. “Sure Would Have Loved Her”, a guitar and strings and fiddle prominent melody, speaks about Darius’s regret of not being brave enough to pursue a relationship with a girl from his past, and him thinking and believing that he would have loved her if given the chance, if he would just have been able to be courageous and brave enough; while the weird and strange melody “Southern Comfort” seems to be… an 3 minute ad for a type of whiskey? It’s chock full of references from Darius’s hometown, and the melody and lyrics sound good. But can it really resonate with me when I don’t really know 100% what the song is about? It’s something like Thomas Rhett’s “What’s Your Country Song”, and that’s a bit on the nose, am I right?

“3 am In Carolina”, a powerful melody about making amends with the people you wronged, specifically speaks about Darius trying to seek forgiveness from his ex, but the song can seem to be about someone trying to make amends with other members of their close family or even with friends; while the Rihanna cover “Lift Me Up”, written for the Blakc Panter: Wakanda Forever movie, doesn’t hold a candle to the superb original Oscar-nominated track, but Darius does indeed make the track his own and it’s still inspiring and moving and encouraging. Carolyn’s Boy then ends with the romantic love song “Stargazing”, about young love and trying to stay in the best possible way with the one you love to ensure you’re in a good place for many, many years to come.

Despite Darius Rucker’s new album being inspired by and dedicated to his mother; the actual album is a bit of a hit and a miss. We have heartfelt and personal and resonating melodies (“Never Been Over”, “Ol’ Church Hymn”, “Sara”, “Sure Would Have Loved Her”, “3am In California”, “Lift Me Up”, “Stargazing”) but we also have tracks with are not memorable at all (the other 7!). and the reality is that with half the album being great and the other half not; we have an album that is on the whole mediocre. Darius is still a good singer and a good songwriter. But maybe if the album was broken down into 2 EP’s of 7 songs (one for the ballads and one for the party songs!), then perhaps with a more streamlined focus, I’d feel much more strongly one way or another? As it stands, this project is just… there, despite some good songs and thankfully in spite of all of the painful ones. Darius doesn’t reinvent the wheel of country music. But whether I listen to any more of his music will be on a case by case basis. Should you though? If a ‘blah’ album is your thing, then by all means!