About Charleston, SC 1966
Radney Foster had a record called Del Rio Texas 1959 which was where he was born and the year he was born, and that record was the “light-switch” record for me.  It really changed the way I heard music.  Not just country music, but heard music – it was huge for me.  That’s what really pushed me and inspired me to make country music. In paying homage to him I named it Charleston, SC 1966, but also because I think Charleston is the greatest city in the world, and I love living there and being from there.

Track-by-Track
1. “This”
Darius Rucker, Frank Rogers, Kara DioGuardi

Frank Rogers, my producer, is friends with Kara [DioGuardi], and she was telling Frank she wanted to have a song on my record.  It was the first time I ever wrote a song on iChat! She was in Los Angeles and we were in Nashville! I really feel like “This” picks-up where we left off on the last record.  It’s the perfect bridge song from Learn To Live.

2. “Come Back Song”
Darius Rucker, Chris Stapleton, Casey Beathard

This was the last song we wrote for the record. It was one of those songs I thought was going to be a throwaway--and once again--Frank Rogers took it and made it something a lot better than what I heard in my head. Thank God for Frank Rogers!  

3. “Might Get Lucky”
Darius Rucker, Radney Foster, Jay Clementi

Radney [Foster] and I started this song when we were on the road together.  It’s essentially about all the right things that a guy can do to get attention from his wife.  From playing with the kids around the yard to fixing the door…my favorite line of the song is “treat her right in the daylight.”

4. “Whiskey and You”
Darius Rucker, Frank Rogers

This is one of my favorite songs that I’ve ever written, and I’m not the kind of guy who says, “this is one of my favorites,” because in truth, I like them all.   But when I hear this song and perform it on stage, it just feels different to me from other songs I’ve done.  The song is special to me.

5. “Southern State of Mind”
Darius Rucker, Ashley Gorley, Chris DuBois

This song is about all the times being away from home but yet yearning for home. It’s really about wanting to be back in Charleston to me.

6. “Love Will Do That”
Darius Rucker, Frank Rogers, Don Sampson

I wrote this song with Frank and Don, and for me it means a lot because I got the New Grass Revival guys to play on the track. New Grass was one of those bands that I listened to everyday in the 80s. To have Bela Fleck, Sam Bush, John Cowan to come down and play…It’s funny to me because now when I listen to the song and the instrumental part comes on I feel like I’m the guest singer in the New Grass Revival.

7. “Craziest Thing”
Darius Rucker, Frank Rogers, Monty Criswell

I love this song.  To me, this song is about that girl who thinks she’s really crazy until she finds that boy that she’s in love with, and then she realizes the craziest things she’s ever done is fall in love with him. Sounds like my life!

8. “Things I’d Never Do”
Darius Rucker, Frank Rogers, Clay Mills

This was one of the songs that came easy.  Ballads seem to be easier to write for me – for everybody I guess.  This is a song I’m really proud of – I thought we really captured this tune.

9. “We All Fall Down”
Darius Rucker, Kim Tribble

I wrote this track with Kim Tribble, and it’s a song--when we finished--I just thought it hit the truth.  That was the thirteenth song for me. They [label and management] wanted twelve songs, but I just had to put this one on the record.   It’s a song about the fact that everybody has problems there a point in everybody’s life where they hit the bottom.  It’s not about how we get there…it’s about how get back up from there.

10. “I Don’t Care” Featuring Brad Paisley
Darius Rucker, Brad Paisley, Chris DuBois

This song was one Brad started writing with Chris, they decided it was a duet.  They stopped writing it because they wanted to record it with me.  There are notes that I’m hitting and I am belting it out – I’m really trying to get there.  Brad is hitting the same notes and he sounds like he’s sitting in a chair, easy at it can be.  It’s really great to have someone that big be as cool to me as Brad has been.  Brad is a super star, and from the time I started this through all of it, he’s been nothing but a friend and cool and “whatever I can do to help you” type person to me.  It’s pretty cool to have someone like that on your side.

11. “She’s Beautiful”
Darius Rucker, Frank Rogers, Brett Jones

I loved writing this song – the opening line is so country. If you really love somebody, that sentiment is so true. There are so many ways you can describe beauty, and I like the way we did it in this song.

12. “I Got Nothin”
Darius Rucker, Clay Mills

This song is all about being away from home a lot and what you miss and what you want when you get back home.  The opening line “I signed up to see this world through the windows of buses and planes” – that’s definitely autobiographical.

13. “In A Big Way”
Darius Rucker, Casey Beathard

I’m a huge football fan, and when I saw Casey Beathard’s face (co-writer on the track) I instantly knew who his father was--Bobby Beathard, one of the greatest GMs in NFL history! Casey was the smoothest songwriter, and the song came from both of our loves of being laid back and of life not moving too fast.

Click HERE to download "Charleston, SC 1966" talking points.