I've been covering the story of young DJ Daniel since he stole our hearts back in March when Donald Trump made him an honorary Secret Service Agent. For those who don't know the name, he's the young man with terminal brain cancer who has defied the odds, living years beyond what doctors predicted. He's also a big fan of law enforcement and has become an honorary member of over 1,300 law enforcement agencies across the country. Last month, his father released the heartbreaking news that he has three new tumors.
Recently, DJ took to social media, asking if anyone knew country music superstar Jason Aldean. He said that he and his father want to put on a country music show in Texas to raise money for other kids with cancer, and he wanted to get Aldean involved. Well, another country music superstar, Darius Rucker, just happened to see DJ's video and made the introductions.
Hey DJ, heard u were looking for me... pic.twitter.com/WvhJ7bBlLN
— Jason Aldean (@Jason_Aldean) June 5, 2025
It'll be interesting to see what comes of that, but that's not what I really wanted to write about today. In what feels like a world full of chaos lately, I just wanted to take a minute and give Mr. Rucker some recognition. Truth be told, his music has been kind of a shining light in my life since, well, since I was in middle school. More on that in a minute.
I'm not really one to put a celebrity whom I've never met personally on a pedestal, and I'm not going to start now — we're all human — but Rucker has always stood out to me for many reasons. First, there are the big things he does for little people. Rucker has supported St. Jude for decades now, and he's raised millions of dollars for the children's research hospital with an annual concert, auction, and golf match that he puts on every year called "Darius and Friends." As a matter of fact, he just hosted the event last week for the sixteenth time.
Back in his hometown of Charleston, S.C., Rucker co-chaired the "the capital campaign that generated $150 million to help build the new MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children's Hospital" — the hospital where his mother worked as a nurse for decades — and has advocated for "over 200 charitable causes supporting public education and junior golf programs in South Carolina through the Hootie & the Blowfish Foundation."
But he doesn't just make the grand gestures that get the flashy headlines. If you spend any time in South Carolina (and even here in Georgia), you've probably heard your own "Darius Rucker did this awesome thing" story. As a matter of fact, there was a headline floating around in 2021 that a country music star tipped a Waffle House waitress $1,000 after witnessing her taking care of her young daughter and working hard to serve her customers at the same time. No one was ever able to verify who it was, but years later, Rucker confirmed that it was, indeed, him.
Waitress Shirell 'Honey' Lackey was performing double duties at the popular late night spot, caring for her daughter while also tending to customers. She was working a double shift from 7 a.m. until 9 p.m. A country music star and his team came in and saw the waitress pulling double duty and the team member tipped her $50. But that's not all that went down, the team member went back to the country music star and shared the story of Lackey and her work ethic right before he was set to order his to-go meal.
The country music star, who Lackey wants to keep anonymous, left a $1,000 tip. Right after writing that down, Lackey shared that he gave her some words of encouragement saying, 'I have to respect a mother that would do whatever it takes to support their child in a society where people don't even want to work anymore.' Not only that, the country music star gave Lackey two concert tickets and sent baby clothes and toys to her home for her daughter Bella.
He also couldn't believe that a story about him buying breakfast for everyone at a local South Carolina IHOP once made headlines. "I was just looking around ... and there was just a bunch of families, a bunch of kids. I really just thought about the economy and what it is and it's been a tough year, and I was walking out and saw my friend that I see all the time when I'm in there and I said, 'Hey man, how long will it take you to calculate everybody's check,'" he said during a radio interview in 2021.
"I did it — I tipped the waitstaff and I left," he confirmed to the hosts, admitting, "I just didn't think it was going to be newsworthy." From what I've heard, Rucker does this sort of thing often, and more often than not, it does not make the news. I'm sure he wouldn't want it any other way.
In 2023, when he was honored with the 2023 CMA Foundation Humanitarian Award, he said it was his late mother, Carolyn, who inspired him to give as much as he could and believe in his dreams to reach a position in life where he could do just that.
"When I was a kid, she instilled in us that you help people – not people that are less fortunate; you help people that need help," he said, adding, "We grew up in a really poor neighborhood with not much and, you know, there was no reason for me to believe that I was gonna be here and make it. But she always instilled in me ‘believe in yourself, you can do whatever you want.'"
And that's something else that I love about Rucker. He doesn't forget where he came from. Not only is he proud of his humble Southern roots, which is obvious in almost everything he does, but he takes every chance he can to honor Carolyn, a single mom who raised him and his six siblings on her own. He even named his 2023 album "Carolyn's Boy" in her honor — she died in 1992, just before he made it big — and he uses every opportunity he can to speak at length about how much she meant to him. He even told Southern Living in 2024 that she was a better singer than he, saying, "And so, anytime I get a little big-headed, I remind myself, ‘You don't sound like your mama, though.'"
These days, most people know Rucker as a country music star, but if you are passionate about all things '90s music like I am, you know that he actually got his start as the lead singer for the band Hootie & the Blowfish. Born as a college band out of the University of South Carolina, Hootie became super famous when they released their debut mainstream album "Cracked Rear View." The rest, as they say, is history (but it's a history I won't recap here because I still have lots more to say and don't want to turn this into a novella).
But before that, the band made a name for itself playing gigs across the Southeast. One of my favorite stories from those days takes place in my beloved former college town of Athens, Ga. Rucker and the band played their hit song "Let Her Cry" for the first time at the Georgia Theatre, but it didn't yet have a title. He says a frat boy came up to him and said, "You know how I feel about it? If she's going to cry, f*** her, let her cry." The guys decided right then and there to name the song that. Here's the full story from Rucker himself: It's pretty funny.
But that's the thing. Despite his immense fame and success, Rucker still comes across as the type of guy you just want to hang out with in a bar or the local Waffle House or at a college football or basketball game. (Unfortunately, he's a big South Carolina Gamecocks fan, but I only hold that against him when his team plays my Georgia Bulldogs.) He's also proud of his Southernness, and he doesn't shy away from it or try to lose it like so many do when they become world-famous. It's evident in everything he does, even right now as he's spending some time living and working in the United Kingdom. The accent, the manners, the love of Southern food — it's all still evident in various interviews and appearances.
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Now for the self-indulgent part. Anyway, as I said, my own appreciation for Darius Rucker started when I was in middle school or around that time. I'd heard a few songs from "Cracked Rear View" on the radio or MTV, and one day, my parents had been out shopping and brought the CD home to me for my birthday. That was all it took. Not only did I fall in love with Hootie and the Blowfish, but I fell in love with Darius Rucker's voice that day. Everything about that album spoke to me. And everything about Rucker did, too. I've been a huge fan ever since. He just seemed like my kind of people.
Maybe it was that Southernness I mentioned, maybe it was that he seemed like he loved sports, especially SEC sports, as much as I did, or maybe it was how passionately he talked about one his favorite bands, which also happened to be one of mine: R.E.M. Or, most likely, it's just the fact that the man has one of the most beautiful voices I've ever heard. Whatever it was, I've been all in from that day way back in the mid-1990s when my mom handed me that album.
Unfortunately, I've never seen Rucker or Hootie & the Blowfish live, but it's not for lack of trying. It's actually kind of become a running joke with some of my friends. Every single time I've managed to get my hands on tickets, something happens in my life that prevents me from going. I even bought tickets to a virtual event once, and my mom was in the hospital at the time. She called me about 20 minutes into it, and I missed most of the show.
However, I did get Rucker to serenade me once. Okay, it was on X, and it was via written word, but it was still kind of cool.
As I said, Rucker is a big R.E.M. fan. I am, too. I don't think you can have lived in Athens and not be, plus I grew up with my dad playing it practically daily. Hootie & the Blowfish's cover of "Driver 8" is one of my favorite songs ever. My actual favorite R.E.M. song is "You Are the Everything," though, and I've always felt like Rucker would cover it just as beautifully as he did "Driver 8."
A few years ago, not long after my own mother died, I guess I was feeling bold, so I told my dad and my friend and colleague here, Chris Queen, that I was going to find a way to get Rucker to sing "You Are the Everything." I posted on X — or tweeted him as we used to say back in the day — and I was quite shocked and honored when he responded with some of the lyrics. I've had some of the most powerful men in the world slide into my DMs over the years or repost things I wrote, but this response from Darius Rucker is my favorite thing that's ever happened to me on that social media platform.
Sometimes I feel like I can’t even sing. I’m very scared for this world. Very scared for me. https://t.co/rBeBgQ81TT
— Darius Rucker (@dariusrucker) November 21, 2021
What's funny is that a lot of his followers didn't realize those were just song lyrics and thought he was having some kind of internal crisis.
I'd still love to hear him sing a live version of it, and I still hold out hope that he will one day. He has since covered other R.E.M. songs, so it's possible. Hey Darius, if you're out there...
Anyway, I'll stop my gushing and fangirling there, but I'll leave you with a little music. There's not a bad version of "Let Her Cry," but this is one of my favorites. I will always prefer his live versions of songs to the studio ones anyway. Perfection. (And we actually had an X exchange about this song last year, too. I may or may not harass the poor man on X from time to time.)
Never!! I love singing that song. https://t.co/L2Pvsn9PyL
— Darius Rucker (@dariusrucker) February 23, 2024
And here's Hootie & the Blowfish covering R.E.M.'s "Driver 8." I listen to this song nearly every day. His voice can literally change my mood in minutes.
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