Darius Rucker
I remember my brother was always a jerk to me. One time, he bought Jimi Hendrix's 'Smash Hits,' and he gave it to me because he didn't like it, thinking it was a punishment.
As a kid, I was big into Al Green, Gladys Knight and the Pips, but as I got older, I started listening to all sorts of music, including country.
With rock, you can write about anything. There are rock songs I still don't know what they're singing about, but you want to get up and dance.
I'd be lying to say I've not experienced a lot of racism in my life; it's very much alive. I don't let it bother me. I couldn't be the singer I am if I didn't let it go.
I love making music, and I love touring. I love that I get to wake up and play music. I don't like being away from my wife and kids.
I can't live without my family, golf, and football.
I'm not a studio rat. I do find sitting around playing the same song 12 times kind of tedious. I like to get in and get out.
I'm going to do whatever I want as long as it's country. I mean, I'm not much on naysayers, so I'll just do whatever. If I like it, I'll do it.
I make records so I can go on tour. There's nothing else. I love to go out and play for people.
When you hear people scream because they're about to hear a song that has been a part of their life, there's nothing like that.
I plan to make records as long as people wanna keep listening to them.
Country music's so about the nuclear family and living the southern lifestyle and everything.
I remember riding around with my friends with 'Ain't Even Done with the Night' cranked up and my windows down. Those were great days.
To have John Mellencamp compliment my songwriting? That was unreal.
You're always proud that people still want to hear what you're doing.
With 'Wagon Wheel,' I loved the visual it painted, and it's a song I can truly say I look forward to performing every night.
I'm such a lover of golf, and I've been at the Masters a couple times, and I've been so blessed to get to play there.
There's two times of year for me: Football season, and waiting for football season.
I just wanted to go out and make a record that I've always wanted to make since I was a kid.
When I was in high school, I read all of Neil Simon's plays.
We raised almost 2 million dollars at the last golf tournament that can be used for minority scholarships and Junior Golf programs. The payoff for the work we do is so much more valuable than the work we actually do for it.
When I was growing up, I always knew that if I ever got anything, I was going to give back as much as I can. I learned that all you have to be willing to do is give your time.
I've known Tiger since he was 18. Tiger is a great guy. I am so happy for him right now.
Remember the Stax label and how if you liked one record, you liked all the others as well? You don't talk to a lot of people who tell you how much they love their record label. I don't care how many records they sell.
It was important to me to find a label that wouldn't back out after a first single. Everyone's so used to hearing me with Hootie, they're going to be skeptical.
I have major respect for Kenny Chesney and Carrie Underwood and Sugarland. They are wonderful. They're superstars in the music business.
I'm a kid who grew up in an all African-American neighborhood and got into schools and aspired to just be me, and didn't worry about labels or anything. Just wanted to be a success at what I did.
I think people who go out and tell you how much they're gonna change things are the people who end up being just another whatever. I'm never trying to change anything. That's not for me.
Ray Charles has always been a big part of my life.
My family lives a pretty normal life.
I expect to make a career out of country music.
I work hard to let my wife know how much I love her. I try to do that every day.
It's hard to be married to me, and it was a lot harder when I was younger!
I'm pretty sure I'm gonna stick with country until I ride off in the sunset.
Ice Cube is doing so great. He went from being this hardcore gangster rapper to this actor now. He's doing children's movies and all this stuff - he's rocking it.
Arnold Palmer is my favorite, just getting to know him and all of the film on him and his game. He was the first real superstar in golf. You had Bobby Jones and all of those guys, but Arnold Palmer was bigger than life.
I believe that one of the reasons I get to play golf all over the world is because of the barriers that Lee Elder broke down. I just think he's amazing.
The thing that really gets me about the game is I've never played two rounds that were anywhere close to being the same - ever. Even with the same golf course and setup, nothing is ever the same. I love that about golf.
Marriage is not easy. You have to decide to work. That's what it really comes down to: two people deciding to stay together or not.
Romantic stuff is not something I really remember.
Golf is the greatest but most maddening sport there is.
I used to love watching 'Hee Haw' on TV when I was a kid. My brothers and sisters weren't happy about it, but I just loved the music.
I had an AM radio and listened to Al Green, Kenny Rogers, Stevie Wonder, Charley Pride and Cheap Trick - sometimes in the same hour on the same station!
It's about the music, not the color of the person playing the music.
Whether you are on stage or playing golf, all it takes is one person to throw everything off.
If it wasn't for Kenny Rogers, I don't think I would be in country music. He was that guy when I was a kid - his music and 'Hee Haw' made me perk my ears up and made me say, 'What is this? I want to hear more of that.' He was that catalyst for me to start this whole run in country music.
It seems that with other kind of music, they are looking for the next big thing, but with country music, they might be looking for that, but they also want to have that warm blanket that helped them through that relationship or that singer they have always loved.
When you're doing a Motley Crue tribute record, you can ask anyone to do it, and they're not going to say no.
One of the things that I'm dying to do is to sing the hook on a big rap song.