REVIEW: "Southern Style" by Darius Rucker

By: Elizabeth Rhinehart

In recent years, the country music world has been fueled by pop; Florida Georgia Line, Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean being some of the popular artists to contribute heavily to the merge of the genres. Don’t get me wrong I love new country music and the upbeat sensations that come along with it, but I love older country music, too, and Darius Rucker brought a mix of both with his fourth solo album, Southern Style.

Southern Style hit the stores on March 31 and I absolutely love it. Maybe I’m a little biased because I have loved Darius Rucker since he was the lead singer for Hootie and the Blowfish in the 90’s and early 2000’s, or maybe the whole album is truly that good. If I’m being honest, it’s a little bit of both.

            

The headliner of this album is “Homegrown Honey” which holds the current number 8 spot on the country music billboard charts. “Homegrown Honey” gives you a feel of the album as a whole. It’s peppy, upbeat, optimistic and one of those songs it’s hard not to like (if you’re a country music fan).

With this new album, Rucker is giving his fans a happier side of him. His past albums tended to be a little more on the sad end of the spectrum, focusing on his lost love with the mother of his first child and other scenarios that brought him heartache. Southern Style is the opposite. With the exception of two songs, the album is very happy and it’s hard to listen to it and not feel happy too. It’s what I would call a “sit back, feel good” album.

There is a wide array of instruments used in the production of Southern Style, some being the fiddle, mandolin, piano, drums, electric guitar and acoustic guitar. Even though most of those instruments are typical for any style of music, the use of the fiddle and the mandolin really play into the “old country” stereotype and I love it. I can’t tell you the last time I heard a fiddle used in a song, more or less in multiple songs on an album.

The best part about this album is the lyrics. Rucker writes all of his music, but does receive help from his producers or other famous country stars, such as Lady Antebellum singer Charles Kelley, from time to time. By him writing his own music, it’s very personable. You get an idea of who he is as a man and what he stands for solely by listening to the words. His lyrics revolve around his family, his wife, his faith, his hometown of Charleston, SC, and just having a good time. What I really like about Rucker is he tends to refrain from writing and singing about activities many artists base their whole albums on in today’s society. He does sing about having a good beer every few songs, but he doesn’t promote getting drunk, doing drugs or having sex.

When I listen to Southern Style, I feel like I am getting music similar to what you’d hear from George Strait or Brooks and Dunn but then the next song could be similar to recent country superstars Sam Hunt or Rascal Flatts. The diversity Rucker offers in his instrumentals, lyrics and song topic is what makes this album one worth your $15.