Darius Rucker is always open to collaborate with other artists, but music business politics often get in the way of making those collaborations actually happen. This subject has got a lot of attention in the past few weeks since Kelly Clarkson admitted in an interview other artists often turn her down when she approaches them about collaborating. According to Darius, those artists might not even know Kelly asked to sing with them in the first place.
He says, “A lot of times management’s not even letting it get to the artist to where the artist can say yes or no. I’ve had some shocking moments over the last few years and stuff where I was turned down from where I was shocked, but, you know, that’s just the nature of the business.”
A lot of times artists will get together at an event like next month’s ACM Awards and come up with an idea for a collaboration. Darius says it’s getting harder and harder to take those song ideas from the drawing board to the recording studio.
He explains, “When it happens like that, it’s cool. But as soon as you call up somebody’s management company, you know, they mess up the coolness of that stuff, ’cause that’s a cool thing.”
For the record, Darius says he would sing with Kelly Clarkson “in a heartbeat” if she ever asked. As for his dream duet partner, Darius says, “It would be Paul McCartney. I would go and bark on a Paul McCartney record if that’s what he wanted me to do. Ruff, ruff! I’m down!”
Darius’s new single, “Homegrown Honey,” is the lead release from his new album, Southern Style, due out March 31.
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