Enjoying a successful career as lead vocalist of ’90s soft-rock legends Hootie and the Blowfish, Darius Rucker decided to embark on a new venture as a country singer in 2008. “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It,” the lead single off his second solo album Learn to Live, made Rucker the first Black artist since Charley Pride to top the Hot Country Songs chart. Last releasing new solo music with 2023’s Carolyn’s Boy, the South Carolina native has now teamed up with R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills and ex-Black Crowes drummer Steve Gorman to form the new supergroup Howl Owl Howl.
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Traveling through the Nashville International Airport last Sunday (Dec. 21), Rucker gave a former American Idol contestant a holiday memory for the books when he offered up a hefty tip in exchange for an impromptu performance.
Darius Rucker Treats Holiday Travelers to Miranda Lambert Deep Cut
Singing since age 10 in her small hometown of Columbia, Tennessee, Sarina-Joi Crowe was just 15 years old when she first auditioned for season 10 of American Idol. She made it to Hollywood Week and returned for three more seasons, placing in the Top 12 during season 14.
In the years since, Crowe has shared a stage with Eric Church and fronted the band BlaqueTopBlonde. Over the weekend, she was playing at the Acme in the Nashville airport when she noticed a man watching her from the bar.
That man approached Crowe, offering her a $200 tip in exchange for him to perform.
“At first, I didn’t realize who it was… I said to him, I said, ‘Do I know you?”’ Crowe told Fox 17.
She continued, “And he kind of laughed and he said, ‘Yeah, you know me.’ I said, ‘Okay, I won’t say anything, but sure.’”
Borrowing the singer-songwriter’s blue guitar, the man launched into his rendition of “More Like Her,” a Miranda Lambert deep cut from her 2007 sophomore album Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. As he began to sing, “the whole terminal just stopped because they knew that voice,” Crowe said.
It was six-time CMA Award winner Darius Rucker.
Afterwards, “He went back to drinking his drink, and he said to me, ‘You’re amazing. I really enjoyed listening to you,’” Crowe said.
[RELATED: Darius Rucker Says He’s “So Against” His Kids Becoming Musicians—and Here’s Why]
“He was very, very kind,” she added. “And that, to me, is the story.”
Featured image by R. Diamond/Getty Images
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