Darius Rucker, one of the few black Americans to dabble in country music has become a leader and arguably one of the best country music idols in America today. The last time I was at the Grand Opry, I went there to see Darius Rucker perform. It was a great show and it completely sold out weeks before the event. Darius Rucker is a great talent who still has many more years of good music to give to the world.
I take a vacation once a year to the “Grand Ole Opry", the most prestigious shrine of country music in the greatest country on Earth. Now that I am retired and have more time to spare, I plan to go at least twice a year to the music city. I am just in love with America, her uniqueness as God’s own country and the varieties of tourist attractions she offers to the world. I have traveled around the world quite a bit. It is hard to find any other country in my esteem that comes anywhere close to America, all things considered.
Much as I value some of the strength of communism, I will be the first to admit it is a far cry compared to capitalism. I can never be a communist because it carries with it some inherent weaknesses that would always put it into a subservient position to capitalism. Its central control system and disdain for competition and one-way thinking makes it harder for communists to self-analyze and make corrections before it is too late. The capitalist system on the other hand is always seeking a way to get better by taking a hard look at everything it does, because it believes more than communism that anything made by man and even things made by God Almighty can be infinitely improved.
America as the world’s greatest superpower excels in every area of endeavor you can think of, including music, which is what is driving me today to put a spotlight on one of the black musicians in country music that has captured my imagination as a great lover of country music. Everybody knows I love country music so much that if they are looking for information on country music, they know who to ask. Some of my neighbors always come to me to know where the next country music concert is to be held in the New York area and who is the latest country music artist, male or female, in America because they know country music is my passion.
Darius Rucker, one of the few black Americans to dabble in country music has become a leader and arguably one of the best country music idols in America today. The last time I was at the Grand Opry, I went there to see Darius Rucker perform. It was a great show and it completely sold out weeks before the event. Darius Rucker is a great talent who still has many more years of good music to give to the world because he is not just young, he is also multi-talented as a song writer, lead vocalist, and guitarist.
If you are in country music and you have not performed at the Grand Opry, you are still a long way from becoming a superstar. One of my latest articles on “Lagbaja” has been ranked among the most popular articles on the Chat Afrik website for many months now. I get very positive reviews on that article from Internet fans around the world. I feel motivated from that feedback to profile Darius Rucker today because I see the man as making a name for himself in country music, just like “Lagbaja” has done with Afrocalypso.
I observe that country music in America is dominated by white Americans, just like sports like basketball and boxing are dominated by the blacks and Hispanics in America. That Darius Rucker will come from nowhere to start giving his white competitors a challenge is not a development to be taken lightly. It takes a lot talent and self-confidence for Darius to have gone this far in country music. Some of his white competitors, male and female, have used some of his songs and they have put their own flavor on them, but none of them has been as good as Rucker’s original composition. Helena Maria, in a duet with her lead vocalist, did try something like that. It was a good effort but nowhere near the way the song was first put together by Rucker. When Rucker is on stage, he leaves no one in doubt as to who is in charge. His band members and his millions of fans across the country know he is as good if not better than many of his white colleagues.
His performance on stage has put a lot of racists in America on notice that they are making a big mistake, to have placed too much premium on skin color over and above talent, expertise and brain power. What matters should be one’s ability, talent, and character, as eloquently stated by Martin Luther King. Darius Rucker has shown he has got a lot of talent and he has a great voice. As a country music lover, I can think of so many country music superstars I could easily have profiled in this article. I mention a few of them that are truly the best in what they do.
Dolly Parton who has dominated country music for more than 50 years. She has become a monument and one of the foundational pillars of country music in America. Her “Coat of Many Colors” has become one of the gold standards in country music composition. Reba McIntyre, Carrie Underwood, Helena Maria, Lady Antebellum, Shania Twain, Celine Dion, Martina McBride, Trisha Yearwood, and many others on the female side are clearly top of the chart. On the male side are Kenny Rogers, Don Williams, James Taylor, Jimmy Dickens, Charley Pride, Alan Jackson, Alison Krauss, Bill Anderson, Ricky Skaggs, Trace Adkins and Vince Gill to mention a few. Those are the older ones I cannot easily forget. Among the younger ones are guitar wizard Brad Paisely, guitar maestro Keith Urban, the golden-voiced leader singer of Rascal Flatts, and the velvet-voiced, handsome, Chris Young, who crafted one of the most beautiful songs titled “I Hear Voices All The Time”.
It is not only those pastors or those schizophrenics or manic depressive individuals among us who hear voices, I hear voices too all the time, and I am not crazy or insane. The song was a big confession rendered into beautiful lyrics and rhythm by Chris Young. There was another track by Chris Young titled “Save Water, Drink Beer”, which is one of the best songs ever written. The same Chris Young wrote another song titled “Tomorrow”, which he himself once acknowledged as the very best of his songs.
I cannot forget some of the beautiful songs of Kenny Chesney, Josh Turner, Zac Brown, Gorge Strait, Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Easton Corbin, Dierks Bentley and Garry Allan. They are all amazing country music idols in their own right but Darius Rucker, as one of the few blacks among them is picked as the star of this article for blazing a new trail in country music as a black American, and doing so with pride and confidence that is second to none.
Mr. Rucker has waxed hundreds of albums and single tracks that put him on a fast lane to the Country Music Hall of Fame, but the one that has made the greatest impression on me is titled “Alright”. You will not fully appreciate the genius of Mr. Rucker until you hear the wordings of that song.
I particularly love the part that says “I thank God above for giving me all I could ever dream of” and the part that says “I got a roof over my head and a woman I love in my bed”. What more can I ask for? I totally agree with Mr. Rucker, it’s alright for me too and most human beings will say the same, if they are not Oliver Twist-inclined in wanting the moon after most of their basic needs should have been met.
I give honor and glory to the Almighty God for giving me a roof over my head, a great wife, and 8 adorable children. I thank God for giving me a family I can be proud of. I thank God for making me an American and giving me the peace of mind and the freedom to be a partaker of the great American dream. When I see all of my 12 grand children growing up in this beautiful country and when I count my blessings in America, I cannot help but agree with Darius Rucker. “It’s alright”.
2 years ago in Detroit, Michigan, I stumbled on an Igbo friend of mine I have lost for more than 40 years. I had gone to that city to deliver a paper to a convocation on Egbe Omo Yoruba in the Diaspora, at the invitation of a Professor Emeritus of History at Temple University in Philadelphia. I am talking of Egbon Banji Akintoye, a former Senator in the Nigerian Third Republic, who delivered the keynote address as the patron of the Organization. Kenneth Akosa originally hailed from Ifite Oraifite in Anambra State but he was born at Akure. Okechukwu Chukwuemeka was another good friend of mine at the time. We grew up together. Kenneth became one of my best friends. He was my classmate at St Thomas Primary School, Akure way back in the late 50s.
His father was a palm wine tapper in my father’s village, Igunshin which is now under Akure North Local Government in Ondo State. Kenneth was an “Obioma” mobile or itinerant tailor in Akure for many years. I lost contact with him after I gained entrance to Awolowo University in 1963. Somehow, Kenneth found his way to America through the help of a Reverend Father he had met along the way. He is today a top notch engineer in one of the auto plants in Detroit. We met by sheer coincidence at a popular restaurant in Detroit not too far from my hotel. He paid for my dinner and he drove me to his fabulous mansion on the outskirts of Detroit to go meet his beautiful family. On our way to his home, he asked me what kind of music I would love him to play for me in his latest brand Cadillac. I told him country music. Guess what music came on? It was Darius Rucker.
I told Kenneth he could not have chosen a better track to play for me and I reminded him of our lives together in Akure and why I think he has come a long way from his “Obioma” days at Akure. We both laughed and we both thanked God for America. Kenneth told me he would forever be grateful to America and so would I.
Kenneth remembered most of our escapades at Akure like I did. He thought I had an edge over him back then as an Akure prince. I told him that was then. I was more than happy to see him turn his life around. We both agreed America is the leveler and we both gave thanks to God for bringing us together after close to 50 years of separation. It turned out that we were both lovers of country music and we both love Darius Rucker’s music in particular.
It was a lot of fun for me and Kenneth that day in Detroit. We danced all night to the music of Darius Rucker before the guy drove me back to my hotel. The album titled “Alright” dominated our reunion and celebration of friendship. I could never have believed in my wildest dream that Kenneth and I could turn out to be so successful, given our very humble background in Nigeria. Our chance meeting in Detroit was an act of God.
We both celebrated the beauty of America that has turned Darius Rucker into a multi-millionaire in country music. It is the same beauty that has manifested in the lives of Kenneth and mine as two Nigerians who came to this land with less than 50 dollars in our pocket, but who are today living a good life in America with a decent roof over our head and some good children to keep the flag flying after we quit the stage.
Darius Rucker got it exactly right in his once-in-a- life-time composition titled. “It’s alright”. That was something Kenneth and I could agree on as we compared notes on our sojourn in America. Darius Rucker was probably thinking of both of us when he waxed that album. God bless him.
I rest my case.