Darius Rucker

Darius Rucker’s ‘Papa-Sghetti’ Signature Pasta Dish Has His Kids Singing Their Father Praise

By: Nashville Kat
tasteofcountry.com


Country star Darius Rucker is not only an amazing singer and musician, the Charleston, S.C. native can truly cook. He is so adept in the kitchen, in fact, that Rucker has even made up his own spaghetti dish, which his kids affectionately dubbed “Papa-sghetti.”

As Rucker explains, “I cook a mean ‘Papa-sghetti,’ which is spaghetti made by papa.” (editor’s note – wow, that REALLY clears it up!). The former Hootie — or was he a Blowfish? — apparently makes this dish at least once a week, as he told the Today Show, “Because it’s my meal. I can put that together in a minute, I’m cool with that.”

The singer grew up on Southern fried food and there are few things he likes more. Rucker will pretty much eat anything that is deep fried: “I’ll eat sushi if you fry it up!” As for his culinary specialty around the house, Rucker boasts that hands down, it is breakfast and he says, “I’ll get up and make anything they want for breakfast.”

Not that he’s always the one cooking. “Okra soup is my absolute favorite meal in the whole world,” continues the country star. “It’s funny… my wife doesn’t cook very much, but one thing she learned to cook is okra soup. I think she makes it once a year but I’m happy every time she does it.”

Rucker and his breakfast-making hands can next been seen April 28 in Bakersfield, Calif. The next day he heads off to Sunset Station Hotel and Casino in Henderson, Nev., before finishing out the weekend at the huge country festival in Indio, Calif., on April 30.

Darius Rucker Remembers Early Club Days

Darius Rucker's love affair with music goes way back, so it's no surprise to hear that he has been thrown out of some of the best clubs in his hometown of Charleston, S.C. The singer wasn't shown the door because he was rowdy or causing a scene, but because he would sneak in when he wasn't legally old enough to be there, just to see the band!

"When I was 16 or 17 and the drinking age was 18, there would be a band I'd want to see, and I figured out pretty quick how to get into a club. I'd be there by the side door, and when someone went in, I'd just follow them in real quick," Darius tells The Boot. "I've done that a million times."

So did the star-to-be ever get caught?

"Sure," Darius says without hesitation. "I remember one time a cop came in and saw me. He just happened to have been my Little League football coach and he came up to me and said, 'Darius, I know you're not 18, I coached you three years ago. You've got to go.'"

Darius says there was a cover band called the Jumper Cables that he loved when he was just getting into music. "I still want to be in a cover band, because they were such an amazing cover band," he explains. "They were so great. I went to see them all the time, and I wanted to be in the Jumper Cables and play in front of 400 people at the Windjammer."

The Windjammer was just one of the clubs Darius frequented when he went out to hear music in Charleston.

"It was a huge club, and I saw so many bands there that made me want to be in a band," the 'I Got Nothin'' singer remembers. "I also went to the Music Farm and Miskins, these little clubs around Charleston that had great bands. We'd be high school kids sneaking in. It was great."

It was also a wonderful place for a young man with a new band called Hootie & the Blowfish to find places to play early in their career.

"When we were starting to play, there was a great music scene along the coastal area, from New York down to Florida. There was a club in every town, and we would just play those clubs every six weeks or so. When we got our record deal, we didn't even think about it. The year we got our record deal, we each made like $50 grand, just touring clubs, so it was a great scene. It was a great way to make a living."

Darius is off the road until mid-January, so you might just find him at one of those favorite haunts, though today he won't be asked to leave! The Windjammer and the Music Farm are still offering music fans a schedule of great live music several nights a week.

Darius Rucker, Charleston Roots Explored in 'Southern Living'


Charleston native Darius Rucker has deep roots in South Carolina and that's even more obvious when it comes to food, good manners and his favorite Southern expression. The singer-songwriter, whose True Believers album is due in June, shared some of his favorite things about Charleston in Southern Living's "Daily South" column, including his secret ambition to be another country superstar and what his perfect Charleston day would entail.

Darius says his new year's resolution is to get in better shape ("This year I really mean it!" he insists), but we're not certain one of his favorite Charleston dishes, okra soup (which normally has more bacon than okra), would be on the healthy menu. "I like it in the Charleston style with tomatoes and onion," he explains. "The best is from the Piggly Wiggly just down the road from my house."

Darius notes that his family has lived in Charleston for generations; going back so far that even he isn't sure how long they've lived there. He also says he makes sure that his children, Cary, 17, Dani, 11, and Jack, 8, always use "sir" and "ma'am" when speaking to someone. (Incidentally, in 1995, Charleston was named the best-mannered city in America by a leading ettiquette expert). In keeping with his quest for good manners, in place of curse words, Darius says you're likely to hear him exclaim "goodness gracious!"

His ideal day in Charleston? "I start by playing golf at Yeamans Hall," the avid golfer notes. "Then I head home, round up the kids, and go to my favorite beach, Isle of Palms. Then it's time for dinner at an amazing local restaurant like Husk or FIG. On a truly perfect day, I'd also play a set somewhere in town. Charleston is my favorite place to perform."

And although he's clearly proud to be one of Chucktown's favorite sons, Darius acknowledges that he wouldn't mind being Kentucky-born country superstar Dwight Yoakam. "Ever since the first time I heard his song 'I Got You,' I have thought Dwight was the coolest man on the planet," he says.

A song he'd like to cover? Bruno Mars' and Travie McCoy's "Billionaire." Though he'd add banjo, steel guitar and drums to his own version. Real the full Southern Living article on Darius here