Hootie On Hiatus

Post-holiday congratulations are in order for Carrie Underwood. She has become the first country artist to reach Platimum Mastertone Status for two of her songs! That impressive title simply means “Jesus Take The Wheel” and “Before He Cheats” each sold over one million ringtones.

According to lead singer, Darius Rucker, Hootie and the Blowfish are on hiatus. "Hootie played our last show last night for years," Rucker said last week. "We have four charity gigs that we do every year and will still do every year. But we will not do a record or tour for five or six years ... until I do three or four country records." Rucker describes the band growing apart, "I miss when the four of us were riding in the van and we were the four best friends in the world," he says. "We were inseparable ... We grew up and grew apart and got married and had kids. Even when we play now, we're not as close as we were. I don't miss the getting big or all that stuff, I miss when we were real close ...The struggle was the fun part." And if fans still want to call Rucker "Hootie," that's fine by him. "After being in the limelight for 15 years, you're just glad that people still know who you are ... especially since I've lost weight and I'm not a fat hippie anymore. [laughs] So if people still know who I am, that's a good thing. The first single from the September 16th CD Learn To Live has been an across-the-board hit on the radio. “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It” captured the #1 position on the Music Row Breakout Chart this week.

The rest of the Top 10 are:
1. Darius Rucker/Don't Think I Don't Think About It/Capitol
2. Toby Keith/She Never Cried In Front Of Me/Show Dog/Nashville
3. Luke Bryan/Country Man/Capitol
4. George Strait/Troubadour/MCA
5. Brad Paisley/Waitin' On A Woman/Arista
6. Jimmy Wayne/Do You Believe Me Now/Valory Music
7. Rascal Flatts/Bob That Head/Lyric Street
8. Bucky Covington/I'll Walk/Lyric Street
9. Lady Antebellum/Lookin' For A Good Time/Capitol
10. Carrie Underwood/Just A Dream/Arista

For more on Darius Rucker, check out the Spotlight Artist section.