Learn to Live by Darius Rucker

Perhaps Darius, frontman for the rock band Hootie & The Blowfish, was expecting more resistance to his solo country debut—that would explain why Learn to Live is stacked bottom to top with the lyrical themes favored by current country radio. There’s the family-life-is-awesome song (“Alright”), the kids-grow-up-fast song (“It Won’t Be Like This for Long”), the tragic-accident song (“I Hope They Get to Me in Time”) and the increasingly popular old-man-dispensing-advice song (“Learn to Live”). That’s a shame, because Darius’ voice is a natural for the genre—especially when he gets hold of a winner like the Top 10 “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It.”