Darius Rucker is on call for veterans

April 6, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn.

Darius Rucker is still beaming from one of his recent gigs. It wasn’t playing a sold-out arena on the Rascal Flatts’ tour or entertaining screaming fans at a honky tonk. Instead, Rucker went room-to-room at the Veterans Administration hospital here, singing for one or two patients at a time.

“It was an amazing experience, just going in and watching the faces,” said Rucker. “Those guys are in there, they’re vets, and they’re not feeling well. You get in there and you just play a song for them and just watch their faces, people smiling. You seem to just be making people happy for those two-and-a-half, three minutes that you’re playing. That was awesome.”

The organization Musicians On Call arranged last week’s visit as part of a nationwide effort to bring live and recorded music to patients. Rucker played a variety of songs during his visit, but his first No. 1 country hit, “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It,” really struck a chord.

“You know it was wild to play ‘Don’t Think’ and to watch those guys sing along. That was a great moment,” he said.

“I think all musicians should do this. I think everybody could do it, no matter what musical genre you’re from,” he said. “You see people at the hospital and you just expect that they have visitors all the time. For me, just to be a part of their day for a minute was such a great experience.