When Was the Last Time

Darius Rucker kicks off his fifth country album with a simple question: When was the last time you did something for the first time? “Let yourself go, follow that feeling,” he expands in the breezy intro track, “Maybe something new is what you’re needing.” With delicate string accents, warm production, and a brighter-than-usual disposition, one of rock’s greatest crossover artists invites us to squeeze the juice out of life. He’s practicing what he preaches. Hear him get the whole gang together—Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, and Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley—for a charming, twangy cover of Drivin’ N’ Cryin’s 1989 smash “Straight to Hell.”