At this point, you’ve got to be living under a rock to not know that Darius Rucker wasn’t the original master mind behind his massive 2013 hit, “Wagon Wheel.”
For a while, it was a lesser-known fact, especially for people outside of the country realm, that even though Rucker’s rendition has since been RIAA certified 11x platinum and joined Spotify’s elusive Billions club, he’s not the first to sing the track. In fact, its backstory has quite a long line of intertwining influences over the years, which is something that Hootie himself has been very vocal about.
Originally, the chorus was recorded by music legend Bob Dylan in the 70s, who reportedly drew inspiration from a blues musician, Arthur ‘Big Boy’ Crudup, which was then reworked by Old Crow Medicine Show’s Ketch Secor, who added the iconic verses 25 years later, coming to its final form in 1994. As for Rucker, he actually first heard the song during a high school faculty band performance at his daughter’s school, retelling this story over the years on stage, at award show performances, and in interviews.
However, there’s still always that one online troll that’s gotta make a snarky, pretentious comment about how Rucker is not the original. Yesterday, July 2, Rucker reposted a video on Twitter/X of the USA Men’s National Soccer team celebrating with a little karaoke after their big win against Bosnia in round 32 of the World Cup.
In the clip, player Weston McKennie, who’s also a self-proclaimed Ella Fella, is belting his heart out to an instrumental version of the 2013 “Wagon Wheel” we all know and love. Enthusiastically, Rucker captioned the repost with “let’s friggin go!” followed by twenty million exclamation points.
Lo and behold, one user, @Robertconger16, took offense to Rucker shouting out the team for partying with his track writing, “Don’t act like your fake butt came up with this song. Put some respect on Old Crow’s name.” Considering the misspelling of “butt,” if I were Rucker, I wouldn’t be too offended by this mindless internet troll in particular, but he still stood up for himself, responding:
“I never once said I wrote it. In fact, most nights when I play, I yell. ‘The Old Crow Medicine Show’ Not the first cover to be a hit and won’t be the last. Do u go to Stapleton’s sight and tell folks Tennessee Whiskey is a cover?”
Tell ’em, Darius. For those who haven’t seen the three-time Grammy Award winner live, he does, in fact, start out the performance yelling the band’s name to the crowd, as seen in this clip from his 2023 show in Boone, NC.
And circling back to his comment about, “Do u go to Stapleton’s sight and tell folks Tennessee Whiskey is a cover?” — unfortunately, that’s another never-ending online debate about which version is better that will never leave country music. But as Rucker notes, both his and Stapleton’s covers aren’t the first to explode in popularity and certainly won’t be the last.
Luckily, the internet is a beautiful place where you can learn about the origin of songs while also enjoying their more acclaimed counterparts. So, for those who may not know the full intricate web of how “Wagon Wheel” came to be, check out this full-deep diver interview with the man himself, Ketch Secor, along with their originally released 2004 track below.