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Country star Darius Rucker facing 3 misdemeanor charges after arrest in Tennessee

Darius Rucker performs onstage at the Grand Ole Opry on Oct. 30, 2021, in Nashville, Tennessee.   (Terry Wyatt/Getty Images North America/TNS)
By Nardine Saad Los Angeles Times

Musician Darius Rucker is facing three misdemeanor charges in Tennessee after being arrested on suspicion of violating the state’s vehicle registration law.

The former Hootie & the Blowfish frontman was arrested Thursday in Franklin, Tennessee, and charged with two counts of simple drug possession and casual exchange and one count of violation of registration law, a spokesperson with the Williamson County Sheriff told the Tennessean. TMZ reported that DMV law enforcement said that Rucker let his tags expire on his car and arrested him after an alleged drug handoff.

The “Only Wanna Be With You” and “Wagon Wheel” singer, 57, was booked Thursday in Williamson County jail on misdemeanor drug possession charges and was released about an hour after being taken to jail, where he was processed and took a mug shot. He was released Thursday after posting a $10,500 bond.

Representatives for Rucker did not immediately respond Friday to The Times’ requests for comment.

His attorney, Mark L. Puryear, told TMZ and the Tennessean that the country star is fully cooperating with authorities related to the charges.

The three-time Grammy Award winner, who has sold more than 150 million records worldwide and led Hootie & the Blowfish for more than 30 years, released his eighth solo album, “Carolyn’s Boy,” in October. The cheery record — with songs co-written by Ed Sheeran and HARDY — is a tribute to Rucker’s late mother Carolyn, who died from a heart attack in 1992.

“I was writing the record, I was having a bad day, you know, bad mental day. And I just remember I sat there, and I said to myself, ‘At the end of the day, I’m just still my mama’s boy.’ And that was really the moment for me, you know, that’s what the record is,” he told the Associated Press in October. “It’s me just being who she raised me to be.”

“Now that I’m a dad, three times over with grown kids, I just wanted to pay tribute to my mom who never got to see any of this stuff, any of this success.”