Hootie and the Blowfish front man Darius Rucker celebrated a historic win at the Country Music Association Awards show in Nashville, Tennessee Wednesday night. Rucker became the first African-American ever to win the best new artist of the year award; he joins Charley Pride as the only African-Americans ever to win major individual awards at the awards show.
Rucker took the stage while the audience cheered and roared, “What a year! First of all, to the fans, thank y’all for accepting me,” the crowed. “And I think most importantly, to country radio, you took a chance on a pop singer from Charleston, S.C. Thank you so much for that!”
