On Friday, April 18, The Crown Coliseum plays host to Grammy-Award-winning country music artist Darius Rucker and the True Believers Tour. Rucker will take the stage to perform the hits from his third Country album, True Believers.

The most popular single from the album, “Wagon Wheel,” is his interpretation of the song that was originally started by music legend Bob Dylan and finished by the Old Crow Medicine Show. “Wagon Wheel” quickly rose to number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Country Music Songs when it was released last year.

Rucker’s current single from the album, “Miss You,” was released on Feb. 4 and is currently working its way up the charts.

True Believers is another sales success for Rucker having achieved Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) Certified Gold status with sales of almost half a million records to date.

Jim Grafstrom Jr., general manager of the Crown Complex, expressed his pride in the upcoming show, “to have Darius here in the Carolinas where he calls home … we couldn’t be more excited to have him.” When asked about the crowd that he expects Grafstrom said, “We are very happy with the turnout for the show, but there are still great seats available. We certainly feel that we are going to have a great night here in Fayetteville, with Darius Rucker.”

Rucker is one of the most popular country music performers touring today, but that is not where his story starts. He first achieved success as a member of the rock band Hootie and the Blowfish. Their debut album, Cracked Rear View is one of the top 20 best-selling albums of all time, having reached RIAA Certified Platinum status 16 times. In 2008, the band went on hiatus so that Rucker could try his hand at a solo career.

Since going solo in 2008, Rucker has reinvented his musical career by releasing three country music albums:

The first album, Learn to Live, quickly reached Platinum status based on the popularity of three singles from the album that all reached number 1 on the Billboard Country Music charts.

The second album, Charleston, SC 1966, reached number 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums based on the success of three singles, two of which reached number 1 on the Country charts.

In addition to Rucker, fans will also get to see the 2012 Academy of Country Music Song of the Year winner, the Eli Young Band and acclaimed independent artist Corey Smith.

The Eli Young Band is currently performing music from its Billboard chart-topping album 10,000 Towns. Singles “Crazy Girl,” “Even If It Breaks Your Heart” and “Drunk Last Night” have given the group their three biggest successes, based on chart positions. In addition to their 2012 ACM Song of the Year win for “Crazy Girl”, the group has been nominated for more than 15 other awards since 2009.

Corey Smith is an independent artist that has found great success in making music on his own. He has purposefully stayed away from the major labels in order to allow himself to stay true to his art. Smith says, “I feel like I owe it to my fans … I owe it to my family and my community to be honest. I am not going to give in to the temptation of sacrificing art to get popularity.”

Photo: Country Music singer Darius Rucker takes the stage at the Crown on April 18.