Darius Rucker is up for CMT Video of the Year with his cinematic music video for “Fires Don’t Start Themselves.” 

If you’ve seen it, you know it’s not like your typical music video. Instead of singing his tune to the camera, Darius is tapped to play a detective in an under-five-minute-long crime movie.

While a departure from music video formats, Darius welcomed his acting duties with open arms.

“When they told me I wasn’t going to do any performance, I was so happy because that’s so the cliché [for music videos]. You know, you have other people acting and then you do the performance,” Darius shares. “But when they told me I was going to play a detective, I put on my inner Stabler because I’m such a Law & Order and CSI fan. So I put on my inner Stabler and went out and did it.”

A scene that cracked Darius up? When his co-star and detective partner snagged a bunch of donuts while he was piecing clues together.

“That donut scene, when I see it, there’s no words and it still makes me laugh every time I see it,” he says, before reflecting on future acting opportunities. “That was a lot of fun and I’d love to do a lot more of that. But, yeah, we’ll see if it comes.”

“If it comes, I’ll take it. If not, I’ll keep doing this music thing and be happy about that,” Darius adds.

The 2024 CMT Music Awards airs live from Austin, Texas’ Moody Center on Sunday, April 7, at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and Paramount+. Voting for the fan-based award show is open now at CMT.com.

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