Country Music Icon Offers Airport Singer $200 to Hand Over Her Guitar
- - Country Music Icon Offers Airport Singer $200 to Hand Over Her Guitar
Isabella TorregianiDecember 25, 2025 at 12:17 AM
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Terry Wyatt/WireImage
A routine Sunday at the Nashville International Airport turned unforgettable for singer-songwriter Sarina-Joi Crowe when Grammy winner Darius Rucker stopped by mid-performance.
Crowe, a Nashville-based artist from Columbia, Tennessee, has been performing music since age 10. Over the years, she’s shared the stage with artists like Eric Church and competed on season 14 of American Idol.
“I was playing at the Acme in the airport,” Crowe told Fox 17. “Most of the time, people kind of don't pay attention. It's kind of like a background music kind of thing. And people are very nice. But I noticed there was a man watching me from the bar.”
To Crowe’s surprise, the man asked if he could perform — and even offered her a $200 tip to make it happen.
“At first, I didn’t realize who it was. He had on glasses and a ball cap. I really couldn't tell,” she said. “I said to him, I said, 'Do I know you?' Because I didn't want to give it away. I said, 'Do I know you?' And he kind of laughed and he said, 'Yeah, you know me.' I said, 'Okay, I won't say anything, but sure.'”
She then passed Rucker her well-worn blue guitar. “I said, 'I'm so sorry. It's this guitar, so beat up.' And he said, 'No, it's perfect. It's fine.' And he, he took it from me,” she recalled.
When Rucker started to sing, the crowd at BNA didn’t instantly recognize the familiar voice.
“At first nobody really noticed. Kind of in the video, you can tell nobody kind of knows. But later, as he got into the song, the whole terminal just stopped because they knew that voice,” she said.
“It was really, really cool. And it was such a treat. And all the staff were happy, and all the travelers.”
Rucker chose to perform a deep cut from Miranda Lambert, “More Like Her,” a song Crowe said many in the terminal probably didn’t know.
“I had a friend tell me that the song he played is like a very obscure Miranda Lambert song, apparently from like her first record. And so a lot of people were commenting that that was really cool, that he played this deep cut.”
After his impromptu performance, Rucker lingered to praise Crowe for her talent. “He was very casual. He went back to drinking his drink, and he said to me, 'You're amazing. I really enjoyed listening to you.' And he took a selfie with me. He took a picture on my phone and...he talked to me for a while about the music and my guitar.”
“He was very, very kind. And that, to me, is the story,” she added.
Who knows, next time you’re traveling through an airport, keep your ears open. You might just catch Rucker singing, or at least pay a little more attention to the music around you.
This story was originally published by Parade on Dec 24, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
