Washington native assists Grammy award-winning artist
Published 5:32 pm Thursday, July 6, 2017
It’s not every day one stumbles across a Grammy award-winning artist.
And it’s definitely not every day one does dental work on said Grammy award-winning artist.
But for Washington native Brian Evans, that’s exactly what a day in February meant for him.
At the time, Evans owned Lowcountry Dental Lab in Charleston, South Carolina, a lab that creates dental prosthetics.
Evans said when a dentist explained former Hootie and the Blowfish lead turned country singer Darius Rucker needed help, Evans was all for it.
“He lives in the area, and he’s around town a lot, but this particular thing was out of the ordinary. He wouldn’t really say anything about why he wanted our help. He was real secretive about what he was doing,” Evans said.
Evans later found out that Rucker was getting ready to film an episode of popular CBS show “Undercover Boss.” Rucker traveled to Austin, Texas, to find underground musical talent. In the episode, Rucker scoped out bars and stopped to listen to street performers to find talent. But thanks to multiple face prosthetics, his appearance was completely disguised, looking years older.
While he might’ve looked different, many would’ve still recognized the “Only Want To Be With You” singer’s voice — and that’s where Evans came in.
“I made a silicone mold and dental retainer. It almost gives him a lisp. Right before he walks into the bar, he puts a retainer in because he’s got to do something about his distinctive voice,” Evans said.
Evans, a Darius Rucker fan himself, said he wasn’t necessarily star struck, but he was nervous. He didn’t want to mess anything up, of course, but he said Rucker was pleased with the final product.
Beaufort County Commissioner Jerry Evans, Evans’ father, said it was fun to watch the episode air and know that his son played an integral part of the success.
“When you’re watching the show, (Rucker) has to put this appliance in his mouth before he goes into a bar, and Brian is like, ‘Oh, the one I made!’” Evans said.
Since then, Brian Evans has sold Lowcountry Dental Lab. He now does rare work — work that only three people on the East Coast do. At the Medical University of South Carolina, he performs anaplastology, or the reconstruction of facial features for cancer patients. He said it’s hard, different work compared to his dental lab, but he enjoys being able to help his patients.
“It’s a neat thing. Cancer patients lose that kind of stuff, and you get to give that back to them. They walk outside and people are staring at them because they’re missing features. At least we can kind of help them out,” Evans said.