Darden Smith

Darden Smith (born March 11, 1962, in Brenham, Texas) is an Austin-based singer-songwriter known for his lyrics and for weaving folk and Americana influences with rock, pop, and the musical roots of his home state. His debut album, "Native Soil," was released in 1986. His sixteenth album, Western Skies, was released March 25, 2022. Smith has published two books, The Habit of Noticing: Using Creativity to Make a Life (and a Living) and Western Skies (2022), a companion book for the album of the same name. Over the past two decades, Smith has developed two non-profit programs, The Be An Artist Program (2003) and SongwritingWith: Soldiers (2011). Both use collaborative songwriting to work with groups ranging from children in the classroom to military members returning home from combat. Smith established SongwritingWith:Soldiers as a separate non-profit organization in 2012.

Biography Smith's early interest in music was sparked by singing in the local church choir, the "seat-rattling sound" of the church's pipe organ, and accompanying his parents to country-western dances. By the third grade, he had a guitar and a teacher who taught him how to play every song on Neil Young's Harvest and After the Gold Rush. Smith began writing his own songs at age ten. In 1976, after his family moved to Humble, Texas, in the Houston suburbs, Smith spent his teen years listening to Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, John Prine, and Bob Dylan. Smith quickly got involved with Austin's burgeoning music scene, playing in small Austin venues like the Alamo Lounge, Taco Flats, and Waterloo Ice House. By the time Smith graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies (1985), he was a regular on the local and Texas music scenes.

Career

After releasing Native Soil in 1986, Darden Smith was signed by Dick James Music to a publishing deal. In 1987, Epic Records signed Smith at the inaugural South by Southwest Festival and released Darden Smith (1988), which produced two country chart hit singles, “Little Maggie” and “Day After Tomorrow.” Later that year, Nigel Grainge, the head of Ensign Records, introduced Smith to the British songwriter Boo Hewerdine. Four days later, they had eight songs and a record deal with Ensign/Chrysalis that resulted in Evidence (1989). After Smith's label deal with Epic was transferred to the pop division of Columbia Records, he released Trouble No More (1990), best known for “Midnight Train” and “Frankie & Sue," and Little Victories (1993) which included the Top 10 pop hit single, "Loving Arms". on Plump Records, and a trio of albums for Dualtone Records (Sunflower, 2002; Circo, 2004; Field of Crows, 2005). He self- released a collection of his favorites from his previous albums, After All This Time, in 2007, to Marathon (2010), a 15-track cycle of songs named for a remote town in West Texas, described by one reviewer as "a peak in [Smith's] 25-year songwriting career. His 2017 album Everything was co-produced by Smith and Stewart Lerman and released on Compass Records. The Habit of Noticing:Using Creativity to Make a Life (and a Living) (2018) was published by Irie Books. Western Skies (2022) is multi-media work comprising a new studio record, a book of photography, lyrics, and essays. A spoken word album, Western Skies - The Essays (2022) was released in 2022. Smith continues to write songs for his own albums as well as collaborating with other writers on outside projects. He tours regularly, performing at venues across America and the UK.

Visual Art Smith began drawing in his late twenties as a way to remain creative while traveling for music. What began a private exercise now makes up a major part of his work. His first gallery show was at Austin’s Bale Creek Allen Gallery (2018). His work is in corporate and private collections in the US, UK and Europe. The Western Skies – Lithographs series premiered at Houston’s Redbud Gallery in March 2022. Lucky Strikes, an etching from 2018, was purchased by the Library of Congress for the Prints and Photography Collection.

Collaborative Songwriting Smith began writing songs with non-songwriters in 2003 with Smith founded The Be An Artist Program in 2003. Artist-in-Residence at Oklahoma State University’s Institute for Creativity and Innovation Arts Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Oklahoma's School of Entrepreneurship. Published "Using Your Gift: Creativity in the Classroom" with The Huffington Post. Developed scripts and workshop performances of “Marathon” (2009–10). Composed “Grand Motion,” a symphony commissioned by Peter Bay for the Austin Symphony Orchestra, accompanied by dance performance inspired by composition (1999). Composed music for dance/theatre productions, including “9 Chains to the Moon” and “Walking on Water” for the Johnson/Long Dance Company in Austin, TX (1988–94).

Discography

Title Album detailsWestern SkiesRelease date: March 25, 2022 Label: Bull By The Horns Everything Release date: April 7, 2017 Label: Compass Records Love Calling Release date: August 27, 2013 Label: Compass Records Marathon Released: 2010 Label: Darden Music After All This Time Released: 2009 Label: Darden Music Ojo Released: 2007 Label: Darden Music Field of Crows Released: 2005 Label: Dualtone Music Group Circo Released: 2004 Label: Dualtone Music Group Sunflower Released: 2002 Label: Dualtone Music Group Extra Extra Released: 2000 Label: Valley Entertainment Deep Fantastic Blue Released: 1996 Label: Plump Records Little Victories Released: 1993 Label: Columbia Trouble No More Released: 1990 Label: Columbia Boo Hewerdine and Darden Smith—Evidence Released: 1989 Ensign/Chrysalis; re-released Compass Records, 1996 Darden Smith Released: 1988 Label: CBS/Epic Records Native Soil Released: 1986 Label: Redi-Mix Records; re-released on Watermelon Records, 1992