Darden Smith

Darden Smith
Smith in 2013
Background information
Birth name	Darden Craig Smith
Born	(1962-03-11) March 11, 1962
Origin	Austin, Texas US
Genres	Folk, Americana, Rock, Country
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter, educator
Instruments	Guitar
Years active	1986–present
Website	www.dardensmith.com

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.^[1] His debut album, "Native Soil," was released in 1986. His fourteenth album, Love Calling, came out August 27, 2013.^[2] Over the past decade, Smith has developed two programs, The Be An Artist Program (2003) and SongwritingWith (2011). Both use collaborative songwriting to work with groups ranging from children in the classroom to soldiers returning home from combat.^[3] Smith established SongwritingWith:Soldiers as a separate non-profit organization in 2012.^[4] In a recent presentation for TEDxAustin called "Fearing Your Gift," Darden Smith discusses what led him to these projects and how, going forward, creativity is central to everything he does.^[5]

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.^[1] His musical influences expanded when he moved to Austin to attend The University of Texas and was exposed to blues and reggae, as well as musicians coming out of the United Kingdom such as Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello, and The Pretenders.^[6] 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. He joined a bluegrass band called The Ramblers. 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.^[1] He has one son and one daughter.^[7]

Career

Photograph by Stacy L. Pearsall

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.”^[8] 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".^[1]

Smith parted ways with Columbia in 1995 and spent several years without an agent or label. He returned to recording through independent labels, which led to a contemplative trio of albums for Dualtone Records (Sunflower, 2002; Circo, 2004; Field of Crows, 2005)^[9] 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"^[10] Smith continues to tour across America and Europe, regularly performing in the U.K. and France. He spent April 2013 touring the east coast with Kim Richey. Smith’s album Love Calling was co-produced by Gary Paczosa and John Randall and recorded in Nashville during the spring of 2012. It was released August 27, 2013, on Compass Records.^[2]

Recent Developments

The Be An Artist Program

Writing songs with elementary school students

Smith founded The Be An Artist Program in 2003 and acquired non-profit 501(c)3 status in 2008. The program sponsors projects that bring arts and creativity into educational settings, including songwriting with students. The Be An Artist Program has reached more than 15,000 students in the United States and in Western Europe.^[11]

SongwritingWith

Under the umbrella of Be An Artist Inc., Smith launched SongwritingWith in 2011. This program was developed to bring the healing power of songwriting to those whose lives have been affected by trauma. Smith has worked with homeless young adults at Covenant House in New Jersey; residents of Sefhare, Botswana suffering from HIV/AIDS; and soldiers returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.^[12]

SongwritingWith:Soldiers

SongwritingWith:Soldiers organizes weekend retreats during which professional songwriters are paired with veterans and active duty service members who share stories about their experiences of combat and the return home. Working collaboratively, the musicians and soldiers turn those stories into songs.^[4]

Saying Goodbye After a Retreat. Photograph by Andy Dunaway

SongwritingWith:Soldiers has held 20+ retreats (October 2012; April 2013; August 2013; December 2013; January 2014; May 2014; August 2014; November 2014) at locations including Texas, New York, Virginia, and California^[4] Participants have written songs with singer-songwriters Jay Clementi, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Ashley Cleveland, Marshall Crenshaw, Radney Foster, Mary Gauthier, James House, Georgia Middleman, Gary Nicholson, Brad Parker, Darrell Scott, Darden Smith, and Gary Trooper. Songs written over the weekend are performed by the musicians and recorded to CDs which the soldiers can take home to their families and communities.

Smith at the LBJ Library in 2016

Participants are registered with the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) as co-writers of their songs; if applicable, they will share in any royalties. SongwritingWith:Soldiers held a retreat for female veterans (May 2014) and a retreat for military families (Aug 2014).

SongwritingWith:Soldiers' key funding partners include the ASCAP Foundation, the Bob Woodruff Foundation, Bohlsen Group, The Mayerson Foundation, The Mid-America Arts Alliance, Veteran’s United Foundation, and the USO. Photographer Michael O'Brien has taken portraits of veterans and musicians at a series of retreats.

Other Contributions

• Artist-in-Residence at Oklahoma State University’s Institute for Creativity and Innovation^[13]
• Arts Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Oklahoma's School of Entrepreneurship.^[14]
• Published "Using Your Gift: Creativity in the Classroom" with The Huffington Post.^[15]
• Developed scripts and workshop performances of “Marathon” (2009–10).^[10]
• Researched and produced “Songs From the Big Sky,” a radio documentary on Texas songwriters for BBC Radio 2 (2006).^[16]
• Composed “Grand Motion,” a symphony commissioned by Peter Bay for the Austin Symphony Orchestra, accompanied by dance performance inspired by composition (1999).^[17]
• 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).^[17]

Discography

References

External links

• Darden Smith's Official Website
• SongwritingWith:Soldiers Website
• The Be An Artist Program Website

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