Darden Smith put out his first album, yes, a genuine vinyl album, in 1986. Since then he has released 10 more. You would think he would have learned his lesson by now. 'Ojo', his first live recording, is the latest. In the ensuing 20 years of toil and trevail, he has toured a rediculous amount, playing every state except for Hawaii and South Dakota, playing to crowds as small as he and a bartender in Asbury Park, NJ to 9,000 adoring and lace-wrapped fans of Stevie Nicks when he opened her 1993 tour of the US. He's been on the Tonight Show a couple of times, Austin City Limits, and recently heard his song, 'Loving Arms' again in Home Depot. The peaks just keep getting higher.
Outside of what he considers his 'day job' of writing songs, making cds and touring, he has written music for dance theater, done commercials for radio and tv, and had songs placed on network tv. The Austin Symphony commissioned his work, "Grand Motion" in 1999. His newest theater piece, "Marathon," a collaboration with Austin writer/musician Jesse Sublett, is in production with the University of Texas Performing Arts Center.
In what began as a sideline/hobby, Darden's "Be An Artist Program" contiues to bring the message that "we are all artists, all we have to do is fall in love with something, and then do it" to children in schools, museums, festivals and institutions. Since its beginning in 2003, the program has been presented all across the US and UK. For more information, please visit www.be-an-artist.com.
When asked why he keeps at all this craziness, Darden recently responded, 'It's too late to become a shoe salesman, and where else can I get paid to do what I'd do if I didn't have to get paid?'
It's been a surreal journey indeed. Some of Darden's favorite bizarro show-biz moments include:
1) While opening for Dwight Yoakum in 1987, his bus ran over a fire hydrant in Tulsa, Oklahoma -- no one was driving, and it came to rest on top of a fire hydrant, flooding a hospital parking lot. He was on the front page of the paper the next day. Dwight was on the back page. Justice.
2) He put his head into a ceiling fan while onstage at the Cruise Cafe in Oslo, Norway. Blood went everywhere. What a showstopper!
3) Opening for the queen of peace and love (which she truly is!), Joan Baez, in Munich, Darden was yelled off the stage because the crazed Germans couldn't wait for Joan. And he thought he was going over pretty well. Being from Texas, he was a bit stunned, because though he's played some rough places, that was pretty darn intense. Later in the evening he set a personal record for cd sales at a gig. Sympathy sales he thinks.
4) He wrote songs on George Gershwin's piano. Didn't help. The song was still crap.
5) In 1989 he released a duo record with Boo Hewerdine. They got a deal after only knowing each other for 5 days and writing half a record. After the record,'Evidence' was released they jumped all the middle career parts and did a brief farewell tour.
There's more great moments. As Darden remembers them, he'll update the bio.
For more on Darden Smith, please visit www.dardensmith.com.
For a more professionally written and show-biz type bio, visit dardensmith.com.
