Darden Smith
| Darden Smith | |
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Smith in 2013
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Darden Craig Smith |
| Born | 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 |
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 fourteenth album, Love Calling, came out August 27, 2013. 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. Smith established SongwritingWith:Soldiers as a separate non-profit organization in 2012. 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.
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. 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. 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. He has one son and one daughter.
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