{"id":19985,"date":"2020-10-27T10:10:02","date_gmt":"2020-10-27T17:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=19985"},"modified":"2020-10-27T10:10:51","modified_gmt":"2020-10-27T17:10:51","slug":"darden-smith-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2020\/10\/darden-smith-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Video &#038; Interview with artist: Darden  Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19990\" src=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Darden-Smith-04-Songwriting-with-Soldiers.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Darden-Smith-04-Songwriting-with-Soldiers.jpeg 660w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Darden-Smith-04-Songwriting-with-Soldiers-300x200.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><\/h3>\n<h3>Video Feature &amp; Web-Exclusive Interview<\/h3>\n<h1>Artist: DARDEN SMITH<\/h1>\n<h1>Video: \u201cLoving Arms\u201d<\/h1>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Darden Smith - Loving Arms\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nHj7Y-feyK8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>DARDEN SMITH LAUNCHES BLUE ROCK ALIVE! COOL NIGHTS 2020 VIRTUAL CONCERT SERIES<\/h2>\n<p>Darden Smith, one of the most respected singer-songwriters, will launch the Blue Rock aLive! Cool Nights 2020 virtual concert series this Thursday, October 29. The series features iconic Austin-based artists\u2014\u201cfor the songs, for the artists, for all of us.\u201d You can buy a Season Pass for only $105\u2014and have a seat in the house by sending in your headshot. They place it on a seat, so you will literally be sitting in the room.<\/p>\n<p>Blue Rock\u2019s innovation, quality and creativity is evidenced in concerts produced with broadcast quality audio-video from their renowned Texas room\u2014streamed straight to you. Individual tickets can also be purchased for $25: https:\/\/bluerocktexas.com\/events.<\/p>\n<p>As a musician, Smith released 15 critically acclaimed albums. He is also the co-founder of \u201cSongwritingWith:Soldiers,\u201d a non-profit helping service members write songs about their own experiences. He was on a major label and his folk\/Americana songs had a pop-rock sensibility yielding a hit with \u201cLoving Arms.\u201d He is also known for his songs \u201cMidnight Train,\u201d \u201cFrankie &amp; Sue,\u201d \u201cLittle Victories\u201d and \u201cEverything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Smith\u2019s incisive songwriting is evidenced in his lyrics filled with promise of hope and love as seen in the details that life has to offer\u2014by simply taking time to notice everything. His 2018 book, The Habit of Noticing: Using Creativity to Make a Life (and a Living) tells the introspective journey that became his career.<\/p>\n<p>We talked with Darden Smith about his passion to tell a story in song, what continues to inspire his creative process, how he remains hopeful by harnessing the power of music\u2014in songs, essays, photographs and art, why it\u2019s important to notice every detail and how he\u2019s come to this place of soul searching.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19989\" style=\"width: 670px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19989\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19989\" src=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Darden-Smith-01-Photo-credit-Michael-OBrien.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"990\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Darden-Smith-01-Photo-credit-Michael-OBrien.jpg 660w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Darden-Smith-01-Photo-credit-Michael-OBrien-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Darden-Smith-01-Photo-credit-Michael-OBrien-300x450.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-19989\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Darden Smith<\/p><\/div>\n<h3>DARDEN SMITH Interview<br \/>\nwith M Music &amp; Musicians magazine publisher, Merlin David<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Tell us about a song you plan to play at Blue Rock\u2019s Cool Nights 2020.<\/strong><br \/>\nI\u2019m sure I\u2019ll be playing \u201cSoul Searching\u201d from my last record Everything. I wrote it with Radney Foster just before the last election. It was a crazy time with a lot of division across our country. I was getting older (54, at that time) and something happens around that age\u2014you start looking back at things. I was thinking about my purpose and where I was in the world. I just thought it was a good time to do a little soul searching. (Laughs) For me, the song continues to be relevant. I\u2019m always searching\u2014trying to make sure I\u2019m doing the right thing. Looking at what\u2019s going on, I try to figure out where I stand in the world. What do I stand for? Where is my line in the sand?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tell us how the idea of \u201cLoving Arms\u201d came to you: Half of this morning and most of last night; I\u2019ve been taking tally on the last years of my life.<\/strong><br \/>\nI was going through a really difficult time in my relationship. I was on Columbia Records and I met a man named Boo Hewerdine and we did a record together. All the people at Columbia were so in love with that record. They wanted me to do it again. I had them convinced I needed to go to London to write songs\u2014all the time. I would get them to fly me over to London. I would write a bunch before I went over there\u2014and Boo and I would hang out for two weeks. I was staying at Martin Lascelles\u2019 house. He produced that record [Evidence] we did. I sat down at the piano one day and this song just came out. It was all the stuff I had been dealing with. I still don\u2019t really know what the song is about. It\u2019s not about one thing. It\u2019s a bunch of different things. It came out in 1993, and over the years what it means to me has changed. Really good songs do that\u2014they evolve with the writer. Every six months or a year I\u2019ll be playing the song and go, \u201cAh, maybe that\u2019s what it means.\u201d (Laughs)<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h2><b><i>Darden Smith\u2019s incisive songwriting is evidenced in his lyrics filled with promise of hope and love as seen in the details that life has to offer\u2014by simply taking time to notice everything<\/i><\/b>.<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Who originally inspired you to write songs?<\/strong><br \/>\nI grew up in a family without music. I had to discover it all by myself. My first songwriting sparks were Neil Young (Harvest and After the Gold Rush). The first album I ever owned was Leon Russell\u2019s Carney. I grew up in Texas so country music was big. I also loved pop radio. Then I really got into the 70s Texas music songwriter world of Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Willie Nelson and Jerry Jeff Walker. I learned how to write a song by studying Texas songwriter records.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What was so unique about that Texas music scene?<\/strong><br \/>\nThere was something happening in the water at that time\u2014when those guys were coming up. They built bridges between songs that had been written before and what came after them. They were these vital hinge points. Texas songwriters are still influenced by them.<\/p>\n<p><strong>When did you expand beyond Texas?<\/strong><br \/>\nThere were other songwriters like Bob Dylan and Jackson Browne who inspired me. But once I went to college and heard Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe, it really blew the walls down and I saw larger horizons. I remember being at a college party and \u201cWatching the Detectives\u201d came on the stereo. I was staring at the speakers going \u2018What the hell is that?\u2019 It was a fantastic sound and I remember thinking \u2018How do you write that? How do you do that?\u2019 It was fascinating.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19988\" src=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Darden-Smith-02.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"989\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Darden-Smith-02.jpg 660w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Darden-Smith-02-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Darden-Smith-02-300x450.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>What instruments\/equipment can you not live without?<\/strong><br \/>\nI\u2019m really basic. A couple of guitars: an old Gibson J50 and a Gibson LG. I also have a basic nylon string guitar, which I write with all the time. I have an old Steinway piano. I am extraordinarily low tech\u2014lately it\u2019s been pen and paper. I try not to even open my computer until I have a lot of lyrics written. For the past six months to a year, I\u2019ve been writing without any music and then I\u2019ll pick up a guitar\u2014which was the way I used to write when I was a kid. It\u2019s really fun because I can do it anywhere.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What are your Top 5 favorite albums of all time?<\/strong><br \/>\nHarvest (1972) \u2014 Neil Young<br \/>\nLive at Fillmore East (1971) \u2014 The Allman Brothers Band<br \/>\nThe Pretender (1976) \u2014 Jackson Browne<br \/>\nBlood on the Tracks (1975) \u2014 Bob Dylan<br \/>\nJerry Jeff Walker (1972) \u2014 Jerry Jeff Walker<\/p>\n<p><strong>Do you remember the first time you heard one of your songs on the radio?<\/strong><br \/>\nThe first time is incredibly bizarre. It was when I was in a car in Portland, Oregon. I\u2019d just come out of a radio station and they played my record. I also remember during Little Victories I was in Norway (laughs), I turn on the radio and said \u201cWow! That\u2019s me! How did that happen?\u201d It\u2019s a magic thing where music goes around the world. I\u2019ve heard my music in a store in Germany, which seemed weird. It used to happen in England a lot. I\u2019d hear my stuff on the radio or in stores. In America, I hear it often in stores. It\u2019s ridiculously gratifying, even though you know you\u2019re not making any money from it. It\u2019s funny because when it happens, I always look around to see if anyone else is listening. They never are. (Laughs) No one\u2019s tapping their foot. They\u2019re buying hammers and going about their business.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Back in the day, it was so validating to hear your own song on the radio.<\/strong><br \/>\nOh, it is still validating. Just a couple of weeks ago, I was at a stoplight here in Austin. I rolled my window down and my song was coming out of this car next to me. It was crazy! I looked over and I didn\u2019t know the person. What are the odds of that? I\u2019m not that big of an artist on the radio. It was real nice to know there\u2019s someone still out there paying attention\u2014listening to things I\u2019ve done\u2014to things I do. It means something. Just like for me: what other musicians do means something to me.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19987\" style=\"width: 670px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19987\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19987\" src=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Darden-Smith-03-Photo-credit-Michael-OBrien.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"990\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Darden-Smith-03-Photo-credit-Michael-OBrien.jpg 660w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Darden-Smith-03-Photo-credit-Michael-OBrien-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Darden-Smith-03-Photo-credit-Michael-OBrien-300x450.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-19987\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo credit: Michae OBrien.jpg<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>What is the best advice you\u2019d like to give upcoming musicians?<\/strong><br \/>\nIf you want to write songs, write more songs. First off, get good. Never be the most talented person in the room. Try to surround yourself with people who are better than you are. If they\u2019re not better than you, then they\u2019re not going to push you. And work\u2014work really hard. If you want to write better songs\u2014write more songs and have an extensive body of work.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How do you remain hopeful in this strange and unique socio-political time?<\/strong><br \/>\nIt\u2019s actually pretty easy. I really believe in the power of music. People are generally good. The work I\u2019ve done with \u201cSongwriting with Soldiers\u201d has shown me that I can collaborate with anybody. I can work across any divide. The way you do that is to be the first person to step across and you\u2019ll realize the divide is probably not as wide as you think it is. We\u2019ve seen times like this before\u2014in history. I believe in the power of little actions. It\u2019s up to me to make my own little positive moments of the day. It\u2019s easy to get swept up in the news. But the beauty of being a musician is that you can turn it off and go play the piano or guitar. This time has been really productive. I\u2019ve gone to the studio every morning at 9 AM and worked. It\u2019s been a time of fostering new projects. I\u2019m also working on a lot of visual art. If you want to find positivity, you can. You have to make a conscious effort, especially when there\u2019s so much negative energy moving around. You have to decide to be positive. I\u2019ve spent a lot of time soul searching to determine who\u2019s valuable in my life\u2014who\u2019s important. It\u2019s back to that. (Laughs) I make sure I pay attention. I make sure I call my friends and tell them I love them. Guys that I\u2019ve worked with for years, I call and tell them I love them and I\u2019ve been thinking about them. It\u2019s important because we need each other at this moment.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s next?<\/strong><br \/>\nWatch for a new album called Western Skies inspired by the Trans-Pecos\/Big Bend region. The project is a series of songs, images and essays. I\u2019m really enjoying making this record.<\/p>\n<p>Where can new fans get more info and stay updated?<br \/>\nwww.DardenSmith.com<br \/>\nInstagram: @dardensmithmusic ?<br \/>\nTwitter: @DardenSmith ?<br \/>\nFacebook.com\/dardensmith\/<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19986\" src=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Darden-Smith-05.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"989\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Darden-Smith-05.jpg 660w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Darden-Smith-05-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Darden-Smith-05-300x450.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Video Feature &amp; Web-Exclusive Interview Artist: DARDEN SMITH Video: \u201cLoving Arms\u201d DARDEN SMITH LAUNCHES BLUE ROCK ALIVE! COOL NIGHTS 2020 VIRTUAL CONCERT SERIES Darden Smith, one of the most respected singer-songwriters, will launch the Blue Rock aLive! Cool Nights 2020 virtual concert series this Thursday, October 29. The series features iconic Austin-based artists\u2014\u201cfor the songs, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19992,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7725],"tags":[12319,12320,12321,12322,8271,11644,11616,9481,11385,3592,12323,12324,12325,5286,8422,8423,12326,1451,1453,9490,1070,12327,1112,12328,12329,12330,7858,3866,12331,11646,11799,12332,1625,11684,8259,1064,12334,12333,7566,12335,3010,7978,1082,2807,6558,12336,12337,12338,10049,12339,4641,12340,3643,12341,12342,12343,2005],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19985"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19985"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19993,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19985\/revisions\/19993"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}