Darden Smith

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title: "Darden Smith" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1962-births", "living-people", "american-country-singer-songwriters", "people-from-brenham,-texas", "singers-from-austin,-texas", "singer-songwriters-from-texas", "country-musicians-from-texas"] description: "American singer-songwriter" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darden_Smith" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American singer-songwriter ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist"]

Field	Value
name	Darden Smith
image	Darden Smith, Matt Sturtevant.jpeg
caption	Smith in 2013
birth_name	Darden Craig Smith
birth_date
origin	Austin, Texas US
instrument	Guitar
genre	Folk, Americana, Rock, Country
occupation	Singer-songwriter, educator
years_active	1986–present
label	Compass Records, Dualtone Music Group, DardenMusic, Columbia Music, Ensign Records
website
::

| name = Darden Smith | image = Darden Smith, Matt Sturtevant.jpeg | image_size = | caption = Smith in 2013 | birth_name = Darden Craig Smith | birth_date = | origin = Austin, Texas US | instrument = Guitar | genre = Folk, Americana, Rock, Country | occupation = Singer-songwriter, educator | years_active = 1986–present | label = Compass Records, Dualtone Music Group, DardenMusic, Columbia Music, Ensign Records | website = 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) (*2018) 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. 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. 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.

Career

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Darden_Smith_Performing.jpeg" caption="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.” 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".

Smith left Columbia in 1995 and spent several years without an agent or label. He returned to recording through independent labels, which led to Deep Fantastic Blue, 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. The program bringing arts and creativity into educational settings, including songwriting with students. Smith has brought this work to such diverse groups as homeless young adults at Covenant House in New Jersey; residents of South Africa and Sefhare, Botswana suffering from HIV/AIDS, and Israeli and Palestinian groups. He co-founded SongwritingWith:Soldiers in 2012 with Mary Judd to bring professional songwriters together with military members and their families to process the effects of combat and the return home. In 2021 he co-founded Frontline Songs to bring this therapeutic process to frontline healthcare workers during the pandemic. Through his Collaborative Songwriting, he works with corporate clients and individuals to use songwriting in corporate settings to help tell stories through song, and to foster greater understanding.

Other contributions

• Songwriter-in-Residence at University of Texas at Austin's College of Fine Arts
• 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).
• Researched and produced “Songs From the Big Sky,” a radio documentary on Texas songwriters for BBC Radio 2 (2006).
• 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

::data[format=table]

Title	Album details
Western Skies
Everything
Love Calling
Marathon
After All This Time
Ojo
Field of Crows
Circo
Sunflower
Extra Extra
Deep Fantastic Blue
Little Victories
Trouble No More
Boo Hewerdine and Darden Smith—Evidence
Darden Smith
Native Soil
::

References

References

1. Keith Kachtick, "Quick Change Artist ''Texas Monthly'' p. 70 (October 3, 1996).
2. "Darden Smith Hears Love Calling on August 27th Album".
3. "Darden Smith Songwriting Workshop".
4. "Songwriting With Soldiers".
5. Jessica Nicholson. (2013-04-09). "Nashville Songwriters Partner With SongwritingWith:Soldiers". Music Row.
6. Shevory, Kristina. (2012-11-17). "Writing Songs Provides Peace for Some Soldiers". The New York Times.
7. "Darden Smith: Biography".
8. "College of Liberal Arts {{!}} The University of Texas at Austin".
9. "Conversations With... Darden Smith | the Bluegrass Situation".
10. (1986). "Darden Smith - Native Soil".
11. Johnny Loftus. "Darden Smith Biography". AllMusic.
12. Kachtick, Keith. (1996-10-01). "Quick-Change Artist".
13. "Plump Records".
14. Jim Caligiuri. "Darden Smith - For the Sake of the Song".
15. Armstrong, Gene. "Darden Smith: After All This Time: The Best of Darden Smith (Darden Music)".
16. Caligiuri, Jim. (November 26, 2010). "Darden Smith: Marathon Album Review".
17. Patrick Beach. "Lesson in Passion".
18. Hernandez, Raoul. (April 14, 2017). "Darden Smith: Everything Album Review".
19. "The Habit of Noticing".
20. Shannon, Hannah Means. (2022-03-28). "Interview: Darden Smith Takes The Time To Discover 'Western Skies' • Americana Highways".
21. "Bale Creek Allen Gallery".
22. "Darden Smith {{!}} Redbud Gallery {{!}} Houston".
23. "Library of Congress Acquisitions".
24. (7 September 2023). "UT Names Darden Smith its Inaugural Texas Songwriter in Residence".
25. (October 7, 2011). "Institute for Creativity and Innovation".
26. "Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship Scholars Program".
27. "Darden Smith: Using Your Gift: Creativity in the College Classroom". Top News Today.
28. "BBC - Music - South By South West".
29. Jerry Young, "Singer takes symphony in new direction," ''Austin American-Statesman,'' (November 4, 1999).

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