Ep 6: Darden Smith

Over the course of his remarkable three-and-a-half decade career, Smith has released 15 critically lauded studio albums, landed singles on both the country and pop charts (including the Top 10 hit “Loving Arms”), penned a symphony, scored works for theater and dance, published a widely celebrated book on creativity, exhibited works of visual art, and co-founded the non-profit SongwritingWith:Soldiers program, which pairs veterans with musicians in order to tap into the transformational possibilities of collaborative songwriting. (During the pandemic, the Austin-based artist also helped launch Frontline Songs, which connected musicians and healthcare workers to support them in telling their stories and healing their trauma.) The Daily News hailed Smith as “one of the most respected American musicians working today,” while the Austin Chronicle dubbed him a “master song craftsman,” and AllMusic called him “a singer-songwriter blessed with an uncommon degree of intelligence, depth, and compassion.”

Darden's latest album is Western Skies. 

He's on social media, so find him there.  His website is https://www.dardensmith.com/

Songwriting With Soldiers:  https://www.songwritingwithsoldiers.org/

Warrior PATHH:  https://bouldercrest.org/warriorpathh/

Darden and I cowrote the theme song to the PBS series After Action with series host and creator, Air Force combat veteran Stacy Pearsall:  https://www.afteractionshow.org/about

Darden Smith will be performing live again this month.  Get out to a show.

Mentioned in this episode:  Darden's continuing collaborative songwriting work;  his visual art (including a show in September at the Davis Gallery in Austin, TX);  his Talking About Songs project (https://www.dardensmith.com/tag/talking-about-songs/);  pianist Bill Evans;  Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks and Desire; Jackson Browne's Late for the Sky;  The Pretenders;  The War on Drugs;  The Blue Nile Hats;   Natalia Lafourcade;  Rosa Passos;  Víkingur Ólafsson;  The New Yorker;  The Arabs, by Eugene Rogan...and so much more.  Darden Smith has a very active mind. 

I'm grateful for Darden.  I'm grateful for you.

peace and love,
Will

willkimbrough.com, facebook.com/willkimbroughmusic, instagram.com/willkimbrough