Texas singer-songwriter Darden Smith was once describe as an explorer. This fits. During his 20-year career, he has recorded in folk, country and pop settings. He has co-written songs with a British rocker, released 10 critically acclaimed albums, created works for dance theater, done symphonic collaborations and through his Be An Artist Program, brought to children across the US and Europe the message of the inherent creative capabilities in everyone. His song cycle, ‘Marathon’ is currently being adapted for the stage. Darden Smith has made himself at home in studios in Manhattan, Nashville and London, as well as Austin. With every CD he releases his focus and style continues to shift, yet remains true to his roots.

His latest studio recording, ‘Field of Crows,’ was released in 2005 on Dualtone Music Group. As melodic a collection as he has ever recorded, the disc shows Smith continuing to explore rhythms, sounds and lyric themes. As it has on all of his recent Dualtone albums, his work on the nylon-string guitar adds a distinctive texture to the music.

In 2006 he recorded a series of concerts in an adobe house at Ojo Caliente Hot Springs in New Mexico. The result is ‘Ojo,’ his first live disc.

These last two discs represent a continuation of musical exploration that will surprise few who have followed this restlessly creative spirit’s career. Born in 1962, Darden Smith was raised in rural Brenham, Texas. He says that Leon Russell’s ‘Carney’ LP of 1972 was one of his earliest musical influences. When he was in the fifth grade, Smith’s guitar teacher taught him all the songs on Neil Young’s ‘Harvest’ and ‘After the Gold Rush’ albums. She explained to the boy that Young was the composer of his songs.

“That was the first time it clicked to me that every song is written by somebody,” Smith recalls. “I was already writing poetry at the time. When she told me ‘it’s just poems and put to music,’ well, that was all I needed to hear.”

When he was in junior high, his family moved to suburban Houston. Culture shocked and out-of-place, the former farm boy sat in his room and wrote songs constantly from that point onward. Smith studied the songs of writers such as Guy Clark, Townes Van Zant and John Prine. He listened to the radio and had his head spun around by Bob Dylan, The Allman Brothers and Jackson Browne. While still in high school, he began playing in clubs around north Houston, and by the time he graduated from the University of Texas in Austin, Darden Smith was a fully realized talent and a regular on stages in the city’s thriving nightclub scene.

The folk-flavored ‘Native Soil’ appeared as his debut album in 1986. Fellow Texans Lyle Lovett and Nanci Griffith provided harmony vocals. Signed by Epic Records soon after, he issued ‘Darden Smith’ in 1988. Produced by Asleep at the Wheel’s Ray Benson, the collection spawned ‘Little Maggie’ and ‘Day After Tomorrow’ as country-chart singles.

At this point came the first of Smith’s many shifts in direction. Song publisher and Ensign Records executive Nigel Grainge teamed him up with Boo Hewerdine of the British band The Bible. The songwriters couldn’t have had more different backgrounds, but their collaborations resulted in the 1989 duet album ‘Evidence,’ garnering 3 1/2 stars in Rolling Stone.

“I pride myself in being a Texas singer-songwriter. It’s who I am, and I will never get away from that. But that world was all I knew until I met Boo Hewerdine. I’d never created music outside of my little niche. But I was listening to things like Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe and The Pretenders. And the experience with Boo showed me that I could write music from a broader place than I had ever done before.”

Following the critical acclaim of ‘Evidence,’ and feeling stifled in the Nashville record scene of the late 80’s, Smith was at the point of asking to be let out of his deal. Instead, the record company moved him over to its pop division, and onto Columbia Records for 1990’s ‘Trouble No More’ and 1993’s ‘Little Victories’, the latter of which produced the hit pop single, ‘Loving Arms.’ In keeping with the crazy logic of the record business, the label released him from his contract after this, his most successful album to date.

After several hard years of professional and personal setbacks, Smith put out a sterling collection of folk-tinged pop called Deep Fantastic Blue in 1996. It was followed by Extra Extra in 2000.

Around this time, Smith considered getting out of the music business. “It was just too damned hard,” he says, looking back on those years. “The travel, having two young kids, trying to figure out how to make a living and still enjoy it all. I didn’t have a label, manager, agent, nothing. I couldn’t figure it out.” Over dinner in New York City in 2000, producer Stewart Lerman and drummer Sammy Merendino recommended that, before quitting, he do just one more record, but do it only to have fun. Smith began writing and recording purely out of the love of making music, and through that, fell back in love with the process.

The result was 2002’s ‘Sunflower’ on Dualtone Music Group. ‘After All This Time from the cd reached #3 on the BBC2 Radio Chart. That song, along with ‘Perfect Moment’ and ‘Satellite’ received widespread airplay in the US.
‘Circo’ (2004) and ‘Field of Crows’ (2006) followed, and both are part of a stylistic trilogy, Smith now realizes. “I didn’t set out to do it that way, but we worked with the same core group on all three records, and most of the arrangements were based around what I was playing on the nylon string guitar. This definitely gives it a quiet, more inward sound. They are good snapshots of where I was, and I’m very proud of these records.”
But records are just part of his musical wanderings. Beginning in 1989, Smith began composing music for experimental dance-theater works with Austin based choreographers. Three full evening works followed, and in 1998 he was commissioned to create an orchestral work with the Austin Symphony Orchestra. The result was ‘Grand Motion’ which premiered in 1999. His newest theater work is ‘Marathon’, a play based on a song-cycle, is being developed in association with the University of Texas’ Performing Arts Center. A radio documentary on Texas songwriters that he created for the BBC2, ‘Songs From The Big Sky‚’ aired in March 2006. His ongoing Be an Artist Program puts him in workshops, helping children see that they are all born artists and that creativity is inside all of us (www.be-an-artist.com).
About his extraordinary career, Darden Smith says, “I don’t worry about a lot of the stuff I used to worry about. I just go. I just want to work and make music, and that may look different on different days. After 20 years in this crazy business, I realize how fortunate I am to be able to make a living being a musician, doing what I love to do.” 

Artist's Web Site

See a YouTube clip from Darden Smith

800 shows, 5 years, and 150,000 miles have passed since Dean Fields went on the road to pursue a career in music. Now, he hits the road again to promote his most recent release ‘Everything Just Happened the Way that it Happened.’ These 11 songs chronicle the scenes and episodes experienced and witnessed during his life on the road. During that time his address changed from Miami to Nashville to Boston until most recently returning to his hometown of Richmond, VA.
 
His recent homecoming has found Fields selling out shows in Richmond VA, as well as nearby Washington DC. “Dean Fields writes lyrics like Leonard Cohen and sings like Jeff Buckley. It’s no surprise that there’s a serious buzz on this Virginia singer-songwriter.” (Free Times) While continuing to feed his passion for music, Dean is fueled by a single-minded love to perform, sharing the stage with KT Tunstall, Blues Traveler, Rosanne Cash, Auqualung, Hootie and the Blowfish, John Hiatt, Cake, Bruce Hornsby, Rusted Root, Madeleine Peyroux, Carbon Leaf, among others. In addition, Fields’ maturity as a writer and performer is brought to the fore by some of the region’s finest musicians. The band features members of Mandy Moore, Sparklehorse, Agents of Good Roots, KD Lang, Carbonleaf and Modern Groove Syndicate.
 
Everything Just Happened the Way that it Happened, Dean’s latest release, was written mostly in bars, venues, and hotels while on tour since hitting the road in 2003. The album’s 11 songs capture the raw honest expression of a young artist on the rise and the experiences that come with it: the teetering balance of hope and hopelessness in life’s pursuits; relationships and break-ups; along with the physical and emotional ups and downs of being on the road. This album is a reflection of his maturity as an artist and heartfelt reflections of his experiences while pursuing his dream. “It’s about being at peace with the decisions we make and the benefits and consequences that come with them” states Fields. Prior to his release of Everything Just Happened the Way that it Happened, Fields released “Songs on the Mend,” a solo acoustic album and his debut album “Imitations,” produced by Alan Weatherhead, independently selling over 5000 copies.
 
Dean began his career in 2001 while living in Miami. After being inspired by the abrupt break-up of a long-term love interest, Fields began to document his pain and sadness the only way he knew how….he wrote about it. “I was living in this beautiful place with gorgeous people and amazing nightlife, and where was I? Holed up in a corner room depressed and writing songs.” Upon receiving the distinction of “Best of Miami” and performing at the premier Billboard Live, the singer-songwriter made the decision to leave Miami and dedicate himself to developing his craft and performing live. “I just woke up one day and said, ’screw this all I want to do is play music.’ And off I went.” Influenced by great songwriters like Jim Croce, James Taylor and Lucinda Williams, Fields has blended a mix of folk-alternative Americana to create a sound only unique to him. His natural and melancholy voice stands out from the mix. “He sings with the tender high tenor of Tim Buckley and the plain spoken poetry of Jim Croce.”(Miami Herald) Fields is truly in his element on stage. His live performances showcase his unassuming yet candid personality; an ‘ah shucks’ sort of charisma audiences are drawn to. They cant help but watch, and listen, and be a part of the experiences unfolding in song.
 
In addition to releasing two albums since taking to the road in 2003 Fields has been showcasing his talents at BMI songwriter showcases in Nashville, Los Angeles, New York and at the BMI Brunch at SXSW. He was also the Southeast Region finalist in the independent music world series in 2004, chosen over a group of 1200 acts and has had his music featured on MTV’s Real World, Road Rules and Sorority Life.

Fields continues to win over critics and audiences everywhere. “Go so you can say you saw him when.”