Biography

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.