by Soleste Starr
Without a doubt, my personal favorite performance of the entire week of South by Southwest came from someone whose music I’ve been listening to since I was a toddler: Darden Smith. While it’s been two decades, the man and his voice have aged like fine wine, only growing more expressive and singular with time. His 2003 release Sunflower is a true treasure, and my only lamentation about his performance is that I didn’t get to hear more of that album! However, I certainly wasn’t disappointed with what I did get to hear: his newest album, Western Skies, which he wrote over the course of the pandemic and released just this spring.
The album focuses on the real truth in humanity as it is reflected in the perfect mirror of nature, and ponders the balance between solitude and connection–a theme that we all became familiar with over the periods of isolation facilitated by the last few years. Darden wrote Western Skies as he traversed rural Texas by car, the desert plains and great blue expanse above his most constant companions.
I was first introduced to the album by my dad a few weeks before SXSW, and we shared a dance around the kitchen to “Running Out of Time”–a moment I’ll never forget. The sweet devotion of that song reoccurs in other pieces on the album, two such songs being “Perfect for a Little While” and “Los Angeles,
” both of which feature moving piano melodies and more a ballad-like sound. However, the album has remarkable breadth, with some of the songs spanning into a Southern flare and others into a jazzy tune, like “Turn the Other Cheek.”
The titular track, “Western Skies,” is certainly worthy of the namesake, blending folk with a little bit of rock and country in a seamless singer-songwriter vibe that Darden has maintained throughout his career. The album also ventures into what I, as a soulful but not technical consumer of music, would call “darker progressions,” more moody and brooding melodies that incorporate the haunting mystery and majesty of the landscape into the album’s sweeter preceding tones. While I recommend the entire album, the last song I’ll recommend by name here is, “Not Tomorrow Yet”–it simply ROCKS.
The entire album was performed beautifully by Roscoe Beck in an epic fedora on the upright bass, Alex Morrero on some subtle and sweet drums, and David Jimenez coming in with some sick guitar solos. Darden sang as well as played piano and an acoustic guitar that looked weathered and worn the way that only a truly loved instrument ever can.
Darden brings timeless music into the world, and I felt truly lucky to get to catch him at SXSW this year. “Western Skies” is his sixteenth album, and you can find his music on most any streaming platform!