The Sound Lounge

The great singer-songwriter from Austin, Texas returns to the Sound Lounge with a new show based around his 1993 album. “Basically, this is a show I’ve been working on, taking the songs and stories around the album. It’s not just a straight run-through of the songs, but more of a theatre kind of approach that looks at my rise and crash around the time of the album” We're excited to announce the latest SL visit by the master songwriter/musician/artist/educator from Austin, Texas. Darden's near-40-year career continues to evolve and change with time, and we can't wait to bring this new show to Sutton which centres on his 1993 album 'Little Victories'. The record featured a guest appearance by Rosanne Cash, some songs written with the UK's own Boo Hewerdine, and the Chicago Tribute observed that it "mixes folk, country and panhandle blues in his musical portraits of real people in the real world." Since getting his start in 1986, Smith has released 17 critically acclaimed albums and toured extensively in both the US and Europe. His latest work, 'Western Skies' (2022) is a sprawling, multimedia collection comprising two albums (music and spoken word); a book of photography, lyrics and essays; videos; drawings, a suite of lithographs and a one-man theater show. Among his other diverse projects, Darden has composed a symphony, scored three full-length dance theater works, produced a documentary for BBC Radio 2 and written music for film and TV. His visual art is in both private and corporate collections as well as the Library of Congress. He is the co-founder and former creative director of SongwritingWith:Soldiers, an organisation that brings collaborative songwriting to veterans and their families. The Habit of Noticing: Using Creativity to Make a Life (and a Living), a collection of his writings, photos and drawings, was published in 2018. Smith is the 2024-2025 Songwriter Emeritus at the University of Texas at Austin. Doors for the show will be at 5pm, and Darden will play two sets starting at 6pm.