DARDEN SMITH
Circo (Dualtone)
Reviewed by Erick Mertz

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Austin based singer/song-writer Darden Smith is a study in perseverance and artistic introspection, from a mid-80's string of acclaimed country albums into a spell of divorce and subsequent spell of self-examination. His 2002 album of reconciliations, Sunflower, seems the direct result of that inner-work, and it rings too in his newest from Dualtone records: Circo.

Vocally, Smith has the light, almost hypnotic sway of Jakob Dylan with a bushel more wisdom. He is winsome and reflecting, and seemingly in perpetual evaluation of the way his lover left him. Overall, Smith keeps to his strengths, crooning wryly on "One Hundred Ways" and in more sensuous tones on "Make Love So Hard." When the demons are incanted on "Mill Creek" they are painted bass heavy and mystic, and as a result, the singer becomes storyteller.

Darden Smith is a convincing country music artist, pandering neither to nostalgia or the CMT trends that drive the industry vehicle around him. The conviction that Circo seems to hold most dear will transcend him from the ranks of tired and ordinary.

[Pick this up at www.dualtone.com.]

© 2004 - Erick Mertz