The lovechild of a Willie, Kris, and Buffet threeway.

12 MP3 Songs
COUNTRY: Country Rock, COUNTRY: Country Folk



Details:
I was born, and live, in the middle of West Texas. Hot and dry. Except on the rare occasions when it rains, in which case itâs hot and humid. Like a lot of folks out here, I play music because it seems to make me a little less crazy than when I donât.

My album collection consists primarily of Willie and Waylon, Kris Kristofferson & John Prine. I dig BW Stevenson and Robert Earl. And of course, Jimmy Buffett. My music is naturally â and often, heavily â influenced by what I listen to.

There are times when I will sit down and intentionally write a song that I can hear Willie Nelson singing, like âWhatâll I Doâ. Or âClevelandâ, that I wrote as a tribute to Waylon Jennings. And then there are times when I think I have created something truly original, only to have it referred to as âthat Buffett knock-off that you do.â

My new album consists of original compositions, plus âAgain and Againâ by a great friend and songwriter, Greg Long. And a Spanglish version of Steve Goodmanâs âYou Never Even Called Me by My Nameâ. (My part of the world is about 60 Mexican and largely bilingual. Goes over pretty well in the beer joints around here. Email me if youâd like a rough translation.)

One of my favorite cuts on the new disc is âPretending I Donât Mind.â I wrote it several years ago as a duet. At the time, I was playing with a four piece hillbilly band. It didnât make sense lyrically to sing it by myself and although it might have made some sense, I certainly wasnât going to sing it with one of the boys. Not exactly the impression I wanted to make, especially in conservative West Texas. My wife Codi Zane graciously agreed to help me in the studio. Thatâs her angelic soprano juxtaposed with my out-of-tune out-of-time vocal âstylingsâ.

I wrote âOld Friendâ for my dad. His longtime best friend offed himself after years of battling depression. I remember going over to his buddyâs house in the evenings and singing âAnnieâs Songâ and âCountry Roadsâ and a bunch of Simon & Garfunkel. Mac played a twelve-string Martin. Dad played tambourine, but for the song I felt like mandolin rhymed better.

âRositaâ was recorded with one acoustic guitar and one straight-blown harmonica. This is one that I rarely play with a band. I like it stripped down like this and itâs really difficult to pull the showâs momentum back up to full-blown energy level after bringing it down this far. Itâs a good one for open mic or singer-songwriter nights though.

âCircus Songâ came about as the result of story I heard in a cafe at four in the morning. We lost a tire right outside of Cisco TX on our way to a show. We changed it and made the gig. When we packed up after last call, the spare was nearly flat. We hobbled down the highway to the all night Texaco and had bacon and eggs while they changed it. I was sitting with Rex, known to his friends as âthat old midget-loverâ. Rex told me stories about his life with the carnival and his family back in Arkansas. They had some troubles and trials, he said, but he assured me that they always got into the circus for free.

Finally, Iâd like to dedicate âLetter to Buffettâ to all the troubadours whoâve tried desperately to get their songs heard in crowded barrooms while drunken patrons clamored for âMargaritavilleâ, âBrown Eyed Girlâ, and âPlay some Skynyrd, Man!â

Iâm pretty proud of my new CD. I really I hope youâll buy 100 copies. But more importantly, I hope you enjoy it.

--Darren Morrison, San Angelo Texas
info@DarrensTunes.com