ABOUT ME!

  I’m a Songwriter, a singer, a guitar player, and a “humorist”.  And I’m a Baha’i.

I’m originally from Virginia but I moved to California in the winter of 1995.  After my divorce, I settled in Imperial Beach in 2000.  It’s the “most southwesterly city in the continental US”- right in the corner next to Tijuana, Mexico.  I liked to say I was as close as you can get to Hawaii by car.   I remarried in 2006 to my bride, Deb.   We’ve embarked on a 50-year honeymoon!  We now live in Las Cruces, NM.

Sunset at the Pier

I’ve been writing and performing my own songs for about 50 years.  A number of  years ago I recorded a live show I did for my birthday party.  I called it the “11th Anniversary of my 39th birthday”.  That’s humor.  The difference between comedy and humor is important.  A comedian says funny stuff to make you laugh.  A humorist makes you laugh at stuff that ain’t funny.  I consider myself a humorist, but Deb occasionally reminds me that’s only true if everyone laughs.

TUCSON – Deb and I moved to Tucson, Arizona and I launched a project to record some of my tunes and get them published for people to enjoy.  The first fruit of that labor is a CD called “EACH ONE TEACH ONE – Songs for the Army of Light”.  This CD, containing 10 of my Baha’i “Teaching” songs, was produced at the request of my bride.  She wanted a CD of OVERTLY Baha’i-oriented songs for Baha’i Teachers everywhere.  I guess that makes her the “Executive Producer”!   My prayer is that it will Attract the Hearts of Seekers and Fortify the Hearts of Believers.

Tucson from Mt.Lemon

The “other half” of my songs are about being human.  There are love songs, songs of social conscience, songs of celebration.  All of them are somewhat philosophical and reveal the inner-workings of my own heart.  I first recorded 13 of them in my own Folk-Blues style on a CD called “Plain and Simple”.  We called it that because it’s just me on Guitar and vocals and my friend Rick Heyman on his upright bass  (no artificial additives!).  You can hear of all my albums by following the links for bandcamp downloads at the upper right of each page. Following that album, Rick and I were joined by drummer Michael Parker who adds “punch” to the sound. I next published an EP called “Six Songs From Tucson” that includes Michael’s drums.

Our casa grande in Casa Grande

CASA GRANDE – In June of 2009, Deb and I moved to Casa Grande, AZ and appropriately, I guess, into a “big house” (casa grande).  We came here to support the Baha’i community which was dwindling in number.  I guess the Lord liked the sacrifice because he gave me three times the house for $100 less than I paid for the small house in Tucson. I wrote a bunch of new tunes there and recorded a new album in the summer of 2014 titled “Woodstock Generation”. It contains mostly songs of “social commentary” from the “baby boomer” perspective. I have another album partially recorded as well. I plan to title it “Complicated Man” after one of my more popular songs. Many of these “love songs” are available as single downloads from my bandcamp page. (See upper right side)

First home in Las Cruces

Today, our home is in LAS CRUCES, NM.  I took a job here (music doesn’t pay well for most of us folk-music types) and we moved into our first house here in September of 2016.  It had about half the space we had in Casa Grande, but we made it work, until it didn’t. Then we bought an older somewhat larger home that certainly fits us better, as we slide into our retirement years. (I’m not as young as I look (wink)).

I enrolled in the Baha’i Faith in 1973.  I’ve been trying to become a real Baha’i ever since.  The fascinating part about Baha’ullah’s writings, to me, is that every time I read a passage again, even after reading it numerous times before, I get something new from it.  A number of my songs are “Baha’i-oriented” in content, some “overtly” so, some “covertly” so.   More importantly, my attitude has been re-oriented and I feel a lot more at peace with life.  Maybe that’s why I can see humor in so many things that aren’t really funny.

In the coming months I hope we will enjoy some laughs together and I hope that you’ll enjoy my albums .

///Darrell

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