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Chisholm

Chisholm

Mark Smith (far left), Skip Headen (far right), Jeff Jordan (3rd from left), and I (2nd from left) met in Mark’s parents, Dan and L’nore Smith’s living room in February, 1981 to sing together.  I had just moved to Plano after having been on the road with my original rock band, Desi Red, for approximately 4 years.

I remember thinking to myself, “there’s no way I’m going to be involved in a band again.”  I just wanted to get off the road.

However, it didn’t help my resolve that the blend of voices was unlike anything I’d ever heard before – harmonically and uniquely rich and powerful.  I was used to singing with a lot of volume, and they weren’t shy either, so it was a very strong sound, and more strikingly to me, the blend was almost magical.

We first sang publicly at First Christian Church in Plano where my Dad, Dr. David Darnell was pastor, and my mother, Sarah Darnell was playing piano and organ.  We were immediately received, let’s say, enthusiastically.  We performed with various pianists initially, before working with full bands, and also learned several acapela tunes; for example, The-Lord’s-Prayer – this incredible arrangement by Jim Clancy, founder of the internationally acclaimed men’s chorus, The Vocal Majority, out of Dallas.

“On a Better Road,” the half-live, half-acapela album that features The Lord’s Prayer, and nine other vocally excellent tunes, has been one of our best selling albums for almost thirty years.  I just listened to it again for the first time in forever.  It’s pretty darn good, if I do say so, certainly a different musical genre than my rock and roll days.  The title cut, “On a Better Road,” was auto-biographical, saying a whole lot about my life after having encountered the living Jesus, Holy Spirit in a run-down motel room in Hobbs, New Mexico while playing in a biker bar.   That experience and encounter changed my life completely and put me figuratively and realistically on a better road!

– Tim Darnell –

March 24, 2012 (Jeff’s birthday, btw)

If you would like the album, it’s still available.  ($15.00 plus 1.92 shipping – Texas residents pay 8.25% sales tax)

 

 

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Tim Darnell Songs on iTunes

“Hey buddy, can you spare a dollar?”

Nothing’s Gonna Stop the Rhino!

In the midst of recording a new album, let’s see, number 24(?) – not sure, but certainly not the first, I figured out how to publish songs on rapidly growing Internet music providers like, iTunes, Rhapsody, Amazon, Spotify, eMusic, MediaNet, Zune, Nokia, Napster, and Thumbplay.

The first song to get released is a rocker that did really well for my group, Dreamer, originally written, recorded and released in 1995 called, “The Rhino.” If you can spare $.99 and iTunes is your fave, go to iTunes (iTunes Store) on your computer, or download it from http://itunes.com; go to iTunes Store, and put Tim Darnell in the search box found at the top right of the site.  You can download The Rhino for a whopping 99 centavos, and play it on your computer or smart phone (iPod, etc).

The creative juices are flowing again, and it’s so weird for the muse to appear after a considerable absence.  It’s like getting the urge to play golf after a long lay-off, and pleasantly finding out you can still hit the ball (at least to some extent).

~ New Original Music ~

I’ve been collaborating with friends and former band mates, in particular the boys from

Tim Darnell, Paul Nabors, Bob Tupper, Donny Green

Desi Red – Bob Tupper (guitars, bass and vocals) and Donny Green (guitars and vocals) on new music.  Donny just discovered a tumor on his spine, so I would appreciate your prayers for him.  He’s been gigging a lot lately with his group, Los Thangs, who got back together on a whim and are finding they still “got it!”

Desi Red was ultra-creative musically, writing almost all our performance material along with the addition of a few cover tunes in our sets, depending on the gig.  We first met at Texas Tech in Lubbock in 1978.  I’m a little hazy on who called who first, but we originally called ourselves, Shadowfax, playing primarily at the Rox night club in Lubbock, a hotbed for big-name concert acts, and several other very good rock bands from the panhandle.  Perry Jarrell was the talented keyboardist and vocalist that made up the original foursome in Shadowfax.  Perry fell in love with a beautiful TTU co-ed; and, eventually made the better choice of staying in the band or marrying Eva (the latter was his choice).  They now live in Houston.  We surprise crashed his 50th birthday party two years ago, jamming with him and his current band – way too much fun!

Paul Nabors joined us a little after Perry left, playing both keys, guitar and vocals.  Paul is now in Big Spring, Texas.  More on Desi Red and current music collaboration later.