Chris Darby

Tour with Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 12:35:00 -0500

You can follow my tour with Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray on my Youtube channel. Click on the title above for the direct link. As I am doing the filming, the videos will mainly concentrate on them, but I will make an appearance or two before the tour is over.

Coming up! • Friday, March 22 8:00 pm • Caldera Tap House • 31 Water...

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 18:22:02 -0500

Coming up!

   •   Friday, March 22 8:00 pm
   •   Caldera Tap House
   •   31 Water St.
   •   Ashland, OR
   •
   •   Monday, March 25 8:00 pm
   •   Trillium Cafe
   •   207 Oak St.
   •   Hood River, OR
   •
   •   Saturday, March 30 8:00 pm
   •   Crux Coffee
   •   1022 Main St.
   •   Boise, ID,
   •
   •   Thursday, April 4 7:00 pm
   •   Eddie McStiff’s
   •   57 South Main
   •   Moab, UT
   •
   •   Sunday, April 7 9:00 pm
   •   Cowgirl BBQ
   •   319 S. Guadalupe St.
   •   Santa Fe, NM
   •
   •   Tuesday, April 9 9:00 pm
   •   Adobe Bar at The Historic Taos Inn
   •   125 Paseo Del Pueblo Norte
   •   Taos, NM
   •
   •   Thursday, April 11 9:00 pm
   •   The Pioneer Inn
   •   15 E. 1st St.
   •   Nederland, CO
   •
   •   Sunday, April 14 9:00 pm
   •   Quencher’s Saloon
   •   2401 N. Western
   •   Chicago, IL
   •
   •   Monday, April 15 8:00 pm
   •   The Frequency
   •   121 W Main St.
   •   Madison, WI
   •
   •   Friday, April 19 9:00 pm
   •   Southgate House
   •   111 E. 6th St.
   •   Newport, KY
   •
   •   Saturday, April 27 9:00 pm
   •   Red Hook Bait ‘N Tackle
   •   320 Van Brunt St.
   •   Brooklyn, NY
   •
   •   Friday, May 10 9:00 pm
   •   The Taos Ale House
   •   401 Paseo Del Pueblo Norte
   •   Taos, NM
   •
   •   Saturday, May 11 9:00 pm
   •   Cowgirl BBQ
   •   319 S. Guadalupe St.
   •   Santa Fe, NM

On tour with Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray! Opening these dates for them. To find their full schedule, check out: http://www.missshevaughnyumawray.com/upcomingshows.cfm

Spring Tour

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 22:21:26 -0600

I’m headed out to the west coast, starting Saturday. Here’s the shows I’ll be playing on the way out:

March 2nd, 9 PM- Bugsy’s- Russellville, AR

March 4th, 9 PM- The Frontier Bar- Austin, TX

March 8th, 7 PM- House Show- Sand Diego, CA (write for details)

Following that, I’ll be touring with Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray for two months, selling merchandise, and opening select shows. Check out their schedule at www.missshevaughnyumawray.com

See you soon!

Chris

———————

Three upcoming shows

Sat, 05 Jan 2013 18:35:00 -0600

01/12/13 Jerry’s in Chicago, IL at 9 PM

01/18/13 Gallery 3 in Manitowoc, WI at 7 PM

01/19/13 Jackson Avenue in Charleston, IL at 7 PM

Greetings! I’m writing you from southern Missouri, where I am currently visiting my folks for the...

Sat, 05 Jan 2013 18:32:06 -0600

Greetings!

I’m writing you from southern Missouri, where I am currently visiting my folks for the holidays. It’s always pleasant to spend some time here. It snowed overnight. Not a deep snow, but enough to remind us that it is indeed winter. As I write this, snow continues to fall, a few flakes at a time. The wood stove provides ample heat, a toasty backdrop to the delicious food and wonderful company.

This past year of life and music has been a bit more difficult for me than in previous years. Some of you may remember Stefanie Kohn, who sang and played percussion for my band, Them Damn Kids, from 2005-2007. Her voice can be heard on our three releases during that time frame. Just before Thanksgiving of this year, Stefanie passed away, after a yearlong battle with cancer. She was the best friend I have ever known, and I feel that I am still reeling from the news in many ways. She was an integral part in the direction of the bands recordings, as we developed from haphazardly recording and releasing projects, to putting a lot of thought into each release. Without the multitude of conversations with her regarding music, and direction of projects, I have no idea what I would be doing with music today. Meeting Stefanie was one of the major highlights of my life, and I know that I will continue to think of her, and miss her, for the rest of my life.

Despite the incredibly difficult news at the end of the year, the successes of the year prior to that are not to be overlooked. The annual songwriter festival that I organize in Chicago entered its third year. It received a record amount of attention, interest, and attendance. This year it was expanded to four days, and 26 performers were showcased. I didn’t know how long it would be able to sustain itself for after the 2011 festival, but judging by the response to this summers event, and the momentum I can see going into next year, I feel like there are many good things to come.

My band celebrated our 10 anniversary in September, and released a retrospective to commemorate the occasion. The retrospective featured 15 of our musical friends covering songs from our back catalogue. The recording turned out exceptionally well. I organized a tour to help promote the release. The original band was unable to commit to a tour, so I enlisted Kyle Ollah, from Duluth, MN, and Tom Teslik, from Madison, WI (both of whom have songs on the retrospective), as my rhythm section. We traveled together from the end of August to the beginning of November, covering over 10,000 miles around the central, eastern, and southern states. If you have not heard it, you can do so by going to themdamnkids.com.

I also traveled quite a bit outside of touring this year, seeing many National Parks and parts of the country I had not seen before. I have been traveling since July 4, and with the exception of a few weeks break to visit my folks and work on new music, I currently have plans to continue travels around the country until at least July.

As of now, the only music related item I have to report going forward into the new year is that in March, I’ll meet up with the band ‘Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray’, and tour with them for about two months. I’ll be selling merch for them, and opening select shows. I’ll send another update closer to the tour to let you know which of those shows I will be playing.

Aside from that, I’m hoping to write a solo album sometime in the next year. This is something I’ve been attempting to do for about two years now, and I keep pushing it back, due to more pressing projects. I feel that the time is drawing near when I can make this thought a reality. More on that as it develops.

There is one thing I wanted to follow up on from last year’s end of the year letter. At that time, I had accepted the duty of running the operations at the Sixty Years War Collective, an independent label based out of San Diego, CA. This is the label that I released two of my solo projects with in 2010 and 2011.

I had relayed this to you with some excitement at the time. Shortly after looking into the possibilities for the future of the label, I quickly realized that there was more work involved than I felt I was capable to handle. As most of their roster had parted ways with the collective, it was going to involve me building it back up from the ground up. This is something I knew when I first offered to lend a hand in the restructuring. But in the end I decided I would need to be in a different space in my life in order to do that effectively, and after much deliberation and conversation, decided against making this a priority, with the full support of the founder of the collective. There may still be some future for the label, but it’s pretty dormant at the moment. It’s rare that I ever attempt to take on a challenge that I am unable to see through, but I do think it’s important to recognize when that happens, and not brush it aside.

This has been a challenging year in many ways, with half of it being spent traveling, and several personal challenges thrown into the mix. I still don’t know quite where I am headed, but the journey has always been more interesting to me than the destination. I no longer feel that Chicago is the home I once found it to be, though I am sure I will always be fond of the place. I do not know if I will ever return there for an extended period of time. That should feel more significant than it does, but at this moment, I think I feel like exploring, and seeing where the road leads me.

I hope this letter finds you well, happy, and healthy in this time of celebration. Please remember to be giving in your thoughts, words, and actions, at this time, and throughout the year.

All the best to you and yours,

Chris Darby

—————————-

P.S. Here is a song that Stefanie and I recorded together in 2005, for a little EP we put together to sell on a tour we did that summer. Our mutual friend Bill Greene put it best when he said ‘Her laughter was her sweetest song’. This laughter is displayed at the end of the track. It’s always a pleasure to listen to, and I wanted to share it with you as well :) http://themdamnkids.com/track/motion-to-delete

The End

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The End

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