Hey, it's Bob Picket. We're on our way to the legendary Broken Spoke.
Come on, let's get out of the truck and head inside it.
Come on, let's go inside, getting ready for another tale from the Broken
Spoke. Back in be too at the Broken Spoke. I'm Bob Pickett Monty
Warden in his time for some more great tales, tales from the Broken spoken
money. I'm gonna let you introduce our guest right now. Well, this
is one of them because you guys have known each other for half a century,
probably forty years. I was getting close to him, Darden, when
I was fifteen years old. Uh, he was picking the hole in the
wall. So this is multi multi uh faceted artist. Author acclaimed, uh
boy, what a build up painter and an incredible hit songwriter and and uh
philanthropist and uh just one of the one of the one of the good guys,
really, Darden Smith. And I was gonna say, the best thing
to come out of Burnham, Texas since Bluebell ice cream. That's what I
was gonna say it right there. So yeah, I almost said philanderer.
Now, no way, what's the good one philanthropist? That's right? No,
really, depends on who. Yeah, it's an honor to have you
join us at the Broken Spokes. It's great to be here, Bob.
Now you you've who's the other guy? That's Monty. It's good to see
you too, man. Man. Yeah, if you ever forget my name,
you can just go to ri i AA and you can find it all
over the play under under most modest Yeah, recording that stands for the recording
whatnot what I don't know, Platinum Records. Okay, those people right there.
So Money was kind of amazed when you guys were chatting a few weeks
ago that you played the Broken Spoke. We never realized, well you knew
he did. What was the deal? But he got his yet your first
major label deal here? Okay, so that's what it was. I paid
a picture for everyone. So this is the very first set by Southwest and
the very booth where we are no way hoarding this UM podcast is where it
kind of my life changed. Yeah, I'm hoping for some kind of something
to happen here today as well that will change my life. They could,
but it did change till you shut up on time. It probably would.
So what year? What year was seven? Yeah? First South By Southwest
first south By Southwest, and um so I did a show, did a
couple of shows that south By Southwest. The story predates that I put out
a record already, my first independent record called Native Soil. Seven eight people
bought it anyway. Um but hang on, I'm gonna cut any right about
about Nata Soul because it's a nineteen eighty six is when you put that out?
Okay, people didn't put out their own ras. No, it was
a It was a big deal, you know. Now it's like, if
you has access to a recording equipment, you put out a record, could
you put it up on Actually, while it was late, I was putting
out a record. He put out a box set. But huh. And
so it was a big deal if anybody had a record out, because putting
a record out back then then somebody said yes. Now it just means somebody
as a credit card. And back then somebody said yes. And when Native
Soul came out, everybody was talking about all the pickers in town. It
was like, who the hell is this guy? It was so strong,
the songs were so good and not like anything else. But you've been picking
around the area for a long time, i've been I'd moved here to go
to college. I went to I was in Sant Marcus for about a year
and a half, but I was playing here all the time. So I
was writing a song and playing here in clubs. And then, um,
Robert Keene. It was Robert Keene at the time, but Robert Role I've
watched him put a record out. So he put out No kind of Dancer,
and um, I immediately watched him to go for he went from like
a hundred dollars get paid one hundred dollars a night to two hundred dollars overnight.
As soon as he put his record out, I went, okay,
well that's the ticket. You put a record out? How do I put
a record out? And so it was it was, but it was great.
It was an eight track record. It was recorded on eight tracks at
Texas Motion Picture h Texas Motion Picture Studio and Larry Sire engineered it. It
was so simple, it was like it was like it was an amazing to
think about that it was eight tracks. That's it. Back in eighty six.
So how much did this project cost? I record? Well, I'll
tell you exactly what happened. Yeah, what's that? I know you paid
for it. Well, I got people to help me, okay. So
I put it on my own label, so it's indie label. I didn't
know anything about the music business at all, but I knew that I had.
There were people around um that I just thought liked what I was doing.
And so I raised ten grand Okay, I raised ten thousand dollars,
right, and that was enough to make the record. And I did it
by asking people to contribute, not to invest. Contribute to the record and
the contract that I said him and said you may get your money back,
you may not, and people said yes to that. And then I was
an early example of asking people to be patrons of the arts, basically being
patrons, and so that was my model and I still used that model today.
And then I got it. I got to it, but I didn't
have enough money to press it. And uh. There was a friend of
mine named Greg. His mother was very ill, she was dying, and
I had said to her, I said, like I said to him,
I said, hey, when your mom dies, you know you want me
to sing at the funeral, I'll be happy to come do it. And
right before that had happened, I went to a bank here in town.
I went to Texas Commerce Bank and asked the guy to loan me five thousand
dollars so I could press it, and he was he wouldn't give me the
money, of course, he said that's ridiculous, and I said, well,
what if I get a co sign. He goes, yes, I'll
get a co sign and he so a friend of mine can coach the man
who designed the record, Dick Reeves, his wife at the time, co
signed a loan so I could borrow five thousand dollars. And I remember this
guy looking at her going you're nuts, You're nuts. This guy doesn't have
a job, and you're gonna co sign on the loan. Yeah, he'll
do it. Two days later, guys, the guy's mom dies. I
drive to San Antonio, singing at her wed, sing at her funeral.
After the funeral, back at the house and he goes, hey, how's
that record going. I said, well, dn thought, He goes I
said, yeah, I just had to go get a loan. He goes,
how much is a loan for her? He goes five thousand. He
goes, hang on, I'm in charge of the money. Let me get
the checkbook. He wrote me a check for five thousand dollars. I went
back in I slam. I literally slammed that check on that guy's desk.
I went, see, that's what happens when people believe. He said,
I cannot, I cannot understand why people would give you money. And I
went, because you don't believe. Amazing. And the guy didn't get credit
on the album. Either didn't. No, no, he didn't. Ordered
I'd take him a free one. So I put the record out and and
then it got going. Ray Benson met Ray. Through this, I had
done some touring in LA, I did some gigs um and I got a
publishing deal, all because of this, all because of this record, all
because this record got going. I mean, I always say like, I
wasn't the most talented guy on the scene, but I worked super hard,
which is probably what keeps me so that I tell people. I was just
this morning, literally literally, I was talking to a young writer and I
said, man, there's always somebody more talented, somebody younger, better looking,
all that, But you can control being the hardest working some bitch totally.
Man. You can always outwork them. If you can out hustle them,
you will, You'll have a career. You know, but but the
thing is it like, so what did what had made a soul cost all?
All told? But what did you make from it? You got the
publishing deal, you got all those gigs right, change your life? Yeah,
told you. It got me going. And uh but then like to
finish up while we're here at the Broken Spoke, is like, so,
then I get this publishing deal. Ray Benson produces some demos from me yea
and Ray, Um everything I owe Ray everything. I got the Wheel rolling
Without Ray, I could have had a job by now and um. But
uh so Ray kind of set up a deal, a record deal with with
Epic Records. And so the first south By Southwest out of these shows they're
watching me. Um they show at the Continent Club. Then we came here
and I played I kind of opened for the Wheel here at the Broken Spoke,
I'm walking across the dance floor and Rick Blackburn, who was the head
of CBS Records in Nashville at the time, says, Hey, Dard,
and I'd like to talk to you. So we came and sat in this
booth and he offered me a record deal right here in this wow. And
he's like, yeah, we really believe in. You know, I'm like,
wow, I can't believe that I'm getting a record. I stand up,
I'm walking across. I walked back into the dance hall part and I'm
walking across the dance floor and who's who was the guy who was ahead of
our Cia Joe Glani walks up to me and he goes, hey, Dardan
puts his hand like Patsman on the shoulder and goes, I'd like to talk
to you. Oh boy, oh boy. We came in. We sat
in another booth and he offers me a record deal and mister Galani just got
inducted in the Country Musical. It was like, so I got offered two
record deals right here. Then strikes twice, I know, and I go
home. In the morning, Patrick Clifford, another guy that we both know,
Patrick Clifford, calls me up and who was working. He was A
and R at A and M. He was an Epic at the time.
Oh this is before okay, yeah eighty seven. Yeah, So he was
at Epic at the time, and he called me up in the morning,
first thing in the morning, like eight o'clock in the morning. He goes,
hey, Dardan, I just met Patrick, say Dardan uh A quick
name me one cool person on our CIA and I went up and he goes,
that's your answer, and I went, Epic it is. That's where
Bob Dylan was. That's where all these cool people were on EPIC and I
went, great, I'll do it. But that was that was why,
literally, that's why I signed with Epic Records. But a cool story.
It started here at the Broken Spoke and that's the only time I ever played.
Then is it really pretty much? Well not really? What I do
is not really well. I remember you playing the Hole in the Walls every
time, you know. So I had a record deal through Nashville, but
really it was a struggle because I don't really do that kind of thing.
It was the end of the sort of what is Steve Crawl at the post
truth scare of Yeah, the credibility. Yeah, they were signing all these
people that were cool, but none of them sold any records. I was
signed at the end of that, so their patience for it was waning very
fast. How many alms did you put out on Epic? I'll put out
one on Epic And then I got my record deal transferred actually out of Nashville.
I got it transferred to LA. It was total fluke. I was
playing. I was playing fanfare, actually, and I'd talked to my A
and R guy, Larry Hamby about how miserable I was because they wanted me
to sing other people's songs, and I knew that at the time, Like,
I mean, George Straight was rocking. Have you ever heard of George
Straight? Monty? Do you know George? Have you ever written a song
for him? One? And anyway, Yard and I have both written hundreds
of songs for his adherence. But I just remember saying that this guy,
this guy who took over the an R at epic. I went, there's
no way that I can out George Straight. George Straight, I don't know
how I can do that. And if you want to seeing other people's songs,
this ain't going to work. And so I'd already told my an R
guy that I was playing, uh fanfare, and I was like the first
act on the bill. So I was playing to the sound the grounds crew
basically, and um I had a drum and a bass drum, you know,
me had a trio, a great trio. I remember playing, and
in between songs, some guy comes up to the stage he goes, where's
the rest of your band? And so it was terrible. And but after
my show, after you know, it's like this guy. The record guys
were there from New York. It was you know, Sony, it just
become Sony Music, and they said, what's he doing here? And my
A and R guy goes, actually, he doesn't want to be here.
They said, let's get him out of here. Let's take him to La
Boom. So I was basically I wanted to leave Nashville, and by a
fluke, it was a terrible gig, one of the many terrible gigs in
my life that have changed my career. The terrible gig turned out to be
this godsend. It got me out, that got me out of Nashville into
LA and that I did one record out of LA, which and it became
Columbia. I went on to Columbia Records, and then then that that deal
got transferred to New York, thankfully. So I did three records. All
told was CBS, you know, Sony, Epic, Columbia and three records
altogether. So you didn't a fortune. Nashville Awesome, Nashville, LA,
and then New York. Yeah, and the middle in the meantime, in
the middle of that, I had a record deal on Chrysalis with Boo Hum
Redeem, so we at at one point I had a record deal on Columbia
and Chrysalis. Because I remember, like I was out of London. We
were like the Wagon Ears were like Rick Blackburn and Larry Hamby that Nashville Cat
Darkness song about they were fixing to sign the Wagon Ears. And Patrick Clifford
had just left Sony to get a promotion to go to A and M record,
So now he had left this label. You know, he might have
already been at A and M because he was hanging out with Hanby. I
think they were best friend he'd already left because Handy's already at A and M.
Because I know. And the reason why I think you're right is Patrick
lost Darden to Hanby, and then Hanby was gonna sign the Wagon Ears,
and we were. We were signing with Hanby. We were, and part
of the thing was we had Ray Benson. We had Darden's gonna look like
Old Home Week in Austin. They were signing all this Austin stuff, and
I had one meeting Handy great cat loves the artist, but he's still a
record company goon. I mean, you know, like Lacord, right,
that's why he didn't work because he was he was from really an La guy
and he was brought to Nashville to kind of la a fine hip it up
right as it were, and he lasted about four seconds. So I'm at
I'm at this meeting with him. The band comes into Nashville, the Wagon
Ears, we have a showcase. It's a loaded showcase, so it's gonna
be a great gigs. Basically it was, you know, they had my
mother, my grandmother, my second great teacher you know, says it was
loaded with fans. So and uh and so Handy said, I don't want
to make a record with the Wagon Ears. I have to make a record
with the Wagon Ears. And then the next morning Carlon Our our manager of
Carlin Major, and I just the two of us, not the other bandmates,
went over to Hanby's office and he said, uh, he said,
man, I love your songs. I adore your songs. I don't think
for a second to know what a Wagon Ears record would sound like more than
you, but it might be cool. Just sleep on this. I don't
want to hear y'all. I don't want you to write with the top writers
in Nashville. But what would be cool is like, maybe just two or
three songs a Wagoneer's treatment written by the top guys in Nashville. That'd be
cool. And I was just sitting there. I was I was twenty years
old. I said, man, they yeah, that sea, that could
be cool. And I'm in the limo ride back to the hotel with Carlin
and I said, I can't sign with that guy. I said, if
they're pulling that shit before we sign, can you imagine? I said,
I am not making a record for those guys. And Carlin looked at me
and she said, well, honey, it's a band. It's not only
your vote. And I took a deep breath and I said, well,
I would love to see what a record deal looks like without my fucking signature.
And you're twenty years old, and I thought I had started World War
three. And let me tell you, Carlin Major does not suffer fools,
and she can come down on you. And she looked at me and she
smiles. He went, I love it. She never told the guys and
we and then she called Patrick Clifford and Patrick Clipford said, you know who
the Who's the A and R guy for the Monty Warden record? No Monty
Warden. And so Patrick promised us all this artistic freedom, and so we
went. We went with them, But really it was a pissing contest because
Patrick had lost Darden to CBS, so Patrick stole us from CBS. Amazing,
Yes, crazy, great tale. A lot of a lot of a
lot of those deals were really really came down to pissing matches. Yeah,
because mine too was a pissing match because Galani was he wasn't really interested in
me, he was just interested in pissing off Rick Blackburn. So he just
wanted to sign me to keep me from signing with Rick, and that made
Rick want to sign me even more. Pretty cool stories, right, Oh
wait till here Part two more with Darden Smith coming up on part two of
The Tell's Broken Spoke podcast, and we're going to post that next week.
But in the meantime, listen to other episodes of Tales from the Broken Spoke
anytime. We're their free iHeartRadio app. But we've got a lot of episodes
for you to dive into. Tales from the Broken Spoken. Get ready Part
two with a conversation with Darty Smith next week. Tales from the Broken Spoke
is recorded live at The Broken Spoke in Austin, Texas, hosted by Country
Radio Hall of Fame broadcaster Bob Pickett and Monty Warden, recorded, mixed down
and produced by Mike rivera