Pentagram has designed a new CD package, posters and a lyric book for Austin-based musician Darden Smith. The multi-talented singer-songwriter's newest release on Compass Records, Love Calling, features a not-so-loving image of a woman strapped to a large wooden wheel with multiple swords protruding from her back.
Included with the collection of love ballads is a song called "Angel Flight" that Smith wrote in 2009 with his friend Radney Foster. The song, which became a radio and Internet sensation, honors the military pilots who fly the planes that bring fallen soldiers home. That song gave Smith the idea for his successful Songwriting with Soldiers program, established in 2012, where the master songwriter works with veterans suffering from PTSD and other injuries.
For local hero Smith, who's been writing songs and performing for 40 years, Love Calling opens a new chapter in the artist's prolific career and circles back to his musical roots.
"I've been writing songs and making a living at it since I was 23," says Smith. "There was a time when I was very into music as a way to achieve something. And now I look at music as a way to live. It's not like I write songs in order to get anywhere. It's what I do. I view the world through writing songs. I look at music as this blessing I have, not like a choice. It's a necessity. Writing the song is all that matters, and I love writing songs more than ever."
For the release the designers created a series of posters, cards and flyers and a lyric book featuring the work of renowned fine art photographer Kate Breakey.
