As I stepped into Sound Emporium Studios, deep in the heart of Nashville’s recording district, I couldn’t help but feel the talent seeping from the walls. Years of industry legends putting their hearts, souls, and (likely) tears into award-winning albums had to have left a mark inside this facility, right? I mean, the amount of scrapped music that never made it out of here could probably go platinum if it ever saw the light of day.
The hallway outside of Studio A is lined with celebratory records and album covers; trophies of legendary work, originally manifested just a few feet from where I stood. Greats like Kenny Rogers, Alabama Shakes, Robert Plant, and even my dear (and very distant) cousin Trisha Yearwood all recorded some of their best work right here. But I didn’t come here for a family reunion.
Today, I was here to meet up with a talented musician who is breaking into the Country music scene with unique style, an undeniable voice, and authentic storytelling abilities. His name is JD Darling: an Alabama native who has lived all over the American south and southwest, but has now settled into farm life down in Hampshire, TN.

Having recently released a three song EP (Bolt from the Blue), and subsequently releasing an additional track, 1995, listeners can get a sample of what to expect from the completion of the full length album Mr. Darling is here to record.
With this EP and upcoming full-length album, JD Darling brings a refreshing taste of soul, flare, and life to a genre in desperate need of originality. Halfway through my first time listening to One Way or Another, I found myself nodding and singing along as if it had been a go-to song for years. These tracks have the potential to elevate both listener and artist alike.

As I watched a room full of professional musicians work their magic, JD was kind enough to sit down with me during a break in the action to answer a few questions. Check out our conversation below and be sure to check out his music – you will not be disappointed!
Who is JD Darling?
JD: Oh, so open-ended [slight pause]. A singer, a musician, a father, a husband, a friend…to animals [laughs].
You’ve got an EP released already, and we’re here in the studio finishing up the full length album. Can you share with us what got you heading down this road?
JD: You know, last year I just started writing a bunch of music and it’s been a really long time since I’ve played live, and I decided that I really wanted to get back into it. After I wrote a couple of songs, it just felt good to write stuff for me and songs that I really wanted to share with other people.
You have a rather unique sound and flare from what we can hear on the songs you’ve put out thus far. I think it’s easy for a listener to tell you’re a traveled man. Can you share some of your background about where you’ve lived, inspiration from there and the styles you’ve learned?
JD: The flare…that’s just me. Background-wise, my dad was in the Army. I was born in Alabama and was there for a while, then we lived in Georgia, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Texas…in El Paso. I kind of take things from everywhere, and both sides of my family are mostly still in Alabama. Now I’m living in Tennessee, but I’ve been all sorts of places. When I left El Paso, I lived in Albuquerque for a while. I lived in Austin for a while. I just kind of went around and picked stuff up from different places.
I do think a lot about the desert, and I write a lot about the desert because I spent so much time there. So much of my teenage years where you start to understand who you are as a person and your persona; I still identify with that version of me, even though I don’t live there anymore. It’s weird, you know. I can sing about a current state, or I can jump back to El Paso or Albuquerque and write about something that’s happened to me or someone else that I knew.

All that traveling and living, but you’ve landed now in Tennessee, the home of Country Music. What’s it like to have the opportunity to record in Nashville, and can you tell us about where you’re at and what you’re doing?
JD: Tennessee is great. We’re [living] far enough outside of Nashville, it’s not the same as living in Nashville, and I have lived in Nashville. Being as far out as we are…how far is it, like sixty something miles? Sixty-five miles maybe. It’s not the same, but it’s so nice that we have access to [Nashville], and to be able to come to Sound Emporium, where we are now, finishing up the full-length and to have access to the greatest players I could imagine. You could definitely do it in LA, New York, Austin and lots of places, but [here] you can do it on really short notice with a quick turnaround and bang a bunch of stuff out. We’re here for two days and we’ll finish ten tracks, that’s pretty incredible.
From the EP, you have One Way Or Another, Flip The Switch, and Last Dance. Is there any inspiration or stories from those songs you’d like to share?
JD: Yeah, One Way or Another to me is just about growing up. It’s like “becoming a man”, so to speak. For me that’s pretty recent, because I’ve got a seven year old and a four year old. I kind of don’t feel like…I don’t know that I’m there yet, but I don’t feel like I really started on the path until becoming a father.
Flip the Switch is about a buddy of mine. We were sitting on the back porch having a good time. Somehow relationships came up, and he talked about how he got dumped in the most brutal way, and he never saw it coming. He said the words “flip the switch”. When he said that I thought “man, I should do that.” I didn’t tell him anything about it, and a couple of days later I wrote the song. I sent to it him and said “hey dude, I wrote this song about what you told us all the other night”, but we were laughing and even he was laughing about getting to tell us this horrible experience he had gone through. So he sat there and listened. He had this real serious face, and I kinda thought “ah man, I might’ve messed up”, but once it was over he was like “man, the bridge…that’s exactly how it happened! I like it, man, it’s really good”.
Last Dance…I write a lot of songs about other people. You know, extraordinary struggles are really rough for a short amount of time, and common struggles everyone deals with, sometimes for a life time. Those sorts of things to sing about are really appealing, because it’s just a constant thing. Does that make sense?
So the EP is out, you’re working on the full-length here now. Where can people find your music?
JD: Yeah, Bolt From The Blue is out now. You can find it on all the streaming services: Spotify, Itunes, YouTube, Deezer, Amazon. Give Bezos a couple more bucks, he could use it [laughs]. The full-length album [Looking Forward Thinking Back] will be out June 2nd and you can find me on Instagram at @JDDarlingmusic.
Ryan Yearwood is the motorsports correspondent for SoBros Network as well as the pioneer and visionary behind SoBros Outdoors. Follow on Twitter: @OutdoorSoBro.
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