IRONMATT MEDIA GALLERY

Darden Smith for IRONMATT

Darden Smith's work as a musician, educator and founder of SongWriting:Soldiers is driven by three simple principles - Write songs. Tell stories. Move people. - Greg Larson

Darden came to our home in New Jersey on a snowy winter day last February. We had met him through mutual friends at some of his performances in the Metropolitan Area. The three of us spent the better part of the day talking about Matt, family, looking at pictures and talking about our collective life experiences. Kelly and I had never really worked on writing a song. The process was really warm, heart wrenching, powerful and a lot of fun. Our memories of what Matt meant to us and some of the things he loved to do suddenly turned into a song. We refined it together, watched in amazement and listened as Darden brought the words to life. It is impossible to capture your son's life and memories in a single song, but Darden captured the essence of Matt. He was tough as nails, sweet, funny, loving and always happy - we often wondered how. Now you will hear Darden play our song.