Darryl Purpose November 11th, 2000

Caricature by Hector Santos - Pi Design

In the summer of 2000, I was listening to NetRadio at work.  When Darryl's song "Last Great Kiss of the 20th Century" came on, it immediately caught my attention.  I loved the song, so I added Darryl's name to my list of artists to look for.  Several weeks later, I was browsing my local used CD store, and I saw Right Side of Zero.  I didn't have my artist list at the time, but Darryl's name rang a bell, and I liked the cover art, and it was only $5.  So, I said to myself, "self, this is worth a shot."

As soon as Darryl sung the first words of "The Island Song", I exclaimed to my wife, "This is the guy who sings that song I was telling you about!"  By the way, I had told my wife about "Last Kiss."  Needless to say, I loved the whole album -- the guitar playing, the lyrics, everything!  So, I visited Darryl's web site and started learning more about him and listening to samples of his other albums.

A couple of weeks after that, I was browsing the same used CD rack, and I saw another copy of Right Side of Zero.  This time, the price was $0.50 -- that's right, fifty cents!  Of course I bought that copy, too.  Well, that was enough to inspire me to visit Darryl's web site and fill out a guest book entry to tell him about this grave insult to his talent.  While I was at it, I asked if he had any chord charts or tab for the songs on Right Side.  A few days later Darryl responded.  He mentioned that he was touring in the area and asked if I was interested in hosting a house concert or guitar workshop.  WAS I EVER!  In fact we wound up doing both.  Using the "camel's nose in the tent" strategy, I convinced my wife that having a guitar workshop would be easy.  Then, in a moment of weakness she, herself, suggested that we have the concert.

Darryl gave us a great show!  His stories were wonderful and his songs were flawless.  He's an all-around excellent performer.  As an added bonus, one of Darryl's friends, J.D. Stillwater, came along and added some wonderful percussion.  To get an idea of what you missed, you can check out Darryl's Kennedy Center performance in the Millennium Stage archives.

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Checkout Darryl's albums!  Which one is best?  Well, to Darryl, they're like his children, and he hates to see them separated...