WITH A YOUTH SPENT IN VEGAS (as possibly the best blackjack player in the world), adult years as an anti-nuclear activist who marched across the U.S. and on to the Soviet Union, and the ability to peer into the hearts of ordinary and not-so-ordinary people, Darryl Purpose is never at a loss for material. He's been writing and performing full-time since 1996 and has released five albums.
“Purpose has finally realized his calling as a dramatist for the dispossessed, a chronicler of those Americans who, by choice or by chance, live on the heart’s back streets, rising up through the crooked lines like leaves,” writes Michael Tisserand in the liner notes of Purpose’s album, “A Crooked Line.” The title of the album alludes to the border between California and Nevada, the path of a constantly touring musician, and the story of a Los Angeles street kid’s journey through life. The opening song, “California (Rutherford Hayes in the Morning)” is one of Purpose’s most distinctive songs. It’s a historically based song about the first president to visit the state of California and it evokes an achingly beautiful sense of hope and possibility. Tracy Grammer provides the backing vocals and violin.
Memorable songs abound on an earlier album, “Traveler’s Code” — the code of the hoboes. Purpose’s own well-earned empathy for travelers and fate-tempters always brings out the troubadour in him. One reviewer calls him “America’s most original narrative story-teller since Harry Chapin.” Anyone hearing his story-songs and concert anecdotes will be apt to agree.
“Gift of the Magi,” Purpose’s latest CD, is, as you might guess, a Christmas CD with interpretations of songs by Dar Williams, John McCutcheon, Dave Carter, and Enya. It’s a feel-good album, full of hope and peace. Perhaps the Me&Thee audience can cajole Mr. Purpose to sing a tune or two to get into the holiday spirit.
$15
Darryl Purpose's music hits all the vital areas: the heart, the mind and the gut... Purpose delivers these tales in language that is precise and unflinching, with a voice that rings true from experience. These songs never let go. New Orleans Gambit Weekly
Purpose has the voice of James Taylor, the brains of Bob Dylan, and the soul of Willie Nelson Attache, the USAir in-flight magazine, 2003
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