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COVER STORY: A Stroll through the Tall Grass with Darren Kozelsky
by Keith Howerton
 With the release of his studio album, Let Your Mind Fly, in 2006, Darren Kozelsky established himself as a significant force on the Texas music scene. Produced by Mike McClure, Let Your Mind Fly was one of the best country albums of the year. McClure called it, “The best country record I've ever made.” That is saying something.
Let Your Mind Fly is a collection of Kozelsky-crafted and other songs that are as refreshing as a spring morning. The record combines mainstream appeal and Texas/Red Dirt influence making songs that are what country music should be.
Songwriters on Let Your Mind Fly include McClure, Jonny Burke and Sean Faires (The Dedringers), and Merle Haggard, among others. Burke wrote what became Darren’s first single, “Mind Over Matter.” The song did very well on Texas radio and landed Darren on the scene as a major force in the region. Also released as singles to Texas radio were the Kozelsky-penned “Messed up in Love” and the current single “Cool Grass,” which was written by McClure. The three songs are a great portfolio of a record that has placed Kozelsky in a superb position for his next project. In fact, a video shoot of “Cool Grass” was just completed in South Carolina and Nashville.
Darren is excited about the promise of the video. During a recent interview, he commented that the video is a combination of images that reflect mood thoughts and the scenes of coastal South Carolina and Nashville. Darren also gets to drive a jet-black late model GTO muscle car during the shooting. However, when Darren’s manager (photographer Todd Purifoy) and Darren’s wife first suggested the possibility of doing a video for the song, Darren himself was a bit skeptical.
“Man, y’all are getting way out of hand with this stuff,” was his first reaction to the idea. However, Darren (being a man that warms up to good ideas) eventually came around to the idea of adding visual life to “Cool Grass.”
“Once we got on site and started shooting, it was great,” Darren said. “Driving that car was very cool.” Video or no video, “Cool Grass” is a great song that deserves as much exposure as it can get.
During the video shoot trip, Darren and his team stopped in Nashville for some business to set up the studio project planned for later this summer as well as attend a radio seminar. While he was there, Darren visited Jack Ingram where Sheryl Crow was laying down some harmonies and a duet.
He also set up some songwriting appointments. Admittedly, that is a bit of an awkward system for Darren.
“It is strange to have an appointment at a given time to write a song with someone you are just going to meet for the first time,” Darren commented. “But we are going to give it a shot, and see what comes out. We can use it as a tool and meet some good people and writers that I might learn something from.”
The next project is planned for Nashville. Darren’s longtime friend Wade Bowen is mentoring him about the business and creative side of his music including the recent move to [booking agency] Austin Universal Entertainment (AUE) and help with the plans on the new project. If all goes as planned, McClure will be involved as well.
Darren Kozelsky is a great blend of mainstream and Nashville sound. He has the ability to take the Texas and Red Dirt influence to the system that has become country music.
Whether doing his songs or those of some other great songwriter, Darren puts his stamp on every song he performs and makes it his for that moment. No matter if the songs are live or tracked, he makes them his own.
Recording a project in Nashville will not change the simple fact that Darren Kozelsky has cut his teeth, and is still cutting them, in the Texas and Red Dirt circuit. He is part of the Texas music scene and it will always be part of who he is. No matter where Darren tours and records, or writes his songs, he will always be part of Texas music.
In the end, it is more likely that Darren Kozelsky will make an impact that changes those he works and records with than the other way around. He is as real as they come and he makes everyone he meets better with his friendship and talent.
Darren Kozelsky is here to stay and that is a good thing.
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