Fort Worth, Texas-based solo acoustic guitar master Darrin Kobetich classifies his sound as “ambient delta raga thrash grass,” but that’s just scratching the surface. Lisa Gail Barnes of fwsistercities.org called his music “hypnotic, entrancing, [and] deliciously wicked.” Ken Shimamoto of the Stash Dauber blog wrote, “Darrin's a really disciplined player, but his technique never gets in the way of the human sound in his music…no matter what the subject of the day is, he leaves a lot of blood on the strings.”

Originally from Long Island, New York, Darrin grew up listening to a lot of string-oriented music, including bluegrass, Italian and Greek music (particularly the Zorba the Greek soundtrack), and old rock 'n' roll. His musical journey started out with four chords he learned from his father at age 12. Soon he was hooked on Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Rush, and loads of obscure heavy rock bands from the late ’60s and early ’70s.

Moving to Weatherford, Texas, in 1980 (after living in Fort Worth for 3 months in late '79), Darrin formed his first real band, an instrumental power trio, a year later, inspired by German guitar phenomena Uli Jon Roth and Michael Schenker. He honed his chops playing covers and experimenting with improvisation, then spent a few years in various metal bands before joining the New Orleans-born thrash/death metal outfit Hammer Witch in 1989. They released a cassette-only album before disbanding in 1994.

Darrin then formed an experimental metal band, Amillion Pounds, which was fronted by his brother Adam. It was during Amillion Pounds’ run that Darrin composed his first acoustic songs, influenced by Jimmy Page and Leo Kottke. By 2002, he was completely immersed in the acoustic guitar, inspired by the likes of Michael Hedges and John Fahey, as well as Middle Eastern and other world music. Typically, his song titles come from places he’s traveled, their sound, or what was going on at the time they were written. For example, “Once In A Blue Moon” was named after the Blue Moon Hostel in Lafayette, LA, while “Playing In the Hedges” is a dedication to the late master of harmonic tapping.

Amillion Pounds disbanded in 2004 and the following year, Darrin and Adam founded the Electric Mountain Rotten Apple Gang to play bluegrass and mountain music. When Adam moved to Austin in 2007, the Gang evolved into the Blackland River Devils. Darrin has provided music for theatrical presentations at Hip Pocket Theater, and performs with Darryl Wood in the experimental guitar-and-electronica unit The Panic Basket. He’s self-released three CDs (available via CD Baby and reverbnation.com): Off the Beaten Path, the epic hour-long 12-string exploration The End of One Enchanted Evening, and his latest, Songs For A Muse Meant. Darrin’s music is also available digitally via Napster, Rhapsody, Amazon, Ruckus, eMusic, Lala, Verizon, GroupieTunes, PayPlay, Inprodicon, Tradebit, GreatIndieMusic, and iTunes.