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Derek Darby has been very popular in the north of England for some years following the demise of his duo Magill in 2016. He has a very full diary and rarely travels south. I saw him for the first time in May at Brenda’s Boogie Boots in Welling and was impressed by his high energy performance that kept the dancers on the floor from start to finish. Derek doesn’t play and instrument but in my view that doesn’t matter as his voice is his instrument. Denver’s Sylvia Blower saw him at Brenda’s and immediately booked him for his debut at Denver Junction on 23rd October.
Derek kicked the evening off with George Strait’s I Just Want to Dance With You followed by Kaylee Bell’s Cowboy Up. Kaylee Bell is an award-winning independent country pop singer-songwriter from Waimate, New Zealand. She is widely recognised as the most streamed female country artist in Australasia and shot to global prominence after performing her viral original hit song Keith (written about Keith Urban) on The Voice.  After a medley of old songs, Derek took us back to 1962  with Hank Thompson and His Brazos Valley Boys Drop Me Gently (So My Heart Won’t Break). Derek is very much at home with old favourites or the latest line dance songs,
Ella Langley’s Choosin’ Texas  came next, this has recently overtaken Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas as the longest running US No 1.  I was a little unsure when AI generated songs started to take the line dance world by storm but I must say they have grown on me and in particular Derek’s next song DJTEXX’s Love Potion 666 which got almost everyone out of their seats. In case you are wondering who DJTEXX is. Well it’s the digital persona of line dance choreographer Rob Fowler and we would hear several more of his songs later in the evening.
Derek gave us a very energetic performance continually moving around the stage as if he had ants in his pants, I found it very entertaining.  After The Montgomery’s Brotherly Love and an old favourite from Billie Jo Spears, Blanket On The Ground, next came one of my picks of the evening and another from John Michael Montgomery and Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident), a song that mimics the iconic, rapid-fire rhythmic chant of a real southern auctioneer. Reminds me of Chuck Miller’s 1956 hit The Auctioneer.
Next came Kaylee Rose’s Going Blonde, Savannah Jade’s Kiss My Glass and some Irish country with The Fables’ Heave Away. Set 1 ended with another AI generated song from Rob Fowler’s DJTEXX and Wild West And Wicked.
There were plenty of useful dance suggestions throughout the evening and Derek had little problem creation a great rapport with everyone in the club. The second set opened with Neon Union’s Made In Mexico followed by Asleep at the Wheel’s House of the Blue Lights. In my view you can’t get enough of Asleep At The Wheel. Their up-tempo western swing cover dates from 1987 but the song is much older and was first recorded by Ella Mae Morse and The Andrews Sisters in 1946.
After Midland’s Runnin’ Wild, Derek gave us another AI track next that I hadn’t heard before but Kurt D’s Everything’s Alright ensured the dance floor remained full with a dance called Co Co Nana. I might prefer to keep both feet firmly on the ground myself but it’s good to see dancers enjoying themselves and there was certainly that in abundance tonight and everybody I spoke to was having a good time.
The Judds’ Grandpa (Tell Me ‘Bout The Good Old Days) seems particularly popular these days. A few more from the second set included Halfway To Paradise popularised by The Dean Brothers in 1998 and originally recorded by Billy Fury.  We also heard Dean Martin’s Little Ole Wine Drinker, Me, Roger Miller’s King of the Road and Don Williams’ First Fool In Line. It was very clear by this time that Derek Darby is more of an entertainer than just a singer. After Susan Ashton’s Closer we heard a third song from Rob Fowler’s DJTEXX with Rhumbumbumba,
During the third set we heard Josiah Siska’s 3 Tequila Floor, William Michael Morgan’s Gone Enough followed by a medley of Elvis songs, Treat Me Nice, Such A Night and Paralysed then Dwight Yoakam’s Fast As You. The evening was generally fairly up-tempo which suited the dancers but there were some slower songs like Solomon Burke’s 1961 classic Cry To Me combining heartfelt gospel passion with folk-preaching cadences. How do you follow a song like that, Derek followed it with 2341studios’ Stomp 2,3,4 another Rob Fowler creation.
A bit of Irish country came next with Ceol’s One More For The Road and staying with the Irish theme we heard Johnny Logan’s Hold Me Now which seems popular these days. Ziggy In The House high-energy cover of the Whitney Houston classic I Want To Dance With Somebody and The Lennerockers’ High Class Lady brought an end to an evening of nonstop entertainment from Derek Darby, a real showman. For an encore it was a Doris Day song The Deadwood Stage (Whip-Crack-Away!) from Calamity Jane which has become a highly popular theme song in the line dancing community. Because it moves at a fast, energetic pace (typically around 134 bpm). Derek Darby certainly did us proud tonight. It was his debut at Denver but he will be back at the club next year for more of his kind of country.
Check out my video of Derek Darby at Denver Junction below.