Darryl Purpose

Who is Darryl Purpose?

Darryl Purpose is an American singer-songwriter, known for his narrative lyrics and fingerstyle guitar. Before becoming a professional musician, Purpose was a professional blackjack player and was known as one of the best in the world. In 2010 Purpose was inducted into the Blackjack Hall of Fame. "Purpose has the voice of James Taylor, the brains of Bob Dylan, and the soul of Willie Nelson".

In 1986, Purpose walked across the USA with The Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament and then a year later in the former Soviet Union. In 1996, he became a "full-time time national touring singer-songwriter" who "hit the folk scene...with an unusually eclectic resume that provided him with a wealth of compelling stories to tell." As of December 2011, Purpose has returned to touring full-time, returning from an unexplained 7 year hiatus.

When Darryl Purpose was 16 years old, his mother put a book called “Beat the Dealer” in his Christmas stocking. He went to Las Vegas as a teenager and began a career as professional card player – and still calls this the “only real job I’ve ever had.” Years later, he took time off to walk across the country for peace, and fell in with a bad crowd – musicians & peaceniks. In 1996, inspired by his work with a traveling band of musical activists, Darryl began to tour nationally as a solo singer-songwriter. Eight years, six CDs and a thousand-plus shows later, he was headlining venues like the Freight and Salvage, Club Passim, McCabe’s, The Bluebird Cafe, The Kennedy Center, and the Kerrville Folk Festival Main Stage.