09/11/08 - Hunter Hauk - DFW Quick Print Edition

Dallas band Somebody’s Darling got something a lot better than free beer when it won Shiner Records’ Rising Star competition last October. Weeks after beating out 23 other bands in the contest, the country-rock foursome found itself in a Nashville recording studio, making an album on Shiner’s dime with producer Dan Baird (of Georgia Satellites). Guitarist David Ponder says those sessions resulted in a self-titled album that captures the band’s live sound much better than last year’s debut EP. “On every song on the record — drums, bass, acoustic guitar, one electric track and most of the vocals are all live,” Ponder told us in an e-mail interview. “We can definitely hear the difference."