Chris Darlington Band headlining inaugural Campfire Country Fest | Winchester Star

Raised in a music-loving family, Chris Darlington grew up watching his dad’s band play in the tri-state area.

He has kept that family tradition going with his own band — The Chris Darlington Band, which is headlining the inaugural Campfire Country Fest music festival in Front Royal on Saturday.

Darlington, a Frederick County Sheriff’s Office deputy, has been playing music since he was about 13, when his father, Frank Darlington of Frankie and the Dynamics, gifted him a toy keyboard.

“I learned to play that and played with him,” Darlington said recently. “As I got a little older, around 18, I started playing with local bands — playing keyboard and piano — and that led into singing and writing music. I pretty much taught myself. I come from a music background. My dad and brothers are singers and players as well. It’s something that’s kind of born in me, I guess. It came naturally.”

With a number of local shows booked this summer from Strasburg to Bunker Hill, W.Va., Darlington’s band includes Kyle Farrior on lead guitar, Brad King on bass, Peter Bock on drums, and his brother, Aron Darlington, on rhythm guitar. Darlington is lead vocalist and plays keyboard.

“I’ve been in bands most of my life, but I formed my own band in the last two or three years,” Darlington said, noting that he moved from the patrol division to his current position as school resource officer partly to allow for more flexibility in his schedule for his music. “I was writing songs and recording in Nashville, and I wanted my own band to be able to play covers and my originals.”

While Darlington’s musical style is influenced by country legends Garth Brooks, Vince Gill, Brad Paisley and Alabama, his lyrics reflect his life experience.

In 2021, Darlington released a track, “Hold That Line,” inspired by his 18 years of service in law enforcement. Popular on streaming platforms, the track was featured in “Police1” magazine and various social media sites, Darlington said. In May, he sang the song to close the annual National Peace Officers’ Memorial Service, which honors law enforcement officers who were killed in the line of duty, in Washington, D.C. He’s scheduled to perform the track at a law enforcement benefit in Nashville in November, where he will perform alongside Mark Wills and Daryl Worley.

In all, Darlington has recorded about 10 tracks in Nashville, two of which have been featured on major Spotify-curated playlists and a few others have received radio airplay, he said. According to his website, Darlington’s streaming history reflects over 200,000 streams and 93,000 listeners, with streams in 124 countries.

His single, “Like Tomorrow’s Gone,” was featured on three Spotify editorial playlists — “Country Rocks,” “Country Fresh Finds,” and “New Music Nashville.” The song also landed on “Fresh Country Find’s Top 100 Songs of 2021.”

Another single, “Stay For A Little While,” was added to multiple MusicRow reporting radio station playlists across the country and at one time ranked 80th overall and 21st among independent artists on the MusicRow Country Breakout Chart. The chart, primarily focused on exposing new music played on secondary market radio stations, is published each week, with spin-based measurements used to determine single rankings.

Darlington’s singles “Sippin On Summertime’’ and “She’s Fire” also received attention and local radio airplay in the summer of 2021, he said.

Earlier this year, Darlington released the Christian music track “Let Him In,” which is nominated by the Gospel Music Association for two Dove awards, he said, adding that the song is receiving radio play and promotion by Grace Records in Nashville.

Darlington lives outside of Boyce with his wife, Tara, and their two children. This summer, he will spend some time in the patrol division and covering summer school at Dowell J. Howard Center in Winchester. In August, he’ll begin training for the upcoming school year at Middletown Elementary School, where he spends most of his time as a school resource officer.

And, he’ll be on stage a lot.

“I try to keep a pretty good balance between family, work, and music. It seems to work out pretty well. They’re very supportive,” he said. “This is our busiest time of the year. We’re juggling six to eight shows a month.”

For more information about Darlington and the band’s upcoming shows, visit www.chrisdarlington.com.