Darren Jackson (he/him) has been a fixture on the Minneapolis music scene for more than two decades. He founded three critically-acclaimed bands (Kid Dakota and The Hopefuls, aka The Olympic Hopefuls, and Alva Star), released eleven albums, and won three Minnesota Music Awards, including “Artist of the Year.”
Darren has headlined nearly every venue in the Twin Cities metro area, including First Avenue, the Fitzgerald Theater, and Orchestra Hall and
has toured extensively in the United States and Europe, sharing stages with rock and roll icons such as Soul Asylum and The Cars as well as indie rock stalwarts like LOW and Trampled by Turtles.
Darren has also scored a film starring Mickey Rourke and Frieda Pinto and had songs placed in television shows such as Num3ers and The O.C. He also owns his own home recording studio, Homesteader Studio, which has been operational for over twenty years.
Darren is a K-12 Minnesota and South Dakota state-certified band and choral instructor with 14 years of teaching experience. He currently teaches PK-5 music at Hazel Park Preparatory Academy in Saint Paul, MN. He has his MA in Philosophy from Virginia Tech and is currently pursuing his Masters in Music Education at the University of Minnesota.
Along with teaching private guitar, ukulele, piano & voice lessons at Blue Tree, Darren also offers songwriting workshops for kids and adults and has run the very successful Taylor Swift Summer Camp.
Darren teaches beginning piano, guitar, and voice and currently has limited slots available.