Yarn, headed by songwriter Blake Christiana, is back with a new album, Born, Blessed, Grateful, & Alive, out July 26 via Symphonic Distribution. It's been eight years since the NC-via NYC roots rockers have treated fans to a new studio album. Born, Blessed, Grateful & Alive finds Christiana getting his groove back, and the title reflects accepting — and being grateful — for what you do have. Guests include members of Railroad Earth, Infamous Stringdusters, and others.
WATCH THE VIDEO FOR "HEART SO HARD" HERE
The songs on Born, Blessed, Grateful & Alive reflect the range of human experience. There’s the laconic country ballad, “I Want You,” which Christiana wrote with his long-time songwriting partner Shane Spaulding, that “loosely follows the plot of the ‘70s Willie Nelson movie, Honeysuckle Rose, about a married touring musician who finds his true love out on the road.” A road song, “Nomad Man,” glitters with ringing finger-picking and soaring steel runs as it evokes the loneliness and solitude of the moving from one place to another, while the soulful “These Words Alone,” with its driving Hammond B3 organ and gospel-inflected harmonies, sonically resembles Van Morrison’s later songs. The rollicking steel guitar on “Down at the Dancehall” introduces a twangy rambler that would be at home on any album by the Flying Burrito Brothers.
Christiana had started performing solo, getting Yarn together for the “Cocaine Bear” in 2023, but it was a chance meeting with producer Damian Calcagne at his New Jersey studio that ultimately brought the band back together.
"We had zero expectations and zero inhibitions about any of what transpired that weekend in his studio,” Christiana shares. “It led to another week up at his studio a few weeks later. In between sessions I found myself writing like crazy."
Ultimately, what was left of Yarn wound up tracking on this recording as well, that would be Yarn’s rhythm section, Robert Bonhomme and Rick Bugel. Also in the studio with us were Mike Robinson and Johnny Grubb (Railroad Earth), Andy Falco (Infamous Stringdusters), Mike Sivilli (Dangermuffin), Heather Hannah, Elliott Peck (Midnight North) and of course Damian Calcagne.
"It seemed right to keep the name Yarn going on this record, we’ve always been evolving, our sound has forever been doing whatever it wants to do. That is Yarn and this is our next chapter."
“No one has any idea why we're here, what we're supposed to be doing here or what comes next, and there are very few things in this life to connect us to one another, other than the fact that we all don't know these things,” he says. "I like to think our music could be one of the places where we can connect.”
TRACK LISTING:
1. Turn Off The News
2. Something's Gotta Change
3. Heart So Hard
4. Play Freebird
5. Traveling Kind
6. I Want You
7. Wake Up
8. Maybe Someday
9. Noman Man
10. These Words Alone
11. Down At The Dancehall
12. Grieve On
TOUR DATES:
SA APR 20 Salisbury, NC - Earth Day Jam 2024
WE MAY 01 Harrisonburg, VA - Clementine
TH MAY 02 Hagerstown, MD - Hub City Vinyl
FR MAY 03 Easton, MD - Avalon Theatre
SU MAY05 Wayne, PA - 118 NORTH
TU MAY 07 Pittsburgh, PA - Club Cafe
WE MAY 08 Buffalo, NY - Sportsmen's Tavern
TH MAY 09 Syracuse, NY - The 443 Social Club & Lounge
FR MAY 10 Blairstown, NJ - Roy's Hall
SA MAY 11 Hoosick Falls, NY - UNIHOG
SU MAY 12 South Burlington, VT - Higher Ground
SU MAY 26 Axton, VA - Rooster Walk 2024
SU JUL 21 Erwin, TN - Yarn Camp on The Banks of The Nolichucky
FR, JUL 26 Raleigh, NC - Lincoln Theater CD release show
SA OCT 26 Troy, VA - The Yarnival 2024
