​Yarn (from the album Saturday Night Sermon

​Yarn (from the album Saturday Night Sermon

​Yarn (from the album Saturday Night Sermon available on Ardsley Music) (by Brian Rock)
 
Master Americana storytellers, Yarn testify to life’s highs and lows on their lucky thirteenth album, Saturday Night Sermon. The music is richly textured Americana, embracing the Country, Rock, and Soul strands of the genre. It is buoyed by flourishes of Hammond organ, a horn section, and Gospel choirs. The lyrics, written by bandleader Blake Christiana, tell a hero’s journey of sin and redemption, doubt and faith, despair and jubilation. Speaking about the inspiration for the album, Christiana said, ‘a Sunday sermon is in a church. But the kind of sermon that I’m preaching about is more fun. It’s more aimed at the other six days of the week. It’s just about doing life however you want. Having fun, hurting no one’. Like a Southern Rock sermon in verse, Blake Christiana reveals pearls of enlightenment, but only after his hero has endured the long, dark night of the Soul.

The title song is a brief overture and harbinger of things to come. Like Sturgill Simpson, the band begins with mellow acoustic guitar strains and builds to an electric crescendo. Singing ‘we’ll touch on the good times, the laughter, the joy and the pain…’, Christiana hints at what’s to come. Raising the curtain he continues ‘all are welcome, so welcome aboard to this sermon called Saturday Night’. 

Our journey starts with a broken heart. “Goodbye Cowgirl” is an Outlaw Country ballad that sends Christiana and company in search of ‘a home where cowgirls don’t roam’. “Might As Well Be King” is a Cosmic Cowboy attempt to turn lemons into lemonade. Initially wondering ‘what if luck can’t change’, Yarn later decide to ‘let the good times roll… We only get one life, might as well be king’. ‘Good Day” is a Soulful Gospel/Rock anthem to chasing those good times. Christinia credits his wife’s oft repeated mantra ‘we ain’t here for a long time, we’re here for a good time’ for inspiring the cheery melody and life affirming lyrics. “Brand New Light” captures the joyful energy of early Van Morrison to celebrate the joys found in the hook-up culture. “Good Things” features some killer licks from lead guitarist Andy Thomas, and is a Southern Rock tribute to all the pleasures of the senses, however, the track also reveals the emptiness that lies beneath. Blake Christiana sings ‘I got everything good this life can give and then some. The torture of it all is how easy it is to fall back in the doldrums’. 

Sensing the gap between temporal pleasures and lasting joy, he seeks something more fulfilling on the Bluesy ballad “Longshot”. The Blues Rock tones of “Never Enough” prove that seeking fulfillment from someone else is just another temporary fix. “Please” finally finds the hero of Christiana’s story confronting his own demons. Employing Funk/Rock rhythms, he makes a bold statement by examining domestic abuse from the point of view of the abuser. Confronting the turmoil inside of him, he confesses ‘it’s just this monster inside of me. Oh, it wants to be free. I try to cage it. I try to fight. But it’s just so alive. What can I do, what can I say to keep him far away from you?’. After admitting his faults and showing vulnerability, Christiana’s hero digs deeper for answers in the haunting ballad, “The Long Awaited Why”. Singing ‘I can’t stand you but I love you”, he is addressing an undisclosed person who is close to him, later revealing ‘I can love you, but I can’t fix you. You owe me a daddy; I don’t owe you damn’. 

Exposing generational trauma, he experiences first-hand how the sins of the father are visited upon the son. Never knowing why his father did what he did, he now has some inkling about his own impulses. A bit broken, a bit vulnerable, but a bit wiser; Christiana’s hero is ready for a new start. The bluesy ballad “Where We Land” allows him a safe space to begin again. Singing ‘just when I thought I’d lost all hope, you picked me up and showed me love. I couldn’t see any good inside of me, so you took my hand and you helped me understand’. No longer driven by carnal desire, he is able to receive the healing balm of true love. In a moment of clarity, he realizes ‘we’re all floating like a feather on a breeze by the oceanside. And where we land, nobody understands. That’s just life’. We may have no control over our fate, but we can choose who we share that fate with; and that’s enough to make the journey worthwhile. “A Welcome New Home” opens a new sense of peace for Christiana’s hero. Gentle Folk Rock rhythms echo the sentiment of Louis Armstrong’s “What A Wonderful World” as Christiana sings ‘there is a river, a sacred stream where the elephants roam and welcome all our dreams’. When he was chasing his own desires, he missed the beauty around him. Now he realizes that ‘if we’d all just gather our souls and surrender our flesh and bone; we’d find a brand-new world in a welcome new home’.

Changing perspectives really can change your reality. Christiana concludes his hero’s journey with the rapturous Honky-Tonk of ‘Let the Universe”, acknowledging the consequences of our actions he sings ‘we all chose this life, so let’s try not to hate it’. Embracing a ‘let go and let God philosophy, he continues ‘let the universe smile on you, provide for you, take away all your fear from you. Its light will find you a brighter day’. A soul cleansing hymn of surrender, the song is a tangible expression of the Joy of the awareness of your connection with the Divine. You may have to unlearn some things to get there though. Not dogma, not judgement, not political correctness; this song is about our shared oneness. Speaking about the song’s message, Christiana explains “I don’t have any political views. I only have human views. You can’t love God until you recognize God in your neighbor, ALL of your neighbors’. The song concludes ‘let the universe speak through you, believe in you, take away all your hate from you; and its light will find you a brighter day’. The jubilant rhythms and timeless message make this an early candidate for song of the year. Saturday Night Sermon is a reminder that enlightenment doesn’t just happen on Sunday mornings. If we’re willing to set aside our egos, learn from our mistakes, and accept others as they are; we can have communion any time we choose. Blake Christiana and Yarn provide the perfect Honky-Tonk homily for that sermon.(by Brian Rock)
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Listen and buy the music of Yarn from AMAZON
 
Please go to the Yarn website for more purchase and artist information