Stone Church // Newmarket, NH // February 11, 2010
Real bluegrass music is about technical skill and emotion. Country music tends to be about lyrics. And folk music seems to be strictly about emotion. Brooklyn’s Yarn is a bit of each of those styles and has all of those attributes in spades, particularly during their live show.
The “intimate crowd” didn’t noticeably bother lead singer/guitarist Blake Christiana and his merry band of musicians. Almost immediately it was clear that Yarn is a band who takes playing music seriously; they are masters of their instruments. Mandolin/Harmonica player Andrew Hendryx may have appeared to be climaxing during some songs, who can blame him though when he plays the fiddle so flawlessly? Guitarist/background vocalist/David Cross look-a-like Trevor MacArthur also showed why this music could just as easily be called bluesgrass – it has real soul to it, even when it is impeccably technical. This is a band that takes practicing seriously, and because of it, they have a seriously impressive live show.
Comparisons to Ryan Adams are unavoidable (especially because of where they hail from). In reality though, Christiana has a better voice, and although Adams’ songwriting is key in his greatness, Yarn’s songwriting shows creativity and originality (and a good dose of humor and humility). Comparisons to Cross Canadian Ragweed and Reckless Kelly would also be in order for their live show because they do not shy away from rocking out.
It was no surprise to find out that Christiana previously played with a jam band. The live Yarn show was filled with ‘impromptu’ solos, with band members passing solos to each other, something that takes an awful lot of practice to make sound good.
A skilled, and fun, live show by a band that knows that if you are having fun as a band, the crowd will be having fun too.