Categories
MAGNET EXCLUSIVE VIDEOS

MAGNET Exclusive: Premiere Of Yarn’s “Grieve On” Video

Blake Christiana wrote “Grieve On” in bed one morning. “It filled the page very quickly,” says the creative core of Yarn. “As I get older and meet more people, death becomes more and more prominent in my daily life. It occupies more and more of my thoughts, unfortunately.

Yarn experienced its own death (and rebirth) over an 11-year span that saw Christiana move from New York to North Carolina. The bluegrass- and country-skewed roots-rock outfit initially came together 17 years ago at Kenny’s Castaways in Greenwich Village, where Christiana and Co. played a lengthy weekly residency. A series of albums followed, including 2008’s Empty Pockets, which featured guest vocals from Edie Brickell. At one point, the group expanded to a six-piece touring machine, playing more than 150 live dates a year and opening for the likes of Dwight Yoakam and Alison Krauss.

Aside from Christiana, drummer Robert Bonhomme and bassist Rick Bugel are the only remaining members of that souped-up version of Yarn. They also form the rhythmic backbone for the group’s latest release, Born, Blessed, Grateful & Alive, out July 26 on 333 Entertainment/Symphonic. Christiana fleshed out the lineup in the studio with guitarists Mike Robinson (Railroad Earth), Andy Falco (Infamous Stringdusters) and Mike Sivilli (Dangermuffin), coproducing the LP with keyboardist Damian Calcagne.

As you might expect with an album titled Born, Blessed, Grateful & Alive, the songwriting came from an intensely personal place—and “Grieve On” is no exception. “It’s good for me to get these thoughts out,” says Christiana. “I don’t go to therapy—songwriting is my therapy, and the listener is my therapist.”

Christiana filmed the footage for the “Grieve On” video himself. “No one else held a camera or edited any of what I filmed,” he says. “We all deal with grief in our own way and in our own time. It sucks the life out of us—and I think that translated best using black and white.”

We’re proud to premiere Yarn’s “Grieve On” video.

—Hobart Rowland

See Yarn live.