JPG: Before we go further, I like to get stuff correct. Is it 2006 or 2007 when Yarn started? I’ve read both dates.

BC: I think it was December 2006. That’s when we started at Kenny’s Castaways. We probably didn’t have a name, but we would play every Monday night, all night, at Kenny’s Castaways on Bleecker Street in New York City. And that lasted for two years. The only time we didn’t play on Monday is if we went on the road, but we weren’t on the road that much. Tuesday mornings at my shitty day job was a doozy.

JPG: Hearing that a roots Americana band started in New York isn’t all surprising although many of the acts you see from the city are or indie, gritty rock or hip hop, You live in North Carolina now, which doesn’t twist the brain as much as when you were in Brooklyn.

BC: I know, and I didn’t even know that this genre existed. I didn’t know there was a radio format. When I recorded the first album, I didn’t even know about Americana. I had to learn it from a friend of mine. Now, he was in New York. He had a band called The Doc Marshalls. I called him and he’s like, “Use this radio promoter, he’s cheap. He’s good. He’s a pain in the ass.” He’s down in Nashville now. His name’s Nick Beaudoing. He’s got a new project, Runner of the woods. He’s still at it.

So, I knew that they were doing the same thing because we were putting a record out at the same time. Then, I was in all these little scenes. Hill Country was one and before that I can’t remember the name of the club but there were these few dedicated alternative country clubs and then Banjo Jim’s was another one that opened up while we were in the midst of this. That was a cool tiny little bar, but it was a scene. I don’t even know how it even came to be what I’ve been listening to my whole life.

I had a band called Blake and the Family Dog when I started Yarn and that was trying to be a little more jammy and weird but it was really just a drunken weekend warrior thing. We didn’t expect much out of it, but it became a scene as well at this little bar down on West Third called the Bag It In, which no longer exists. Nothing I ever I’ve played in exists anymore, but Hill Country still does.

I guess it was more me trying to tighten that up and be a little more professional. I did for whatever reason I listened to one of my one of my hardcore fans and also contributors texted me, “Man, that Blake and the Family Dog album.”  — he was driving back and forth to Canada – “Really great stuff.” So, I was like let me listen to that. I haven’t heard that in like 15 years and it’s not bad. I sound kind of like shit and I’m a little flat but it’s kind of cool. There was something to it that spurred this.

JPG: I wondered if the Family Dog was going to be jammy or not because I imagine the name is a reference to the Family Dog from the San Francisco area where the Grateful Dead played?

BC: When I thought of it that wasn’t on my mind. Then I found that through the internet. I don’t know where I ultimately thought of that but when I looked it up to see what was going on with that name, I found that it wasn’t a band.

JPG: It was the early promoter of shows of the San Francisco music scene including the Grateful Dead.

BC: Well, that’s what sealed the deal with the name. We were all Deadheads. We all were old enough that we got to see Jerry. I’ve never gone to see any of the other projects – Dead & Company, Further and all that stuff. All power to ‘em, but I love Jerry. I was a Jerry fan.

I do love John Mayer but I don’t know…Mandy, my wife, is like, “We gotta go to the Sphere.” She’s not even a big Deadhead. She just feels like she’s missing out. [Laughs.]

JPG: Tickets for that went quickly but then there are lots to be found on secondary markets. I must admit that I’m one of those who Ticketmaster loves because I usually do the pre-sale and, unless the tickets are waaaay expensive, I feel that it’s done, and I don’t have to be stressed out on the day of sale.

BC: I beg on social media, literally beg to buy tickets in advance because it just helps. If you’re coming, it’s good. The club is happy. The band is happy. The promoter, everybody is breathing easier. It just creates a much better show. I appreciate you doing that because people have gotten way away from that.

I’m promoting one little festival right now every year. [Sighs.] It’s a lot of work for little reward but the reward is when the people have a good time.

JPG: That’s the Yarnival, which takes place Oct. 24-26 in Troy, Virginia.

BC: That has been an idea for years because I thought, we’ll do the carnival. We’ll do a less kid-friendly festival.

Every festival’s like, “Bring your kids. Bring your families.” We have a kids area. I’ve got two step kids. I love them but let’s do a…You can bring your kids if you want but they might see some weird shit. You know what I mean? That was the idea, and it was like let’s do burlesque dancers. Let’s do magic. Let’s do sword swallowers, a little bit of the old school Lollapalooza idea.

This year, I’ve got a one-man freak show. I’ve got a circus performer and then I’ve got all these bands. They’re mostly bands I’m friends with or have jammed with us and have their own bands.

So, it works. We did it the first year with everything that New Year’s Eve 2021, during COVID everything was scheduled, tickets were sold but then everyone started canceling again, but we didn’t cancel. I remember the Stringdusters had a date in Charlottesville. We were 10 miles down the road in Troy, and, they had to cancel. We said, “Well, Yarnival’s still on.” It was the first one. So, we had a pretty full house for our first year because of that.

Then, our second year, we didn’t sell it out, but we had a good time. We had a great lineup. The third year, we sold out at the last minute.

This year, we sold out in three days, which was nice, and people are digging it. I’ve got Big Daddy Love who are friends. And I’ve got Amanda Anne Platt & the Honeycutters because I like it to be songwriter-based as well. We’re doing a songwriters in the round every day. This ska band from Virginia called Dale and the ZDubs. Some crazy trio called Mothman Rodeo. We don’t have any big headliners. Us and the Honeycutters are probably two names that some people recognize. I’ve got about 13 bands and then six or seven alternative entertainment things.

It’s small. With guests and everybody it’ll be like 350 people. It’s been fun but like I said it’s a lot of work. Luckily, the promotion side of it took off quickly. Those things can really just fail miserably, and I get that, and I was aware. Just roll the dice. I think the timing was right. We talked about moving it over to the Rooster Walk site, another festival in Virginia, but I would have given up all control.

It would have been a much bigger thing and probably got our name out more but I’m keeping it small for now.

JPG: Since you’re in charge, what do you want to do with Yarnival that isn’t done at other festivals or what do you want to do at Yarnival that is done at other festivals?

BC: I just want it to be unique, for sure. I want to do the alternative entertainment. We also like to incorporate some games. We did last year. The guy who owns the property built one of those strong man games where you hit the bell. You have to swing the sledgehammer. We got that. We got a little shooting gallery thing and a dunk band members. They sit in this thing and they throw a football to try to get a bucket of water on the bandmember’s head. We’re doing all that weird kind of stuff. It’s really open. Everyone’s got a VIP ticket.

There’s no rules other than be kind to everyone else. We’re doing what we want to do. I would like to grow it and so would the guy who owns the property. His house is on property. We have talked about adding 100 tickets next year. He’s got property across the street and he’s talked about developing it into a space for festivals, weddings, whatever. So, maybe, over there we can grow it. Who knows? I might get tired of doing it and, maybe, I will bring it over to Rooster Walk. I don’t know. We’ll see.

For now, it’s a nice, comfortable number and everybody’s respectful. Nobody’s gotten hurt, knock on wood. So, we’re comfy right now. After this one, this year, we’ll talk about what we’re gonna do but we’re gonna have to sell a few more tickets just for me to get motivated to keep doing it. [Laughs.]

JPG: Going back to the album. Everything took off from your experience of doing the solo shows, the collaborations at that time and recording with Damian. You released the album, Live at the Down Home, from those dates, which contained several songs that ended up on the new Yarn album. Through it all, were you thinking it was going to be a solo album or subconsciously thinking it would be the next Yarn release?

BC: I didn’t know what it was gonna be. I knew I was going to go up to New Jersey and work in the studio with absolutely no expectations. Yarn was still a cohesive unit but I knew it was getting tiring and it was getting old.

But, all these guys have been fairly committed to me for a long time and I didn’t really know what to do other than to break out and explore other players and different scenarios of music. So, when I went up there, Damian, who co-produced the record was like, “Let me call some of my boys to come play.” He couldn’t get a drummer in there those particular few days. So, [Robert] Bonhomme lives in New York City. It’s about 20 minutes away. I was like, “You want to come record some music, new shit that we haven’t done yet. Just have fun and see what happens.”

Then, we had Johnny Grubb who I’ve known for years. He was the original Railroad Earth bass player. He lives close by. So, he came. Ultimately, we got Yarn’s bass player (Rick Bugel) on the record, and we started working these songs.

It was freedom, and I felt free. There was no expectation. We were having fun. We weren’t using headphones. We were all in the same room. This big pine box of a room and I was singing without a microphone and we were all playing, tracking basics, even tracking keys at the same time; having a blast doing a bunch of takes, getting it right.

It felt real good and in between that session and the next session, I had a falling out with my guitar player, who I, of course, still love and all is well but I just couldn’t travel with him anymore. That was some of the problem. Personalities get tangled up and it can hold you back. We were out in Colorado, I just had enough. It was right after I did that session and, we decided to part ways. Ricky and Bobby, my rhythm section, was still there, and I was like, “Well, let’s go back in the studio and finish this thing as a Yarn record.” We’d been playing some of the songs as Yarn already but we’re going to put a whole array of musicians together that we’ve never worked with or never recorded with, at least. I played with Mike Robinson and Andy Falco before.

Once that happened, I was playing with all my friends and most of them were frontmen from other bands. I was playing with Joel Timmon’s who was filling in on guitar. He’s Sol Driven Train’s lead singer and songwriter. Josh Schilling playing keys. Got [Matteo] “Joey” Recchio from Big Daddy Love. He was filling in, and then Andy Trongone. He had a band called Trongone Band. Andrew’s  pretty much been our full-time guy, filling in [on the road], because his band pretty much dissolved over COVID. His brother didn’t want to be on the road anymore. He’s been doing a phenomenal job and having a blast.

It just became really fun again. And, I didn’t give a shit. It’s like if the fans said, “We don’t know who’s going to be playing on…” Guess what? You’re gonna love what you get. I gotta do this in order to not have to go back and work on the 52nd floor on Madison and 42nd. (laughs)

So, in order for me to get past this point in my life, I need to be doing this. We didn’t really care what people thought because what I thought was it sounded better than ever…and Mike Sivilli from Dangermuffin was feeling it as well. He played on the record as well.

We were just having fun. I knew I couldn’t really take on any of these [other] guys full time because they had other projects they’ve been involved in for years. So, it was just fun to not have to officially hire anybody and know we’re all getting along. Everybody’s happy to be there. It changed the dynamic tremendously because I don’t think any of us [in Yarn] were happy to be there [before recording the new album]. It wasn’t just one person. It takes its toll. Now, we can’t wait to get back in the van and get on the road again.

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