A band that calls itself Yarn might be expected to spin a yarn or two.
"That's what we do, we tell stories, live and in the studio, truth and fiction," says singer/songwriter Blake Christiana. "We don't always opt for consistency. There's a different vibe onstage from what comes through in our recordings. There's a difference in every show as well, you never know what you're going to get."
Find out what's in store at their Chattanooga show when Yarn headlines Nightfall on Friday, Aug. 16, in Miller Plaza, 928 Market St. The Josh Driver Band will open the free summer concert at 7 p.m.
Yarn announced in February 2018 a series of singles would be digitally released on the 13th of every month, which continued through that year. Each single included an "A side," a "B side" and an exclusive alternate version of one of the songs. There was no better name for the project than Lucky 13.
Christiana described them as "road stories."
"People always ask us to tell them road stories," singer guitarist Rod Hohl adds. "While this batch of songs aren't exactly literal road stories, most deal with some degree of adventure and adversity as inspired by our tours and treks around the country. Yet like any good story, there's an imaginative element to it as well."
Christiana said the songs dealt with real-life issues: broken relationships, a sense of having to regroup and put some things - and people - behind them.
"That's what I was writing about lyrically in the new songs and it became kind of a catharsis," he says. "Nothing was contrived. We were living these circumstances, and that gave us the impetus and inspiration to share our sentiments. Ultimately those setbacks and difficulties led to new opportunities and allowed a little light to shine through."
Yarn spent two years honing their sound in a Monday night residency at Kenny's Castaway in New York's Greenwich Village after forming. It allowed them to rehearse onstage in front of audiences that might range in size from five to a 100 people on any given night.
Five studio albums followed, then the band took to the road, playing upward of 170 shows a year. They shared stages with Dwight Yoakam, Charlie Daniels, Marty Stuart, Allison Krauss, Leon Russell, Jim Lauderdale and The Lumineers.
They've driven nonstop, made countless radio station appearances, driven broken-down RVs and watched as their van caught fire. The fan base they built became known as "The Yarmy."