By Brian Rock
Yarn is a band of contradictions. New Yorkers who have found their home in North Carolina. rockers who play authentic country music. Partiers who take time for spiritual reflection. At the center of it all is bandleader Blake Christiana. The thread that holds Yarn together, he recently took time from their busy touring schedule to talk about the band’s new album, Saturday Night Sermon, and to reveal the stories behind the songs.
TJ: Yarn’s new album is called, Saturday Night Sermon, I have to confess, it’s much more entertaining than most sermons I’ve heard. Given the title, was there a particular message you wanted this album to convey?
Blake: 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, especially Saturday night. That was the birth of the idea. Then I had written this song called, “Good Day.” It was just about doing life however you want. Having fun, hurting no one.
TJ: A celebration of life.
Blake: Yes. And then we wind up tagging a church choir outro on the end of it. I had gospel singers join in. By the way, we’ve got gospel choirs on almost half the record. So, the whole album just kind of took on a bit of a gospel feel. Something about it sounded right and felt right. So, I’m not an organized religion guy. I never have been. I just find it to be completely hypocritical. Compared to the teachings of Jesus, most sermons sound like the opposite of Christianity. It doesn’t make any sense to me. And that’s why I thought, let’s have a new sermon. Let’s preach good times. And let’s do it where you like to have fun, you know? Not where you’re stifled or judged or… made to fear God. Let’s celebrate.
TJ: There’s a mistranslation in the Bible that says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom. The original language says the awe of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom. By awe they meant just having a childlike sense of wonder.
Blake: It makes a huge difference. One word makes a giant difference. It’s ridiculous how they use that to control the masses, right?
TJ: Yes, and the title Saturday Night Sermon, reminds me of the Zen koan, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” By which I mean, enlightenment doesn’t just happen on Sunday in church. If you’re living with an open heart and mind, you can learn from anyone you meet. With that in mind, were there any specific real-life encounters that contributed to the stories in this album, or are they purely fictional?
Blake: Oh, definitely real. My wife, Mandy is a big part of this record existing. She’s dug deep into the spiritual side of things. She’s constantly feeding me with different ideas, either born in her head or something she’s reading about. So, I get a whole lot of this from her. The last song on the album, “A Welcome New Home,” is about a recurring dream she has. It’s about being at a river with elephants; and just being at complete peace. It’s a kind of utopia where she goes to. It’s funny, because we recently bought a house on the Pamlico River, two hours east of Raleigh. So now we actually live at a river. We have yet to find the elephants, but we’re looking for them.
TJ: Yeah, they’re tough to find in North Carolina. But since you mentioned that song, I’ve got to say that it really reminds me of Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World.” It just has a calming sense of peace about it. Very nice. So anyway, for me; your albums have a literary quality, almost like a southern Gothic novel. And on this album in particular, you have a song called, The Long Awaited Why,” where you’re dealing with generational family dysfunction. And then in the song, “Please,” you deal with abusive relationships – boldly, from the perspective of the abuser. So, when you’re doing this, do you find it emotionally draining to dig into these characters or is this cathartic for you?
Blake: Oh, totally cathartic. My experience with dysfunctional family is minimal, compared to lots of other people. So that’s not autobiographical, but it’s definitely someone I’m very close to, you know?
TJ: Yeah, everybody thinks they’re from a dysfunctional family until they actually meet somebody from a dysfunctional family.
Blake: Yes. So, for “The Long Awaited Why,” I overheard Mandy on the phone. She hung up and said, “I can’t stand him, but I love him.” And that’s how the song starts. And then I took it down that path and, I think it’s obviously quite relatable. I mean, even the least dysfunctional family in the world can relate to it a little bit. And then for the song, “Please,”, I’ve always liked the song, “The Beast in Me.” Nick Lowe wrote it, and Johnny Cash did a cover of it. And it’s a song from the jerk’s perspective. I guess I ripped it off to some degree. The idea is to speak from that perspective. It’s like controlling the devil inside you. It’s a little dark. But it’s honest.
TJ: What I like about that song is you neither glorify the character nor condemn him. You’re just like, here’s what I think it would be like to be in the mind of somebody that hates themselves while they’re harming others.
Blake: Yeah. And we all have the ability to do that. So, it’s all within us.
TJ: Yes. We’ve all had times where we’ve let somebody down, and usually we try to move past it. But this is a guy that’s trapped in that cycle and can’t find a way out.
Blake: Well, I appreciate you listening, so intently.
TJ: It truly is my pleasure. Talking about listening to the lyrics; through the course of this album, you immerse yourself in characters. Like on the song, “Good Day,” you’re a self-serving hedonist. But on, “A Welcome New Home,” you’re a spiritual seeker. On, “Brand New Light,” you’re boasting about one-night stands; and then on, “Longshot,” you’re yearning for a long-term commitment. So, given the sermon reference in your album title, how do you reconcile these opposites?
Blake: I think they’re all an important part of everybody’s whole. There is a balance, you know? And I don’t see anything wrong with hedonism and exploring pure pleasure. So, I think it’s a part of being human. I mean, we’re here to experience this body. My wife, Mandy is constantly talking about oneness. If we all go back to being united with the bigger God, or whatever it is; then the physical form just ceases to exist. So, I feel like we need to embrace that. And there’s just a balance you need to achieve. You know, you can’t go overboard and you can’t let it rule your life, but you gotta see the meaning of things, Party as hard as you can, have a good time, but don’t hurt yourself, don’t hurt anybody. I think all of that needs to be experienced. And I think a lot of people take it too far. You can take it way too far in either direction. You can try to indulge in too much, or you can try to avoid too many experiences. There’s a balance in all of it. I can easily reconcile all of it just by being human, you know?
TJ: The hard part is finding that balance and knowing how much is too much. Dean Martin has a great quote about it too. He says, “Good judgment comes from experience And experience? Well, that comes from poor judgment.” So, digging a little further into this; you seem to draw from a deeper well than a lot of songwriters. You speak like someone who’s overcome past traumas; especially on songs like “These Words Alone,” from your last album. That song is one of the most powerful prayers I’ve ever heard. Was there any crisis or turning point in your life that gave you a new perspective or made you realize, ‘Hey, I’m strong, I can do this.’?
Blake: Life in general has taken me to this point. I’ve always been a “glass is half empty” cynic and pessimist. That’s always lived inside me. For whatever reason, I celebrated it up until the last 10 years. I’ve tried really hard to take myself out of that and be more grateful, more optimistic. So, one specific thing – definitely not. But you listen to my earlier music and all that music just kind of poured out of me without a whole lot of thought. Now, if you listen to this record or the last record, I’m definitely thinking more about what I want to say. I want people to think when they listen to music. I mean, I want to have a good time too. If people don’t listen to lyrics, I think they can still have a good time with this record. If they listen to lyrics, they can enjoy them on a deeper level. I’d like to change people’s views. Just how they look at life and how they look at their so-called enemies, you know what I mean? I’m just sickened by the way things are right now. And a lot of that has changed me for the better. You see the leaders of the world speak so… awful and just unkind. I get it. To become powerful, you gotta do evil shit, unfortunately. Not to be so flippant about it, it just makes me want to be a better person. And that’s been going on for 10 years or so for me. You know, I don’t have any political views. I only have human views. So, I don’t go into that shit. But that’s probably where it’s changed the most for me.
TJ: Yeah, like your song, “Turn off the News,” from your last album.
Blake: I love that one, because the news just brings cynicism. That was probably the turning point for me. I used to have every news app on my phone. It didn’t matter which side it was preaching to, and it just made me mad. Finally, I was like, what am I doing? I deleted them all, and I turned off the news, and I experienced a little bliss. I know we can’t turn it off completely, it’s everywhere; but we can’t let any of this steal our joy. And if you’re only looking at social media, or network news, you’re going to be miserable. People are allowing a few idiots to decide their joy in this life. I can’t wrap my head around that and I refuse to take part in it.
TJ: It’s almost like cult programming.
Blake: That’s why I’ve checked out. Some people give me a hard time. It’s like, you can’t turn off. You have to be informed. Yeah, I know, but I also have to take care of my wife and my kids and the people around me and make everyone joyful. I mean, what’s our goal with this life except to be happy? All that 24-hour news cycle is just the antithesis of happiness.
TJ: Your point segues exactly into my next question. So, one of the things I love about your songwriting is that despite the struggles that your characters face in your songs, there’s always this “Ode to Joy” moment to show how beautiful life really is when you stop the worrying and just open your heart to it. On this album, that song is, “Let the Universe.” I absolutely love that song! You probably just answered this question, but what advice do you give to people who are having a hard time letting go of that addiction to the news and the anger and the hatred and the judgment? How do you let go of it?
Blake: I think one really good way to do that is to get out there and listen to music. Take part in something that connects everybody. Regardless of your beliefs and opinions, there are people out there with the opposite beliefs. You can’t avoid people that are different and people that think differently from you. But then you go to a concert or something that takes you just completely out of yourself and puts you around other people and the differences disappear. It’d be amazing if everyone did that and then thought about what they just did.
It’s like, I’m here with a room full of people and even though half of them disagree with me on a whole host of issues, we’re having this beautiful moment together. What a difference it would make for them to see, to just have some sort of clarity in that thought, you know? I don’t hate anybody. So, I just wish we would all stop taking part in that, and it would change everybody’s life, and it would change the world. I just would say, really dig in there and think for a little bit about how ridiculous whatever hatred you have for anyone, or anything is. Because it’s all wasted energy. It just perpetuates the problems we have right now. So, you’re just feeding that energy and that angry beast. Talk about the beast in me! The beast in us is getting really dark. So, like I said in, “Welcome New Home,” it requires very little thought, but just a little thought. Just remember we’re all connected.
TJ: Well, that’s why I love your lyrics because you challenge people to think about what they’re doing to make a better world. So, lyrics aside, I’m picking up some, “Into the Music,” era Van Morrison on this album; especially on songs like, “Let the Universe,” “Brand New Light,” and “Welcome New Home.” Was that a conscious decision?
Blake: It’s funny you mention that because I was listening to Al Green on Fresh Air with Terry Gross. She was interviewing Al Green, and he was talking about Jackie Wilson and about his music and his influences, which got me thinking about Van Morrison, and his song, “Jackie Wilson Said (I’m In Heaven When You Smile).” I literally turned off the radio, and started writing. I wrote the verse and the chorus in my head, and I just sang it into my phone. Mandy always used to say, “We ain’t here for a long time. We’re here for a good time.” And that’s how “Brand New Light” started, and it was totally Van Morrison inspired. “Welcome New Home,” was definitely subconscious. About a minute after I wrote it, I was like, oh, I can touch that up. Through Al Green, through Jackie Wilson, it wove its way in there.
TJ: Well, it’s hard to go wrong with Jackie Wilson and Van Morrison. Thanks so much for taking the time to speak with me. Best of luck with the tour, the album, and with all of life’s adventures!
yarnmusic.net | fb | buy
Brian Rock
Latest posts by Brian Rock (see all)
- Blake Christiana on Yarn’s Saturday Night Sermon - April 24, 2026
- Fantastic Cat’s Cat out of Hell - April 10, 2026
- Andy Thomas Highway Junkie - March 27, 2026
