Get the family dance party started with this lively new album. After a ten-year, five-album journey through old American folk music, Red Yarn returns with Backyard Bop, a fresh set of rockabilly and folk-rock tunes about small towns, neighborhoods, and backyard adventures. This new collection of original songs provides the perfect soundtrack to joyful family dance parties and summertime play.
Evaluation comments from our NAPPA Awards Music Judge:
“Backyard Bop” stands as an anthem for this strange, new home-centered world of ours. The CD’s kickoff track, a lively rockabilly ditty, extols the pure, simple pleasures that can be had playing in your backyard. Red Yarn keeps the dance party vibe going strong with track two, “Jump For Joy,” which also suggests that folks “stand right up, raise your voice (and) dance with freedom.” Elsewhere, he reveals the adventures to be found in “My Own Backyard,” the fun watching “the big show” occurring “Outside My Window,” or observing “Critters In My Garden.” Even when songs venture beyond the house, like on “Around The Town” and “Neighborhood Park”, they don’t travel too far; however, these folksy tunes offer amusing, upbeat observations, from the joys of small town life in the former to the playful outdoor activities happening in the latter. When the Portland, Oregon-based musician isn’t singing about things around, or nearby, the house, he’s singing about colorful creatures (the lovely “Mama Bird” and raucous “Cats & Dogs”) or humans (the quiet tune, “Town Hall Meeting,” about a loud community event. “Someone To Love,” which concludes the album on a gently philosophical note, impressively references earlier song subjects (backyards, the neighborhood, and various critters) while also offering up the optimistic idea that “no matter how rough it got/no matter how tough/well, they still had someone to love.” Heartfelt and handcrafted, the rootsy Backyard Bop is an exuberant, uplifting album for these unsettled times (or any time at all, for that matter).