Blake Christiana, the band’s co-founder and front man, wrote all the songs on the new album including “Love/Hate,” with the exception of a co-write on one song with his buddy Shane Spaulding.

I have been sampling the album Christiana says is a tribute, in part, to Waylon and Willie, Merle Haggard and other Texas troubadours with distinctly renegade reputations. 

The album is all about re-evaluating relationships, making tough choices and sometimes skirting the rules — a page from the book of the musicians they admire. The album opens with “Carolina Heart,” an homage to the band’s new home; the boldy optimistic “This is the Year” is juxtaposed by tracks like  “Love/Hate” and “Now You’re Gone,” which detail the challenges faced when one’s life is jolted off its bearings. Scattered throughout are playful tunes, like “Sweet Dolly,” which pays tribute to Americana’s first lady, the sweet-sounding epitome of reinvention and breaking the rules.

After listening to it for the first time, I contacted Christiana because I was concerned about the state of his marriage. He assured me that he and his wife are just fine, that’s just the place he goes when he writes. Turns out, he was writing about another kind of breakup

Since 2005, the former Brooklyn-based Yarn has received a Grammy nomination, nods from the Americana Music Association, placed top five on Radio and Records and the AMA album charts, garnered airplay on Sirius XM, iTunes, Pandora, CNN, CMT and they were the “Download of the Day” from Rolling Stone. They shared stages with superstars including Dwight Yoakam, Charlie Daniels, Marty Stuart, Allison Krauss, Leon Russell, and Jim Lauderdale, and performed at prestigious venues including Mountain Stage, Daytrotter, the Orange Peel, the Fox Theater, the 9:30 Club, South by Southwest and more. They have accumulated more than 1,000 shows, half a million miles and performed in 32 states. They’ve paid their dues and then some.