LISTEN: THE SNARLIN’ YARNS, ‘IT NEVER ENDS,’ PERFORMED LIVE MONDAY

Ogden-based alt-bluegrass and improv poetry sextet The Snarlin’ Yarns release their new album “It Never Ends,” to be performed live at a record release party on Monday at Lavender Vinyl in Ogden.

The Ogdenite staff

NEW RELEASE

The Snarlin’ Yarns: Photo supplied

Artist: The Snarlin’ Yarns—Ogden, UT: Mara Brown (fiddle), Abraham Smith (improvised poetry), William Pollet (guitar), Jason Barrett-Fox (banjo), Thomas Dolph (ukelele), Ryan Ridge (electric bass)
Album: It Never Ends, January 23, 2023, Dial Back Sound
Upcoming shows: Record Release Party, Lavender Vinyl, 123 15th Street, Ogden, 7 p.m.

“It Never Ends,” recorded live at Dial Back Sound in Water Valley, Mississippi, is the second album released by alt-bluegrass sextet The Snarlin' Yarns—“a fuller, sweeter sound, thanks to the additions of author-bassist Ryan Ridge and uke-guitar local legend Tommy Dolph,” says the band’s poet Abraham Smith. “We’re grateful for the great Bronson Tew's engineering alchemy, and for the hired gun bass helps on a couple of tunes from Dial Back founder Bobby Matt Patton and the Squirrel Nut Zippers' John Kveen.”

The new album will be released on Monday, January 23, and performed live at Lavender Vinyl in Ogden from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

FROM THE BAND:

“Between the time our first record came out in September 2020 and the time we recorded the second in the Spring of 2021, we were in that pandemic energy of perseverance and adrenaline: everything felt like you were fighting for your life, and opportunities to gather and play music took on a new sense of appreciation and also a fierceness and an element of defiance. I think this new collection of songs is woven together by a mix of edginess and optimism, by opportunities lost and hope gained. We were also joined by two stalwart comrades and are now a sextet with new possibilities of sound, harmony and songwriting. What clearly sustains It Never Ends is the band's everlasting love and respect for one another. Our signature energy and playfulness are still present, and the melodies are richer and more complex as a reflection of our ever-deepening synergy and commitment. —Mara Brown

"In the age of imminent catastrophe, love still abounds in simple and oft-unnoticed ways. The Snarlin' Yarns' mitochondrial hearts continue to beat, and our crooked toes continue to tap, while we work to create sonic horizons beyond our immediate gloom, horizons that connect each of us to one another and our music to a hopeful and compassionate future, one where we continue to search for and document connection, resilience, and joy.  It Never Ends pulls the curtain back on the emotional labor of being together in these apoplectic end times and tacks back and forth between our internal and external landscapes to weave something downhome but, hopefully, far-reaching."

—Jason Barrott-Fox

“We were unable to tour Break Your Heart because of Covid but we masked up and got together in the cold freezing temperatures and practiced and played. We wrote many songs and had close to thirty by the time we went back to Mississippi. We wanted to record them all and have a double album for our sophomore release but reason, time, and budget suggested that we boil them down to our best and most ready. We landed at the Shack-Up Inn and torrential rain fell. We all stayed at Bill's house where the upstairs room looked like a murder scene. We were still full from Payne's Barbeque in Memphis that was located in the middle of the spare tire competitors. We had breakfast at Grandma's and went to Dockery where Charlie Patton lived and died. We went to Robert Johnson's grave and way out to where Emmit Till may have whistled at a girl but was definitely murdered by racists.

Three days at Dial Back gave us another epic turn. We ratcheted up the torque and found ourselves in love again. Sleeping a little and not needing it, we were sweating much and getting some rain. Shoulder to the wheel, 'verb in the cans, working on harmony, while an angel was sent from California and we could not believe what we heard coming through the speakers after we recorded. We are lucky to have found one another and extremely fortunate to share our words, poetry, and songs with each other and any audience that we can snarl into our yarns. We hope to continue to spin and weave and rock in the traditions of freak-folk, beat grass, and the unknown roads, rivers, and valleys of The Snarlin' Yarns.” —William Pollett

“It’s an honor to be in a band full of restless artists. New material flows in like fresh water all the time. You know you are into something good when practice feels like a New Year’s party or that moment when the gameshow host drawls, a brannnnd newwwww carrrrrr. What's dawned on me is that energy given through the Yarn’s boomerangs back threefold and then some. I am incredibly proud of what we came up with on It Never Ends and ants-in-my-astronaut pantaloons about the new material we'll be yodeling onto tape down in Mississippi in the year to come.”

—Abraham Smith

“It Never Ends” is available for purchase on Bandcamp. Listen to the album performed live by The Snarlin’ Yarns on Monday, January 23 at Lavender Vinyl at 7:30 p.m. in Ogden.