Music Minute: Red Yarn - Backyard Bop

Nationally acclaimed performing and recording artist Red Yarn offers a new collection of original songs which provide the perfect soundtrack to joyful family dance parties and summertime play: Backyard Bop. Check out the music video “Jump for Joy” below. Backyard Bop will be available on all music platforms on August 7th. After a ten-year, five-album journey through old American folk music, Red Yarn returns with this fresh set of rockabilly and folk-rock tunes about small towns, neighborhoods, and backyard adventures. Red Yarn is recognized as one of the top family artists in the nation. Most summers, he tours the East Coast and his home state of Texas and gathers his legions of loyal fans for family concerts all around the Pacific Northwest. This year it’s different. Since March, through dozens of Facebook Live concerts, Red Yarn has managed to enthrall his fans and attract many new ones. He’s continued to make music during the pandemic, and despite the challenges, to finish the album he started more than a year ago with his Grammy-winning producer Dean Jones. Meanwhile, he’s introduced new puppet critters like Mama Robin, along with revamped Bob Rabbit, Molly Cottontail and Rocky Raccoon, all of whom play a big part in Red Yarn’s virtual “Homespun” shows and a planned web series. While the songs on Backyard Bop are often playful and upbeat, every lyric is thoughtful and reflective of Red Yarn’s commitment to social justice. “Jump for Joy” is not just a kiddie tune; it’s an encouraging song for hard times, with the refrain, “Stand right up, raise your voice, get up with me, and jump for joy!” The title song is an electrified rockabilly dance party anthem, inviting all kinds of critters to boogie together. The backyard is a shared space where “everyone is welcome, no matter where you’re from.” “Town Hall Meeting” posits a middle ground in a divisive election season: “We may be disagreein’ but our hearts are beatin’” – and a helpful message for a divided nation: “You can have your own opinion, just let me have mine… Keep on trying.”

About Red Yarn Red Yarn (aka Andy Furgeson) is an Austin-born, Portland-based family folksinger and puppeteer. Since creating Red Yarn in 2011, Furgeson has established himself as a unique voice in the Portland and national kindie scenes. His previous five albums have received rave reviews, national awards and radio play. Red Yarn’s performance credits include Austin City Limits Festival, SXSW, Pickathon, Pilgrimage Music Fest, Stagecoach Country Music Fest, Symphony Space and Wolf Trap. Red Yarn, his wife and singing partner Miss Jessie, and their critter pals will celebrate the release of Backyard Bop with a virtual live-streamed family concert on August 7th. Visit www.redyarnproductions for the latest updates, music and videos.