Snarlin' Yarns
Break Your Heart
"Its never the same river twice," says Mara Brown, fiddle-vocalist and songwriter for Ogden, Utahs alt-bluegrass and improv poetry quartet Snarlin Yarns. Shes right. You could be in the same geographical location, with familiar attributes and scenery. Yet, while afloat the underside shifts rocks, deposits and foundation. When you get back in new rains flow. Its a new ride from the one you thought you knew. Break Your Heart is the first effort to capture on album the group's four unique personalities and the styles of its three songwriters. The fourth is Abraham Smith, Ogdens current Poet Laureate. Smith has been writing poetry and performing live poetic improv since the 1990s. His collections are published by Action Books as well as Third Man Books. Abes voice is a first implement. He says hes performing open heart surgery on these songs. Its more like instantaneous reconstruction of the moment. Its part inspiration of song, partly all around him and mostly all day. He may call for a scalpel, a sparrow or buzzard to alight. He may leave an untidy suture. In the summer of 2019, The Snarlin Yarns traveled to Water Valley, Mississippis Dial Back Sound to work with engineer and producer Bronson Tew (Jimbo Mathus, Jerry Joseph, Seratones). They ended up with the live performances that make up Break Your Heart.