"We didn't want to be just another bunch of musicians begging for money," said the singer and acoustic guitarist for the roots-rock band Yarn.
That changed when halfway through recording "Almost Home," the Brooklyn-based sextet ran out of cash.
Rather then leave the studio and sit on an incomplete record, the band called in the "Yarmy," its group of diehard fans. The Yarmy answered the call for aid by contributing more than $5,000 through the web-funding platform Kickstarter - surpassing the band's financial goal.
"They really came through and helped us put the record out there," Christiana said. "It's an honor to know that we have fans that are willing to go to such an extreme." "You know," he said, "watching the news, you wouldn't imagine that there are generous, kind souls on the planet, but this proved otherwise."
Since forming in 2007, Yarn, which plays the Jewish Mother in Virginia Beach on Sunday, has built its fan base through constant touring and significant fan interaction.
"It's the only way to survive right now as a developing grass-roots band," Christiana said. "Our fans are really involved, and I think they feel like they have a stake in the band's success.
"Just a couple of weeks ago we were in North Carolina having dinner before a show and some fans came by and brought us a box of T-shirts that they had made up with our logo on the front and some of my lyrics on the back. They said they just want to give something back and thought we could make some money by selling them at our shows."
Yarn's genre-mixing blend of rock, knitted together with country and a bit of bluegrass ramble, has also caught the attention of prominent music industry insiders. After Grammy-winning producer Bil VornDick caught a Yarn performance in Nashville, he let the band know that he'd like to work with it. A couple of months later the native Virginian, whose credits include projects with Bob Dylan and bluegrass great Alison Krauss, was in the studio with Yarn producing "Almost Home." The disc, released last March, was recently named one of the Top 100 Americana albums of 2012 by the Americana Music Association.
Another admirer is John Oates, of Hall and Oates fame.
"We just wrote a couple of songs together," Christiana said. "He's the most humble dude in the world. One day we were in the recording studio listening to a playback, and he said, 'Hey, man, I think you should recut your vocal.' He called me back later that night and said, 'Hey, I hope I didn't offend you.' I had to laugh. I want that kind of insight, especially coming from a guy like him."
The newly penned tunes, slated for an upcoming Yarn release, could raise the band's profile even higher. But for now, Christiana seems satisfied in his role as leader of the Yarmy.
"Ultimately, we just want to play," said the 36-year-old musician. "What we get to do for a living is pretty darn special. I feel like we are building a kind of community. That is the best part of all of this for me. We have these little pockets of family all over the country. That's about as good as it gets."
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