{"id":11212,"date":"2016-08-02T05:30:48","date_gmt":"2016-08-02T09:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=11212"},"modified":"2016-07-25T10:42:42","modified_gmt":"2016-07-25T14:42:42","slug":"the-yawpers-chronicling-the-american-experience-one-character-at-a-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2016\/08\/02\/the-yawpers-chronicling-the-american-experience-one-character-at-a-time\/","title":{"rendered":"The Yawpers: Chronicling the American Experience, One Character at a Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cHey, I’m sorry I missed your call,\u201d says Nate Cook<\/strong> of the Yawpers<\/strong>. \u201cI didn’t hear the phone; I was vacuuming.\u201d He laughs when I suggest that activity is \u201cnot very rock ‘n’ roll,\u201d but Cook is happy to get a brief domestic break from the group’s heavy touring schedule. It’s a brief respite, though: the Yawpers quickly hit the road again, crisscrossing the country before landing back \u2013 again briefly \u2013 in their Denver hometown to play a set at the Underground Music Festival.<\/p>\n

The trio manages to breathe life into the acoustic-instruments-and-drums format, in part by writing better songs, and in part by using not one but two acoustic guitars. \u201cWe’re trying to play what we like,\u201d says guitarist Nate Cook. \u201cAnd a lot of what we like is the Cramps<\/strong>, Bruce Springsteen<\/strong> and R.L. Burnside<\/strong>. So just by virtue of what we enjoy, our music is a kind of punk\/blues\/Americana thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"yawpers\"<\/p>\n

After a pair of self-released albums \u2013 2012’s Capon Crusade<\/i> and the 2013 all-covers set Good Songs\/Shitty Versions<\/i> \u2013 in 2015 the Yawpers signed with hip independent label Bloodshot Records. Cook acknowledges that signing has changed things for the band. \u201cIt does offer a bit of credibility, but primarily \u2013 and I struggle to use the word ‘exposure’ \u2013 I think our reach has grown so much. And that’s really allowed us to make a go at a career of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the band’s songwriter, Cook had ambitious goals for the songs that would make up their album, American Man<\/i>. Each song would take on the perspective of someone from a specific American walk of life. The song titles more than hint at that approach: \u201c9 to 5,\u201d \u201cBeale Street,\u201d \u201cWalter.\u201d \u201cEvery song is supposed to be a kind of narrative independent of the other songs,\u201d Cook explains. \u201cThey each weave into their own fabric of what the American experience is like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cook pauses and laughs self-deprecatingly. \u201cI kinda failed at that; a lot of the songs ended up being autobiographical. But that’s what I attempted to do. I pick characters that I don’t necessarily have anything to do with, and try to look at the American experience through their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n