"The Get-Together" is the 10th studio album, scheduled for release on Sept. 22, 2023, by Red Yarn. The Portland-based family musician collaborated with other artists and his own family to make the album which was inspired by '50s and '60s doowop, R&B and other musical styles from that era.
Photo by Aaron Hewitt, design by DJ Action Slacks
If you’re a parent of a music-loving toddler or grade schooler in the Portland metro area, you may not have heard of Andy Furgeson. You may, however, have heard of Red Yarn, the musical persona that Furgeson has embodied for more than a decade with his signature red beard, acoustic guitar and family-friendly puppets in tow. By his estimation, he performs 200 to 300 shows a year, most of which take place at community events, daycare centers, schools, and the occasional music festival, including Pickathon, the long-running festival at which he’s performed for the past seven years. Furgeson’s 10th and latest studio album, “The Get-Together,” is being released on Friday. It was inspired by his love of ‘50s and ‘60s music when artists like Roy Orbison, The Ronettes, Ritchie Valens and The Drifters mingled on the radio, but reimagined to explore themes like friendship and reading, aimed at appealing to younger audiences.
Furgeson joins us in the studio for a live performance and conversation about his musical journey, new album and why he feels like he’s found his calling as Red Yarn.
Note: This transcript was computer generated and edited by a volunteer.
Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. If you are a parent of a toddler or a grade schooler in the Portland area you may not have heard of Andy Furguson, but there’s a much better chance you’ve heard of Red Yarn, the musical persona Furguson has embodied for more than a decade with his signature red beard, acoustic guitar and family-friendly puppets. Red Yarn performs hundreds of shows every year at community events, daycare centers, schools and music festivals. His latest studio album, his 10th, is being released this Friday. It’s called “The Get-Together.” Andy Furguson joins us now to talk about it and to play some songs from it. Welcome to the show.
Andy Furgeson: Thanks for having me, Dave. I’m happy to be here.
Miller: You’ve worked in a really wide variety of musical styles over the course of your career. From folk to rock, to reggae, to bluegrass and others. How would you describe the genres on this new album?
Furgeson: The new album is really inspired by my favorite songs of the ‘50s and ‘60s, doo-wop and rockabilly and R&B and soul from that era. Red Yarn started as a folk music exploration, really digging into the old animal folk songs of the American folk tradition. But over the years, I’ve gotten to explore lots of different genres, roots rock music that inspire me. So lately I’ve been kind of fixating on and digging into some of my favorite oldies, you might call them, the music that was on the oldies radio station when I was growing up, [that] my dad was playing on the radio from the ‘50s and ‘60s.
Miller: What did you like about that music then? And why are you turning back to it now? Or I should say, did you like it then? People don’t always like what their dads or moms play.
Furgeson: I did love it then. I got deeply into that music as a teenager. I had a whole rockabilly phase where I dressed up, like all through high school, I dressed like I lived in the 1950s. So I was deeply into that music then. And the deeper I dig into it, the more I love it now. I think it was just such a fertile time where, particularly Black and white musical influences were sort of weaving and combining and influencing and bouncing off each other, and the deeper I dug into the history of rock and roll music, really how Black R&B from the 1940′s and 1950′s was already rock and roll, and then white performers like Elvis and the early Sun Records folks started playing that music.
And then it just became this kind of intercultural, interracial conversation. And I think there’s so many styles to play with, there’s so many influences to draw from. I just think there’s a lot there and ultimately, there’s so many catchy, singable, danceable songs. When making music for family, so much of what I’m trying to do is to get people to sing and dance along. So I thought that these genres of music would be really, really great for them.
Miller: Can we hear one of the songs from the new album? How about “Daydreams?”
Furgeson: Sounds good, I’d love to. So this song is sort of from the Roy Orbison style. It’s sort of a ballad inspired by my own childhood and watching my own kids as they daydream their way through life sometimes. Here’s how it goes:
[Music playing]
“In my daydreams, I’m taller and smarter and stronger
I can swim in the sea, dive deeper and hold my breath longer
In my daydreams, I’m singing as sweet as a songbird in the spring
But reality stings so I guess I’ll just sit here and daydream
In my real life, my parents they just love to say things
Like, ‘Clean up your room, son, and put away all of your playthings
Seize the day, son, go out and do things and make things that are great!’
But I ain’t feeling too great, so I guess I’ll just sit here and daydream
In the classroom as I’m watching the dust in a sunbeam
My teacher yells, ‘Focus!’ and cuts off my fantasy midstream
She says, ‘Make the grade, son, you’ll soon be accomplishing great things everyday!’
But I ain’t feeling too great, so I guess I’ll just sit here and daydream
In my daydreams, I can soar through the clouds like an eagle
In my daydreams, I’m a king on a throne, good and regal
In my daydreams, I’m vanquishing every evil, come what may
But I’m hit by an arrow, my soul like a sparrow just flutters, flutters away…
In a green field, I lay back and stare up at a jetstream
My mind’s in the sky and my body’s adrift in a slipstream
But my coach yells, ‘Get up, son, or you’re never making the A- Team, no way!’
That can be your thing but I am the star of my daydreams
Oh, you keep your own dreams and I’ll keep on living my daydreams
Day-ay-ay-dreams!”
Miller: That’s Red Yarn, otherwise known as Andy Furgeson, playing ‘Daydreams’, from his new album. You mentioned Roy Orbison. I also heard bits of The Drifters there. What was your songwriting process for this album?
Furgeson: Well, for this album, I tried an interesting experiment which really paid off. In, let’s see, fall of 2021, I was ready to start writing some new material and I knew I wanted to dig into this time period of the ‘50s and ‘60s. So I had an open week - my wife’s a teacher, my kids were in school, so I had the house to myself during the day, for a few days - so I just made a playlist of my favorite songs with The Drifters and Roy Orbison and The Ronettes and The Crystals and so many bands, and I just blasted the music and I played along and I sung along and I tried to just take in these old songs and really embody them and feel them. And I did that for like three days just playing along, singing along.
And on day four, I got out my notebook and I started writing and I think the roots of maybe eight of the new songs kind of spilled out in those next couple of days just by really inhabiting the music of that time period and like really feeling it. And so then these songs started coming out.
Miller: It seems like the experiment worked. Was that your plan, just soak in the time and then let your creative brain make your own versions of that vibe?
Furgeson: Exactly. That’s what I really wanted to do. And songs came out and hopefully they’re evocative of what I was going for.
Miller: So you mentioned driving around and having your dad have the oldies on. This was in Austin, right?
Furgeson: Austin, Texas. Yeah.
Miller: How do you think growing up in Austin affected the music you’re drawn to, to this day?
Furgeson: Austin is such an incredible music town, the live music capital of the world. There’s so much music history there. And I think growing up there, you just get exposed to so much of that. So, I grew up singing in church, it was a primary influence for sure. The downtown Presbyterian church, the funky old church where my family went.
But then just walking around town, you’re hearing Texas blues coming out of one venue, you’re hearing folk and singer-songwriter music come out of another. So I grew up with so much of that in the air. So much of that Texas country and singer-songwriter music. And there’s so many funky music stores and record shops.
So as a young person, as a teenager, I was able to start going to shows. This was kind of when the alt-country scene was big in Texas and seeing bands like the Old 97s and The Derailers play when I was like 13 years old. And it just made it seem possible to be a musician for life, to be a professional musician.
Miller: How did you end up being a professional musician who focuses on music for kids and families?
Furgeson: Well, let’s see. I moved to Portland after college. I went to school out in California and then moved up to Portland in 2005, and I was very drawn to working with kids. My folks are both educators, my dad’s a public school teacher, my mom’s a social worker. And so I knew I wanted to work with kids, so first I was working for Portland Parks and Recreation at Peninsula Park. Then I got a job at the after-school program at Friendly House in Northwest Portland. And I was working with school age kids in after-school and summer camp environments, and then I was playing in a band, a grown-up band, on the side. And over the years, I realized I could kind of start weaving those together.
I started doing some programs at the community center where I tell stories and sing songs. And I was digging into old folk songs at this time, really interested in these old animal folk songs and it just all converged perfectly. I met a few different teaching artists who came through the program to work. And I realized that performing and teaching my art forms to young people could be a career. And so I decided to jump into that full time, so in 2012, Red Yarn became a full time job and it’s been that way ever since.
Miller: We’re gonna have to listen to part of a track from the new album. The song is called “Ready Freddy.” It’s about something that the parent of any child over the age of one or two probably can relate to, the challenge of getting the family out of the house. Was there a particular genesis for the song?
Furgeson: Well, “are you ready, Freddy” was just a constant refrain in my house. I have a six year old and a nine year old. And, yeah, as you mentioned…
Miller: “Was”, meaning you’ve solved the problem?
Furgeson: No, no, didn’t solve anything. So, yeah, it turned into a song and I invited the kids to sing on it too.
Miller: Let’s have a listen.
[Music playing]
“No, we don’t have all day, are you ready Freddy, is all I say
Are you ready Freddy, ready Freddy?
Are you ready Freddy, ready Freddy?
Daddy, Daddy, why the rush?
Are you ready Freddy, ready Freddy?
Why you gotta pull and push?
Are you ready Freddy, ready Freddy?
Let me take my own sweet time, you go your speed, I’ll go mine
Are you ready, Freddy, ready Freddy?
Are you ready, Freddy, ready Freddy?
Miller: What was it like to record with your family?
Furgeson: Oh, it’s so fun. My kids are totally game for it. My wife Jessie also has been a part of the Red Yarn band and the Red Yarn world for pretty much the whole time I’ve been doing this. So both of my kids have grown up with performance and music being just a very normal part of life. We went over to my friend Adam Selzer’s little backyard studio with the kids and they were thrilled to get to go in the studio. I have to bribe them a little bit, pay them for their time. They’re professionals. But they love it and I think when they get to really be involved and really have their voice on display…which this track is the first time they’ve really had a lead part like that, they take so much pride in it and so it’s just a delight. It can be a little painstaking to prepare for it and work with them but they’re total troopers and they’re so fun to work with.
Miller: You were a family musician before you had a family of your own, before you were a parent. Has becoming a parent changed the way you think about performing or writing songs?
Furgeson: Absolutely. As I mentioned, I kind of got into this Red Yarn thing, I was doing this exploration of weird old animal folk songs. A lot of them are kind of dark and grizzly, and so before I had kids, I had a lot of ideas around what would be cool to sing to the kids. I think I was trying to be kind of edgy. You know, alt-family musician.. And then I think once I had kids, I was like, oh.. it was sort of a realization that I can just be gentle, I could just be fun, I could just be friendly. We’ll talk about real stuff and I’ve never shied away from talking about important topics. But I think it just let me be a little looser and more fun with it.
Having kids of my own, of course, has been so inspiring for my songwriting. The more and more I write songs for kids, the more I’m drawing on experiences of my kids and my family. So they’re just a wealth of inspiration and encouragement and kind of guidance on what to try next.
Miller: Can we hear another song live? Can we hear “Trouble?”
Furgeson: Yeah, let’s do it. So having kids also helps me connect with my inner child and helps me remember my own childhood. This is a song that came from that. This one is kind of Everly Brothers inspired. It’s about one of those days as a kid where you just keep getting in trouble.
[Music playing]
“Did you ever have a day when nothing went your way
And all that you could make was trouble?
You were trying to be good and do the things you should
But all of your intentions crumbled
Like when you spilled your milk on your mom’s nice silk
And that just made her grumble
And then your dad got mad cuz the papers he had
Somehow got all soggy and crumpled
Then you were packing up your backpack, trying not to slack
But you had too many books to juggle
And then you bumped a coffee mug on the brand new rug and
Oh no, I think I’m in trouble!
You tried to hide the stain with a little bit of paint
And suddenly the mess had doubled
And you were almost out the door when your parents saw the floor and
Oh no, I think I’m in trouble!
And then later on at school you were following the rules
All of them except a couple
Like no kicking a ball down the kindergarten hall
Just to make your buddies chuckle
Cuz then the principal appeared and it hit him in the rear
His reaction wasn’t subtle
So you spent the afternoon in the detention room
Wondering how you got it all muddled
And on the bus ride home you’re leaving well enough alone
All of you except your knuckle
Which taps a great big kid who starts to flip his lid
And you get into a little struggle
And now your parents are ticked because your shirt is ripped
Your homework is a pile of rubble
You gotta go to your room but then something goes boom
And they find the contraband you smuggled
And now you’re filling up the bathtub, trying not to splash much
Playing with a bottle of bubbles
But then the tub overfills and the bubble bath spills and…
Oh no, I think I’m in trouble!
The water’s flowing out and your parents are shouting
The living room is one big puddle
And now the fire truck is here and you’re grounded for the year and
Oh yeah, you’re in deep deep trouble!
And now it’s finally time for bed and shame fills your head
But your folks are there to give you a snuggle
They say, ‘No matter what you do, we will be right here for you
Cuz don’t you know, loving you ain’t any trouble.’”
Miller: That’s “Trouble”, by my guest Red Yarn.You mentioned that you don’t need to push the envelope by writing about gross animals or scary animals now, but that you can write about serious issues. I mean, what kinds of social or political or psychological, whatever, issues do you feel like you want to write about these days?
Furgeson: Well, I’ve just been so inspired first by the youth, by the children and young people and teenagers all around us engaging in activism every day, but also by the family music scene nationally, by family performers all across the country, and all across the world who are really taking on very important topics every day, from racial justice to body image, consent, body positivity, climate crisis.. There’s so many big, enormous issues that kids and young people these days are contending with already, and will continue to contend with as they get older. And I think the sooner that we can talk openly and honestly with them about that the better.
So, yeah, I feel like really for the past five years, especially, it’s been an important part of my mission to try to be open and honest and call on those young folks to stand up for what they believe in and to speak out and to share with the adults in their lives. Because I mean, I feel like they’ve got so much to teach us, too.
Miller: I want to play an excerpt from one more song on the album. This one, it’s one of the collaborations. There are a number of collaborations on the album. This one has Portland’s own Arietta Ward, who sings funk and R&B and soul and a lot of other stuff. It’s called “Inside My Books.” Let’s have a listen, then you can tell us about it.
[Music playing]
“There’s suspense and there is mystery
There is laughter, there are tears
See the past to know our history
Face the future without fear
Inside my books
I can learn and I can grow
Inside my books
I can leave the world I know
Inside my books
Hot as fire and cold as snow
Inside my books
It’s the realest place I know”
Miller: How do these collaborations happen?
Furgeson: Well, this one was a really special one. Arietta is a legendary Portland performer, Portland royalty. Her mother, Janice Scroggins, was a legendary composer and pianist in her own right. I met Arietta last year at a fundraiser event for my kid’s school and was just blown away by her talent, her voice and her innate abilities as an educator from the stage, weaving history and music lessons into her performances.
For this one, this song actually started more kind of like a Beach Boys “In My Room” sort of homage. But in the studio, it took on more of a kind of ‘60s soul, Otis Redding sort of vibe. So I knew that I wasn’t the right voice to sing the whole song on that one. I started thinking about who might be a good fit and I thought of Arietta immediately and I reached out to her and she graciously agreed to be part of the album. And she’ll be at the big show this weekend too, so it’s been awesome getting to work with her.
Miller: Andy Furgeson, Red Yarn, do you mind playing us out with one more song - “Dream Come True.”? And I should also note that there is an album release show and Family Dance Party this coming Sunday at Portland’s Crystal Ballroom. If you don’t mind taking us out.
Furgeson: All right. Thank you so much, Dave. It’s been a pleasure.
[Music playing]
“We got this dream we keep on dreaming every night
Where everybody lives in peace and treats each other right
To make this dream come true start living it
Start living it every day, every day, every day, every day
Our dreams are little visions of a world
A ball of string connecting us but yet to be unfurled
But we can weave our dreams all together
Yeah everyone, every day, every day, every day, every day
We got this dream we keep on dreaming every night
Where everybody lives in peace and treats each other right
To make this dream come true start living it
Start living it every day, every day, every day, every day
You may dream a tapestry of love
I may dream a perfect seam that binds the sky above
They may dream a patchwork theme of blues and greens
Brightest beams of sun for everyone
We got this dream we keep on dreaming every night
Where everybody lives in peace and treats each other right
We got this dream we keep on dreaming every night
Where everybody lives in peace and treats each other right
To make this dream come true, start living it
Start living it every day, every day, every day, every day
We got this dream, la la la la la la la
La la la la la la, la la la la la la la
We got this dream, la la la la la la la
La la la la la la, la la la la la la la
We got this dream, la la la la la la la
La la la la la la, la la la la la la la”
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