The Yawpers Gain A National Spotlight With ‘American Man’

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20min 10sec
Photo: Yawpers at OpenAir 2015
The Yawpers

The Yawpers are a hard-working and hard-rocking Denver band who recently made their national label debut with the album "American Man."

The Yawpers' breakthrough came in 2014 at South By Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, where they caught the attention of someone from Chicago label Bloodshot Records.

The band soon got to work with Cracker’s Johnny Hickman at Denver’s Blasting Room. The result is "American Man," a collection of 12 songs loosely based on the concept of the American West through the eyes of 12 different narrators.

The Yawpers recently returned to the CPR Performance Studio just before taking the music of "American Man" on a three-month national tour. They return to Denver for a local release show on Nov. 21 at Hi-Dive.

Hear more about The Yawpers' story at the audio link above and read interview highlights below.

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Singer Nate Cook on the concept behind "American Man"

"It kind of started as a concept record, in the sense that I wanted to challenge myself not to make the narrative about myself and to write it from the perspective of a different American -- or Western even -- character. So each one is ostensibly from the perspective of a different American. The exception to that is "Deacon Brodie," who was actually a Scottish cabinet maker who moonlighted as a thief and wound up getting hung on the gallows that he built."

Cook on the song "9 to 5"

"That song's about the pitfalls that go along with picking this profession and how a lot of my friends who have successful marriages and kids and decent jobs and healthcare have a freedom that I don't ... living on the road, getting hammered every night and not building any meaningful relationships can take a toll on you."