sometime during the summer of 2004, a scruffy bookworm drove home from his part-time job, passing by a man selling fruit from the back of a van. he noticed there was a sign that read "fresh cherries from yakima," swaying in the summer breeze. two weeks went by, and finally, after much deliberation, the bookworm decided to buy some cherries.
as the scruffy bookworm pulled up to the back of the van, a nearly-translucent young man in a sailor suit turned around. in exchange for buying some produce, the sailor implored the bookworm to have a seat and listen to a story or two. the scruffy bookworm was so enthralled with the sailor's storytelling, the two would sit in the back of the van with the doors open every day for the duration of that particular summer. the ghost would tell his tales, and his scruffy friend would transcribe the stories and later turn them into folk songs.
soon, the scruffy bookworm had enough songs written to start a band. he asked his sailor friend, who initially declined. after two straight weeks of fending off an invitation into the band, which actually bordered on annoyance, the sailor accepted his friend's offer, but there was a condition. more accurately: a challenge. in order for the sailor to join the band, which was to be named fresh cherries from yakima, the bookworm would have to play him for the name and his services in an old african board game called mancala.
the competition was vigorous, but the winner, by one single bead, was the bookworm. thus, fresh cherries from yakima was born.
if you'd like, you can stream the entirety of buttons for north caroline and the bourbon and bedsheets EP here and here, respectively. i also keep a hilariously long-winded music blog; you can find that here. go here or here if you'd like to purchase the album as an mp3 download. for any questions about booking, press, etc., inquire within for my e-mail address.
