SA Icons The Yearlings Announce First Show of 2025
The band are playing a special show in support of Chris Parkinson’s solo record, Children During Wartime.
Image by David Parkinson
The Yearlings are South Australian music royalty. The folk duo, comprising Chris Parkinson and Robyn Chalklen, have been making music together for 25 years. Their Americana-infused alt-country folk has spawned six incredible albums, including 2023’s Luck, the duo’s first release in nine years.
This year sees Parkinson release his debut solo instrumental guitar record, Children During Wartime, which arrives April 25 (pre-order/pre-save here). Written in response to the invasion of Ukraine, the album is an emotionally charged collection of songs conceived, composed, performed, recorded, engineered, mastered and produced by Parkinson at The Yearlings’ recording studio, My Sweet Mule.
Speaking out the album, Parkinson says: “When all of us knew of the impending Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, I went to the Kyiv webcam and watched as cars rolled by, everything looking quite normal and peaceful, but checking in on the webcam on the first day of the invasion there was nothing but blackness, the webcam vision had disappeared and the hell of what was to be the new normal for so many lives struck me hard.
“The week after I composed the beginning of a tune that was to become ‘Ukraine’ and the birth and direction of this record began. And the tunes kept coming. I don’t normally write in this way... but it dawned on me that I was reacting to how I felt about the children and their innocence and I finally realised that that was the record and I wanted to share those feelings.”
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In support of his debut release, Parkinson is performing songs from the album at The Wheatsheaf on Friday, April 25. Not only will fans get the chance to hear songs from Children During Wartime live for the very first time, but Chalklen is joining Parkinson for a special performance as The Yearlings.
This shapes as an incredible evening of live music with punters able to enjoy Parkinson’s solo material before a fan favourite stacked set from The Yearlings.
Catch Chris Parkinson and The Yearlings at The Wheatsheaf Hotel on Friday, April 25. Tickets on sale now via trybooking.com.
